L'Arbousier - Lamalou-les-Bains

The restaurant has it's own courtyard where you can eat (part of the hotel) as well as the beautiful dining room. We chose the dining room, as the evening was beginning to cool. It's wonderfully decorated with hand painted murals, reminiscent of a French style now mainly lost, and plenty of space, despite being busy. The menu had lots of choice, we all chose different things (there were 5 in our party) and all of us enjoyed the food very much

Our stay here for 2 nights in August were so enjoyable and relaxing. Were welcomed by friendly helpful staff. The en-suite bedroom was large - 2 double beds - and cleaned to a high standard. We ate in the garden under large plane trees. The food was excellent - highly recommend the scallop & prawn brochette The waiter spoke a little English so was able to explain the menu. We couldn't fault the service. The hotel has a lovely French atmosphere and is just 2 minutes from the main street and has adequate car parking.

I can honestly say that my meal here was amongst the worst in terms of both value and quality I have eaten in my 30+ years living in France. Apart from one almost professional waiter the remainder of the waiters were obviously part time students who would rather have been in front of their game consoles. You know that things aren't quite right when a small local restaurant considers itself to be too high class to sell wine in the pichet. Coupled with the fact that they were indeed serving hotel residents with carafe wine leaves you wondering. The basic menu at 32€ was overpriced for a Sunday lunch but selection was reasonable. We opted for the foie gras and salmon / st jaques as an entree and supreme de poulet and morue (cod) as mains. The minuscule slice of foie gras was unseasoned and the timbale or whatever looked as if it was simply smoked salmon with a small piece of st. jaques wizzed in a blender - served with a little pot of mayonnaise over a pulverised tomato. The main courses were no better. The chicken while cooked through was dry and tasteless and the fact that the skin was uncooked made the dish very unappetizing. The fish was grilled and again unseasoned. Both were served with the same vegetables - puréed carrots and puréed potatoes that had the consistency and taste of baby food. The dessert was a commercial sorbet swimming undelicately in a large plate of juice and the cheese selection had spent so ling in the fridge together that the flavours infused each other. If this is the best that they can do for around 100€ for two they should change their professions. The wine however was excellent as I have come to expect from Chateau Coujan although I find the 300% markup a little excessive.

A light lunch after the Tuesday market evolved into a gastronomic delight. Well worth the 25€ price tag. Started with a duo du salmon on a bed of celeriac topped with a saffron foam, I would dearly love the receipt. Main was filet mignonette de porc on courage spaghetti accompanied by mashed violet potato, jersuelum artichoke and a wonderful fruity jus. Finished with the best cafe goumand I'd ever had.

Lacking in customer care by the waiters who do not scan the restaurant when they exit or enter to check if diners need something. Also they do not check/ask if all is ok when clearing a plate that is only half-eaten. The menu description could be more specific because as non-meat eaters we were disappointed to find the chef had included meat in a fish dish, even though we had advised the waiter we did not eat meat. Quality of the cuisine is very good though and the environment super