Hotel du commerce - St Amour

Excellent end of the trip dinner for two, excellent quality and service. Snails in garlic, duck breast and cheese plate highly recommended. Very good selection of wines.

Today at 8.30 am very tired and hungry after a 10 hours drive. Two couples eat in a dark, depressing room at a very hot evening. I thought I found somewhere open, asked for a table. The hostess laughed. The service is done, we're closed, she told me. It was 8:30 and the other diners obviously hadn't finished eating. She didn't offer a dessert or a salad, cheese plate or something. She just couldn't be disturbed to serve us.

Pont de Vaux may not be a tourist town in itself though its a good place to stop if you are boating on the Saone, or on your way South by car. It boasts several OK ish restaurants but the one to head for is the excellent Hotel...du Commerce. It may sound like the rundown haunt of commercial travelers, and perhaps once it was, but now its formal, slightly old fashioned dining room serves elegant and tasty meals to both locals and holiday makers passing through and commercial travelers too no doubt! The man in the kitchen has interesting ways of presenting Burgundy favourites: the snails come in ravioli served with a light garlic and parsley foam. A dish of scallops with riz de veau might sound odd but I can testify to its deliciousness. Excellent cheeseboard and lovely light puds every course was consistently first rate and the whole meal excellent value. Good, carefully chosen and well priced local wines try the delicious Gérald Talmard from Uchizy, a village just down the road. As important to me as the food and wine is the quality of service. At the Hotel du Commerce the perfect balance prevails cheerful friendliness coupled with professionalism. I'm so glad I'm a local!

We took the menu and could choose from 2 dishes for each course. Beautiful old-style restaurant. Very friendly lady. Good food!

The food was very good and very nicely presented. As I was alone I drank open wine. A glass of passable Macon Rosé and with the main course a very mediocre Macon Red Wine that I did not finish. Seen the quality of the food it seems a shame they do not have a better open wine. Better choose a small bottle and leave some than spoil the meal !The lady who served me was very charming but obviously dogs are not appreciated ! Luckily there were very few people as I am not sure she would have accepted me !Fortunately my dog is very well behaved which I understand is not always the case - that goes for children as well ? !