The heading of the daily menu read: ‘menu du jour’ 16 Euro for ‘plat and dessert’. The restaurant opened for lunch at 12 noon; we arrived at about 15 minutes past the hour. The main courses are priced between 12 and 14 Euro; the desserts are all 4.50. We sat outside in the lovely shaded square, one of Toulon’s 200+ fountains trickling gently. There were a few other restaurants on the square. All were about half full for Tuesday lunchtime. We wanted duck, which was listed on the menu at 14 Euro; it was sold out already. How could that be? we asked. We received no explanation, only that it was already gone. (We saw three portions at a table of eight that was seated before us; we saw no one else having duck.) We were disappointed. We ordered main courses of Loup and Beef Burger. They were both enjoyable but not what we were hoping for. We ordered desserts, one of which was a strange tiramisu with bits of Oreo cookies. We had a small pitcher of wine with our meal. We were presented with our bill where we were charged the full price for our main courses (one was 13 Euro and the other 14 Euro) and the desserts at 4.50 each. We questioned this and were shown that on the lower half of the reverse side of the menu was an explanation that the ‘menu du jour’ price of 16 Euro was only valid for the main courses priced at 12 Euro. (With the desserts priced at 4.50, this represented a saving of only 50 cent which made it negligible at best.) It also stated that the main courses with an asterisk were not included with the ‘menu du jour’, even though there were no asterisks next to any of the main course dishes. We pointed out the inaccuracy to the server, and then to the manager. After a few moments discussion the manager abruptly snatched our bill and scurried to the cash area. The server returned with a new bill with an amended price that reflected a proper ‘menu du jour’ price at 16 Euro for main course and dessert. We are unsure whether the menu is deliberately misleading or not; we were confused by it and offer this narrative to assist future diners (and hopefully to persuade the restaurant to ensure his menu is clear). One last question for the restaurant: why so few duck servings?
