Courte Paille - Pierre-Bénite

Nice restaurant and good food. Friendly staff and fast service

This place seems like the French version of a family-style restaurant, a type of eating establishment of which we have a plethora of examples in the US. These are not as common in Europe, I have noticed. At the same time, it almost had the feel of a rest-stop restaurant one might find along the highway. It was convenient as a lunch spot for us, however, as it was located in an industrial area where we had our afternoon appointment. The facility was architecturally different from most. The stand-alone building had a rounded facade and was set up off the ground such that one has to walk up a flight of stairs to reach it. There was a cozy, narrow dining area that ran along the rounded face of the building. The windows were more than ample to let in a copious amount of natural light, and also provided a view of the parking area and the surrounding industrial landscape. There was a wall that separated this closed-in room from a much more open seating area. So it was almost two dining spaces in one restaurant. The service seemed OK, though it was very hard to find our original waiter to get our bill at the end. The menu offered standard French-style Euro options. My colleague and I both tried the Caesar Salad, which was quite good. The odd thing was that the salad was preceded by small dinner salad. So a salad starter for a salad! We could only deduce that it was a standard starter for all lunch-time orders. Nonetheless, we were both happy with our choice because it was a perfect amount of food for lunch and was reasonably tasty. The bill, with water to drink and finishing coffees, was €38.40. This was about $42.50 USD with the exchange rate at the time. At $21.25 USD per person, I quite frankly thought it was a bit expensive, even considering it was France/Europe. For what the restaurant was, I would have expected it to be not quite so expensive. This, and the fact that it was honestly nothing special, led me to give this place a 3-star rating. If you are in the area and need a lunch spot, I would not say this is a bad choice. But I would also not give it a rousing endorsement.

Crowded place, medium quality food, long time to get your order, convenient if you have business in this zone.

A large MERCI to the thousands of customers who have come throughout his years in the short-size restaurants. A great MERCI to the various teams that allowed Pierre-Bénite's shortcut to serve all our customers with a smile. It was a pleasure to be the shortcut director Pierre benite during his 9 years. Wonderful moments of sharing with my teams. Goodbye.

No motivation of staff must be said that the restaurant definitely closes on 15 June 2023