Marius Pornic

The restaurant is at the river front, but the view is semi-blocked by strollers. Marius honours french cuisine with local ingredients. Its courses are well made... read more The restaurant is at the river front, but the view is semi-blocked by strollers. Marius honours french cuisine with local ingredients. Its courses are well made, well presented and well balanced, with a whiff of creativity. If you have a dislike of overly fat dishes, you will feel good about the menu. The bread is especially good in a country where bread is usually good already. The wine menu is quite excellent. There is a good choice, in harmony with its menu, with a fair choice of wine by the glass. Moreover, it pays attention to the producers and their goals. There is a superb collection of local wines, centred on the Muscadet grape. I would have loved to have a tasting, but these wines were available only by the bottle. A bad miss, since the most interesting aspect of the collection is the subtle nuances you can only appreciate by tasting the wines side by side. Fortunately, we could order a very rare Muscadet moelleux by the glass as apéritif. It was delightful. The staff is courteous and attentive. I appreciated the interior, art déco, as used on the big ocean liners constructed and maintained in nearby Saint Nazaire in the previous century. Admire the bar and take a look at the big lamp on the ceiling!

Beautiful former casino by the harbour. High ceilings and open windows. Art Deco interior and modern French cuisine. Busy so definitely book ahead to avoid disa... read more Beautiful former casino by the harbour. High ceilings and open windows. Art Deco interior and modern French cuisine. Busy so definitely book ahead to avoid disappointment.

As others have said, this is an island of class in an ocean of mediocre moules frites waterside restaurants. We had a superb lunch outside, with tablecloths, cl... read more As others have said, this is an island of class in an ocean of mediocre moules frites waterside restaurants. We had a superb lunch outside, with tablecloths, cloth napkins, uniformed servers, comfortable cushioned chairs, quality glasses, chilled carafe water, excellent (home made bread. And the food was good too straightforward assiettes de fruits de mer, but all good. We immediately booked for dinner the same evening, inside. We had high expectations, so were very disappointed when it didn’t live up to our hopes. The interior decor is spectacular, dark turquoise walls with gold lamps and fittings, lots of huge mirrors. Unfortunately, the expanse of hard flat surfaces makes the acoustics terrible; quite impossible to hear or understand our (masked waitress. Service was good but a bit abrupt. We had barely opened the menus when the waitress arrived, took our order for a couple of glasses of champagne, and at the same time tried to take our food order. She returned a couple of minutes later, without the fizz, and took our order. The fizz was a long time coming, indeed we worried that our starters would arrive first, but it was ok, we had our fizz comfortably before the food. Though it came without any nibbles, only some bread (which is excellent bread, but not what you want with a glass of champagne . The food was the disappointing bit. I had the sushi starter, good but 95% rice with only tiny pieces of various bits of seafood. My wife had what was supposed to be “gravlax” which wasn’t. We both had an Iberico pork main, which was the toughest pork we have ever eaten, accompanied with a reasonable selection of vegetables, but all rather under seasoned and very dry. We did have an excellent €40 bottle of Crozes Hermitage. (The wine list is long but even more heavily biased towards local (Loire wines than usual, so limited choice if they are not your favourite. The cheese selection is, unusually, your own selection from a list of about 8, at €3 per (overly generous portion. A good system, tho’ would be better with smaller portions of better cheeses. My dessert was a chocolate entremet; ok, but I’ve had much better. It’s not expensive our 3 courses champagne wine was €126. The evening was enjoyable, but the food was not good. All in all, it was a very disappointing meal, doubly so because our expectations were so high. It has the potential to be so much better. The food needs to match the ambitions of the establishment. The place must be a gold mine; most tables around us were turned during the evening, and the place was as packed as it could be (Covid capacity 100 covers inside? .

Everythings perfect when we go to the marius. Servers are young but very professional. The food is good and prices are reasonable. read more Everythings perfect when we go to the marius. Servers are young but very professional. The food is good and prices are reasonable.

For those visiting Pornic, this restaurant stands out as an oasis of class amongst the many crowded cafe plastic table restaurants along the main harbour. Durin... read more For those visiting Pornic, this restaurant stands out as an oasis of class amongst the many crowded cafe plastic table restaurants along the main harbour. During this covid summer we went inside and found tables well spaced high ceilings and a bit if the Belle Époque style to the restaurant. Food was very good, prices extremely reasonable and the ambience fabulous. What a great, perefect even, mid summer lunch on a picture perfect Breton harbour. We will be back!