La Corniche - Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val

Engagingly eccentric and alluringly authentic, it epitomises la France profonde of dreams, myth and legend. Le patron appears to do everything himself, being both cook and waiter, yet has time to discuss the food and expand on his philosophy with his clientèle. The set menu encompassed four courses: soupe, entrée, plat and fromage or dessert, with three little extras before or between courses, just for the joy of the thing. The whole atmosphere is that of delight in the home-made, the delicious, the local, and the available: M. Corbeau has a real gift for la cuisine and glories generously in it.

Fourth visit in as many years and a combination of many previous comments: fantastic location, traditional feel and delicious food. HOWEVER the patron's standards left much to be desired: Charlie Chaplin meets Basil Fawlty! Obviously plastered when we arrived at 7.20pm: nearly knocked himself unconscious when he walked into the door-frame of the kitchen as he went to get us a menu. Dining room occupied by a group of 4 French, 4 British , my wife and me. He was struggling on his own to run the restaurant AND the kitchen however consumption of his own cellar's produce didn't help: cutlery dropped, retrieved and wiped on sleeve, orders taken twice, orders forgotten, bread appeared as an afterthought, water delivered to empty tables. Sounds of cooking from the kitchen interspersed with the glug of another glass being loaded and the bottle being put down. Time of departure: 10.30! I don't think we will bother again, life's too short to waste on an evening like this.

Great romantic setting for couples. Great authentic food. Brilliant view over the gorge. Drive downhill away from the corniche on the way home.

It was my birthday and we had booked a table for 7.30pm. We were shown to our table on the terrace and were the only people there. Before taking our order for drinks or anything he chatted to us for half an hour about Nelson before another french couple arrived. He then transferred his attentions onto them for the next hour. Meanwhile we sat there with not even a carafe of water, bread, or anything. Finally water was put on our table around 9pm and he took our order. We received a cold gazpacho tasteless soup around 9.30, and our starter of foie gras (which was nice) around 10pm. 99% of the time he was still sat down talking to the couple on the other table. They were obviously unhappy about this but being polite, the woman being mostly silent while he was there, but as soon as he went the couple spoke in hushed tones with incredulous looks on their faces. Finally around 10.45 we received our main course. As this was the only hot cooked part of the whole meal we were looking forward to it. However both my duck and my husband's agneau were very overdone. The duck was tough and dry, the potatoes tough and dry, bullet hard carrots, and very little of the cèpes sauce. It was a struggle to eat it. Now at 11.15 we were so drained from the whole uncomfortable and weird experience that we decided to skip dessert and get our chèque book out to pay. He dragged himself away from the other poor couple's table, did produce our bill, seemed marginally bothered that we weren't staying for dessert but clearly conversation with our poor neighbours was more important. He didn't once ask us how our food was, whether we enjoyed it or needed anything. We wrote the cheque and made our escape through the garden gate. We were horrified that this sole propriétaire/chef/waiter could think that this behaviour was in any way acceptable. A weird experience. One to avoid.

We and our fellow diners have eaten here many times: as couples; with young children; and most recently as a party of six celebrating a special birthday. It was a great choice for a special meal the location is fabulous and the food was excellent. I note that there are a few unfavourable comments below but this has never been our experience, the standards of service and food have been always been consistently excellent.