Le Club De La Mer

Visited midday, on a very hot sunny day all the outdoors became a lot of space inside with beautiful view of marina friendly English speaking staff we had the day and nice cold camp, very clean friendly service. small menu like all freshly cooked mainly fish dishes. we were on a cruise that villefranche sur mer thought of a few hours. a good sound.

Unexpectedly good. Had lovely moist roast chicken with fries and salad, roasted courgette and seafood pasta. All delicious and very good price. Would have given 5 stars were it not for the open uncovered salad bar and bread tray which we avoided!

Food not that great.. if your hungry you will enjoy otherwise nothing much.. view, not much of a view. It's blocked by the Fort wall.

I 've lived in Villefranche for many years and had never tried the Club de la Mer (we have our favourites and normally stick to them). Today we decided that we should try it for lunch. Other reviews mention poor, rude service. We did not find this. There were two ladies serving (owner and helper). They may not be natural service staff but they tried their best. We do speak French, which may help, but we could see that as the restaurant filled up they struggled to cope not their fault, but more on of French employment laws where employing extra staff is very expensive. So 8/10 for service. There were 5 'Plat du Jours '. We had the Paella and the fish. Paella was very overcooked and more like a pudding consistency and the fish was overcooked with tired green bean and stodgey rice. The lemon sauce was good enough. Desserts looked bought in and kept in a 1970 's style chilled cabinet. We had a carafe of fair enough wine and water. Chef came out and I think he is the spouse of the owner (or vica versa). So, we have a family run restaurant in a lovely location. The staff try hard but need more help. The cooking is poor. I am sure that he does his best but clearly too much was prepared too far in advance (we were there at the vert start of lunch, not the end), and poorly reheated hence overcooked and stodgy. Quite inexpensive (15 euros for the Plat du Jour) BUT there are many better places for the same money in Villefranche, even though there were many locals in the place.

Had lunch here today with friends from France and the US, the meals were fabulous and I would highly recommend it..I had the Gnocchi 4 Fromage and it was to die for, Don't miss this restaurant in the La Darse section of Villefranche-sur-Mer.