In a large and unusual space, the Alcazar was originally founded by Terrence Conran 20 years ago. Now, the restaurant and cocktail bar has had a major facelift, including almost as many tropical plants as Kew Gardens!

The setting is impressive, but how is the food? Here’s our review.

You shouldn’t underestimate the Alcazar because of its rather discrete entrance on rue Mazarine – as soon as you enter, the corridor gives an undeniable feeling of depth, followed by a great reveal once you enter the main room, with its glass ceiling and two floors of lush plants.
The lighting is low, there are even darker spaces for an extra-secret rendezvous, and tables in the centre of the room where you’ll be able to hear every word your neighbour says (pretty much a Parisian tradition).

We found the tables here to be a little too cramped and small for our liking (to such a degree that we had to place some items on the next table), and the noise of conversation during the evening can reach impressive levels, so be prepared. If you want more space, less noise and flattering lighting (i.e. extremely low), choose a table near a wall.
And if you don’t like the look of the ground floor, there’s always upstairs in the balcony bar (which usedot be called la Mezzanine de l’Alcazar). This is where you’ll find the cocktail bar, DJ and a room off to one side that can be privatised for large parties.

With the glass roof, view of the main room and forest of plants we felt quite at ease, but this ‘lush’ style is a bit of a fad in Paris at the moment, and some may find it a little over the top.
Whatever your appreciation of the interior design, you can see that someone took a lot of effort over it, but is the same true of the cuisine ? First, let’s just say that the prices at the Alcazar are a little over the average for the area, with starters costing between 10€ and 18€ (if you ignore the tartare at 47€ and caviar at 72€ !) and main course between 22€ and 41€.

For our first course, we went for the chilli crab cake with homemade spicy ketchup. Although sweetly presented, it was our first disappointment of the evening, with no kick (despite the description) and little bite. Instead of being light and crunchy, it was a tasteless blob of no consistence, dribbling with oil, which is exactly what we told the waiter when he asked us. 🙂

Shame. As they say, you never get a second chance to make a first impression…
For our main courses we chose the roast cod with cabbage, clams and mussels, and the vegetarian dish which they have names ‘stuffed Paris mushroom and pot of vegetables’.

The cod was perfectly cooked, with a tasty sauce that helped us forget the wishy-washy dish that had come before. As for the vegetables, they were wonderfully crunchy and served in a delicious foamy butter sauce. An extra mushroom would have been nice (there was only the one), and some might say that 22 euros is a little steep for a few vegetables.

A special mention goes to the homemade chips (or french fries for our American friends) – thick, crunchy, well presented and only 5 euros! Bravo.
And to round off our meal, we chose a single dessert – Caribbean chocolate tart with blood orange sorbet.

Alas, the tart looked like it had come from the boulangerie next door. The sorbet was lovely, but all that was a little disappointing for the most expensive dessert on the menu 🙁
It has to be said, our night at the Alcazar came little over a month after their reopening. Perhaps the problems we encountered are kinks they are still ironing out?

For example, when we arrived and said we had a reservation, two other members of staff butted in one after the other and asked us “Are you here for the photo exhibition opening”? They meant well, but the person we were with was handling things fine already.

Also, during our meal the lighting kept going up and down as if a drunk rugbyman had found the dimmer switches and was having fun playing with them. By the end of the evening, the level of lighting was almost dangerously low.

And yet, this all-in-one space has a lot to offer, with some secluded corners, a bar for drinks before or after dinner, a DJ for a few dignified dance steps (there’s no dancefloor as such), and interesting interior design. Let’s let the Alcazar mature a little and hope that become a genuinely warm space rather than HQ for the pretentious.

The Alcazar (here) is open Tuesday – Saturday from midday – 2am

Telephone: +33 (0)1 53 10 19 99

Online booking here

Website (with awful English): www.alcazar.fr

Facebook: facebook.com/restaurantalcazar

Twitter: twitter.com/Alcazaresto

To check out all our photos of the Alcazar, click here.