Not so much a review as a "heads up" -- avoid Le Tennessee Restaurant (11 Rue Voltaire, 37500 Chinon, France). We ate there on May 21 and we're still talking about it a month later. It was a rainy evening, we were maxed out on fancy French food and looking for a casual dinner. The menu for Le Tennessee was posted outside and the prices were very reasonable. The place was decorated in a southwest/cactus motif which should have tipped us off - I don't think the owner has ever been to Tennessee. A hostess showed us to a booth and then left the restaurant... We were the only patrons. About 5 min later a waiter took our order (2 hamburgers, 1 order of fries to share and 2 cokes). After another 20 min the waiter delivered the biggest hamburgers we had ever seen! Each one was on a round loaf of bread that took up the entire dinner plate; beef patty, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sauce, more bread, another beef patty (think Big Mac on steroids). The burger was OK (not great) but there's no way a person could eat all of that. The final surprise was when the bill came and they charged us $12 euro for a burger we thought was $7 euro. I think it was a scam rather than a mis-communication. I think you can do better than Le Tennessee.
Posted by
Washington
919 posts
The fact that Jack Daniels wasn't available, and the place wasn't festooned in orange and white shoulda been a give-away. ;)
Anyway, sorry it was no Tennessee mountain home!
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32750 posts
I guess you didn't check the Tripadvisor reviews before going? 2.5 out of 5, 41st out of 51 restaurants on TA, with consistent poor reviews in various languages.
I note that they portray themselves as a Texican Mexican restaurant. I wonder how they considered Tennessee in the southwest of cactus land.
Posted by
Nashville, TN, USA
3753 posts
Rachel, you are so right! (Are you from TN originally?) If this place really had anything to do with Tennessee, they would serve barbecue; barbecued anything: pulled pork, ribs or chicken. And the walls would be decorated with guitars and photos of Elvis.
Donna, thanks for the warning on this restaurant.
Posted by
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
8293 posts
Much as I would not eat at a restaurant in Paris called Le Tennessee, I also would not eat at a place called "Le Petit Bistro" in Tennessee.
Posted by
Washington
919 posts
Rebecca,
Grew up about three hours north of Nashville. Which means I was really curious when I walked past a place called the Indiana Club in Paris.
But not curious enough to go in!
Posted by
OP
Ohio
2128 posts
Thanks for your responses. We had had a nice time at a wine tasting earlier that evening and we were just wandering around in the rain looking for dinner. Only a few places were open and I guess we picked the wrong one. I checked Trip Advisor the other night and saw the reviews, too bad we didn't see them before setting out!
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10189 posts
My French husband, who lives in Indiana, took one of our kids to Indiana Restaurant in Paris. He said it was awful. I don't know what he was thinking to go there.