Aux Chantignoles

We stayed at the Chateau Montebello for my husband's birthday and had his birthday dinner at Aux Chantignoles. The experience was just okay in terms of both the food and the service. Nothing on the menu was overly inspiring - the soup of the day was a cream of butternut squash with basil oil that was very thin for a cream based soup. The tenderloin fillet was a bit dry despite the fact that Aux Chantignoles classifies itself as a steakhouse and the cheese ravioli was extremely bland. We ordered the chocolate fondant to top off the evening and the house-made ice cream was so difficult and hard to eat it really was not appealing to cap off a birthday evening.

Dinner was great, breakfast not as much. We stayed two nights for the hotel's reopening on July 1st. We really enjoyed our dinner -- food was very tasty, good portions and quality ingredients, and good service. Unfortunately, breakfast didn't meet the same standards -- we both felt we were charged 5-star prices for food that was again generous in quantity but more like any diner with regards to quality. The breakfast service was also very erratic, which we chalked up to the hotel having just reopened that week. So it was 5 stars for dinner and 3 stars for breakfast -- hence the overall 4 stars for this review.

Normally I am blown away by Sunday brunch at the Chateaux. Not so this trip. I think it has mostly to do with the fact that we had the late seating but to say I was disappointed in the extreme is an understatement Let's keep in mind that people who take the late seating pay the same as the early seating so the quality should remain consistent. Everything that spent any time under a heat lamp was dried out and not fit for consumption at the Chateaux which has such high standards otherwise. I have been coming to the Chateaux intermittently for the past 40 years so I am well aware of the benchmark. Please take the above noted criticism constructively as it is meant as such. I will still be coming back.

Absolutely fantastic dining experience, great food and the staff were phenomenal! The waiter went above and beyond and treated my five year old son like a million bucks.