Léon de Bruxelles, Paris

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There are about 9 locations for this mussels restaurant in Paris. We went to the Porte Maillot branch.

Their main course of mussels includes recommendation of wine to go with the mussels you are having.

This chain is French although it sells what is a Northern French/Belgian speciality, namely Moules Frites. It trades on the fame of a renowned Brussels restaurant called Léon (not related). The last and only time I went was a good number of years ago and I liked neither the food nor the service. I absolutely adore mussels when they are super fresh (I sometimes buy them directly from the fishwife in a port) but the ones I was given to eat there were anything but. And the frites which come by the bucketful were the limp industrial kind. The tables were closely packed together and the two women sitting at the next table smoked copiously throughout their meal, with little care about any other diners who might find their smoke unpleasant. Service was slow and uninterested. I'm amazed at the good reviews this chain mostly gets on the site. Does nobody else know what a good mussel should taste like?

Favorite Dish: none

The food was fine, but the service so lacking I must recommend against this restaurant strongly. We were given a poor table, likely because we were a family. Then, we were brought the wrong size beer. After pointing this out, we were still charged for the larger amount. After this was corrected, we noticed on the way out that all the other customers were served pretzels and bread. I pointed this out in the course of lodging a complaint, was told to wait, and when an English speaker arrived was asked "are you waiting for something?" The attitude clearly was: you're tourists, you're not returning, so why should we care? Avoid ths restaurant at all costs, and go to the sort or wonderful restaurants we've frequented over the last two weeks: small brasseries in French neighborhoods where you are the only person who speaks English.

The wait staff and management refer to foreigners as "Pigs". They make snorting pig noises and talk about their customers. One went to my table and took a piece of bread off my plate and put it back in the basket and asked my 14 year old daughter if we were pigs. When we didn't answer..... we were shocked.... he again called us pigs and asked where we were from. It was the first piece of bread we had taken from the basket and we are not over weight. He asked several times "Du bist ein schwein?" "Schwein?" "Wo kommen zie?" Translated to English this is "Are you a pig? Where are you from?" After hearing how they spoke of the other customers as pigs, I instructed my daughter not to answer. Shortly after that management was tied up with one table complaining they were not billed correctly. There were only five tables with people at the restaurant and we were there for only 40 minutes. With all this rudeness in 40 minutes, I would NEVER recommend the restaurant. If they don't like foreigners, they shouldn't be in a tourist spot. My 14 year old daughter and I complained to management when he finished his dispute and he just remarked he understood and did nothing.

Favorite Dish: The mussels are fresh. Bread is old. We don't eat french fries.

MY SMILE SAYS IT ALL!!!! :))))) MMMMMMMMMMMMMMHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH......

There are various restaurants...this one on the picture is the one situated in CHAMPS-ELYSEES
63, av des Champs-Elysées

you can visit their site:
http://www.leon-de-bruxelles.fr/gif/ou/paris.htm

Favorite Dish: Don't rember the name of the one I chose! But if your favourite food is fish this is the right place for you!

For all the mussels lovers who don't want to break a bank, Léon de Bruxelles is THE unavoidable address ( this small Belgo-French chain (in fact the restaurants are franchises : same providers but independant management) features a cooking common in North France/South Belgium).

The restaurants, all over Paris, (and in some province towns as in Bruxelles) offer a large choice in mussels receipes, depending on the season (you can even get mussels in the months whose name doesn't contain a "R" (Mai, Juin, Juillet, Aout = summer, considered low season for this type of food).

A 3 courses meal (a salad + mussels+ fries + a waffle or a tart) is 12-15 Euros

For those not liking mussels, they serve good fish
The fries are "eat as much as you can"
The restaurants are kids' friendly (you can even eat with your fingers if you like)
And the beers' choice is decent

Favorite Dish: Moules marinières and frites of course, and waffles

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This chain have many restaurants in Paris, and if you feel hungry to eat mussels, you can go there, you can find one in each popular district of Paris.

Their Mussels in "cocotte" are great, I've tried almost every specialties (olive oil, curry, cream, etc...) they are great and the unlimited french fries are ok. You can also eat an entrecote if you don't like mussels!

For the dessert, I recommend the waffle, with hot chocolate, chantilly cream and a vanilla ice cream, that is just perfect, moreover prices aren't too high...

Favorite Dish: Curry Mussels

This place was right next to the Le Meridan Etoile, My wife ordered the bucked of mussells and I ordered the Baked. To my suprise when I was done they brought me another plate, They were very good and the price was 11 euros.

Whenever we go to Paris, we go to Leon. The food there has never been dissapointing. The waiters are reasonably friendly, though still the attitude towards English-speaking people are bit bitter. I cannot resist their desserts.

Favorite Dish: Moules ardennaise and thier house rose wine.

This is a chain of restaurants throughout Paris with reasonable prices, large crowds and reasonably good food.

Favorite Dish: I tried the mussels in cream sauce and frites which was pretty good, my husband had calamari which was pretty tasty.