Warning over Paris restaurant 'scam' as travellers shame 'tourist trap' near the Eiffel Tower
One holidaymaker shared their experience of a restaurant in Paris and spent €15 on food, only to be left disappointed.
Alongside a photograph of a generous portion of spaghetti, with several pieces of bacon and what appeared to be a raw egg yolk on top, they posted on Reddit: '€15 Spaghetti Carbonara from an Italian opposite the Eiffel Tower…'
Many other users weren't impressed with the sight of the spaghetti dish.
One quipped: 'They got halfway through making it. And just gave up.'
But another blamed the original poster, adding it was down to the 'tourist trap' location they'd chosen to dine at.
'Sad,' they commented. 'Tourist trap? Yeah... opposite the Eiffel Tower is probably tourist trap.'
Someone else shared their advice, recommending people avoid venues near big attractions.
'Never eat at any restaurant near any tourist hotspot,' they said.
'They get such a volume of single time customers they have zero incentives to deliver anything remotely resembling quality food.'
Another Reddit user agreed: 'Restaurants near monuments in France are mostly tourists traps. Also why ordering Italian Food in France, sacrebleu?'
Another person said: 'As someone French rule of thumb avoid any restaurant close to the Eiffel Tower they're just there to scam tourists.'
Meanwhile, another person defended the meal somewhat, and explained that it's common to cook carbonara in that way.
'In France when we make carbonara at home it's usually expected to be exactly that, even if we know it's completely different to the actual real Italian carbonara,' they said.
'It's a cheap easy homemade recipe that's delicious: just put some lardons on a pan (lardons are like diced bacon, very common in supermarkets), and when it's cooked add some heavy cream.
'Serve on the pasta with a raw egg yolk and maybe some grated cheese (ideally parmesan).
'However it would be unacceptable in a restaurant, because it's both a wrongly named dish and a cheap student dish.'
Another said: 'In France they just often just throw an egg yolk on a carbonara...'
Meanwhile, a local echoed that such dishes are often served in a similar fashion.
They said: 'The pork doesn't look good (it looks like it was cooked in water alongside the pastas), but as a French myself I must say we often top our pasta with a raw yellow egg, no one else does that?!'
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