Nice small restaurant in the suburb of Epernay. Max — the owner is a very talkative amusing guy… sometime it takes him top long to get to your table ta take an order because he is chatting to other guests:-) but once he gets there it really worth it. He knows his cuisine and talks great about it. You are sure to choose something nice. The two of us both had a great menu with entrée, main dish, cheese, desert, coffee and a bottle of woderfull champaing, the bill was euro120, and it was all worth it. Excellent food, great ambiance.
Ulrik A.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Trastevere, Rome, Italy
Chez Max is a cozy traditional French restaurant with a cozy ambiance, a friendly and helpful staff and good value for the money. It’s good for either a simple meal or spending a little more for that extra goodness. - Approaching Chez Max, we were a little wary, as it is located just across the river(on the«wrong» side) from the center of Epernay. But our worries were soon blown away by a buzzing cozy atmosphere, lots of people and friendly faces. The décor looks a little like it’s stuck in the eighties with salmon colored walls and high-gloss ceiling and the lighting is bright, but with a warm hue giving the place a cozy and unpretentious air. The service was good humored and nicely paced, we didn’t wait long to order, and each course was served with very pleasant timing. Of course it helped that we watched the preparation of the bœef tartare(more on this later). We almost took one of the set menues, but having been disappointed two nights in a row on similar ones, we opted for the a la carte, and were very happy with that choice. For starters we had goat cheese on toast and scallops carpaccio. The cheese is almost always good, so that was no more or less than we would have expected, but the scallops were finely sliced and marinated in a little oil and herbs. A little lemon would have complimented the taste nicely, but we thought of asking for some way too late. For the main course we had rack of lamb and bœef tartare. The lamb was beautifully cooked to our taste, a perfect rosy color and came with a bit of mashed potatoes, a little ratatouille and a small portion of cabbage, carrots and parsley that all went really well together. The bœef tartare was prepared by Max himself«at the table» which in our case was across the stairwell. As we hadn’t reserved a table, we were seated upstairs sort of behind the staircase with no room on the sides, but that didn’t prevent Max from preparing the tartare sauce at the top of the stairs where we could see. Being huge foodies it was a treat to witness a proper tartare in the making. Both dishes were generously sized, so we were too full to try the cheese plate, even though it looked delicious. We were driving so we only had a single glass of local wine each. Considering the price of € 6 a glass, I would recommend someone in the same situation to look at the half-bottles that ranged from € 15 – 25 instead.
Marilyn W.
Rating des Ortes: 4 New York, NY
My first international review! I know international reviews in Unilocal are very scarce, so I just wanted to put one in for all my Unilocalers out there traveling to France and need some Unilocal love and advice. Just got home from an amazing vacation in France and this place is fresh in my mind and came up as the first place I remembered with fantastic food and service. Chez Max has everything from good food to the very charismatic Chez Max himself. He made my bf and I feel very welcomed and was very amazing. The area around the restaurant was questionable however. Now onto the food: for the 2 of us we ordered the pan seared duck liver(which was one of the most amazing things I’ve eaten since landed in france.) The calf head stew(which is very unique and only for the adventurous) and for the entrée we had the amazing lamb chops. Everything was so delicious, and the night was very memorable!!! If you ever find yourself traveling outside the hustle and bustle of Paris and in Eperny, finish your champagne and go over to chez max, i guarantee you will not be disappointed.
Claudia M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Richardson, TX
They are closed on Wednesdays!!! Called in a reservation as it’s super pack any day during dinner(tourist office can do that for free). Great experience, our dinner lasted about 3hrs, two bottles of champagne rose, rack of lamb, steak with blue cheese sauce, two starters(goat cheese/escargot) and cheese platter. No desert as we were super full. Our reservation was at 8:30 and we closed the place. About 170 euros later, we had one of the best dinners during our trip, if not the best dinner. Host was super kind, friendly and attentive. Can’t get more French than this. We will recommend to our friends that live in Paris for a day trip or overnight stay. Only saw a couple of tourist, plus ourselves, mainly locals and/or Parisians… we will be back!
Baptiste M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 New York, NY
Typical French restaurant with good quality food and a very good quality-price ratio. This place will fulfill all your expectations if you’re looking for an old school French restaurant like in the movies. Service is good and the manager, Max, is really friendly. As starter you’ll have an opportunity to try snails. The«steak tartare», kind of a raw seasonned ground beef served with fries is excellent. If you take one, your tartare sauce will be made at your table by Max.
Chewie
Rating des Ortes: 5 London, United Kingdom
An old school french restaurant like it’s difficult to find anymore nowadays. Quality ingredients and great food at a very reasonable price, the menu is very traditional and local but the best part truly is the service. The team is super friendly, multilingual, they will really take care of you. We went there on a local recommendation and it was absolutely worth it!
Weyder
Rating des Ortes: 4 Arlon, Belgique
un vrai resto de famille ou on s’est régalé une tres bonne adresse un peu de mal pour garer le camping mais bon un brave monsieur nous a indiqué une pretite rue adjacente et on a marché a peine cent metre pour rejoindre le chez max cela valait la peine ca la cuisine de ce chef vaut le detour
Duguer
Rating des Ortes: 4 Ay, Marne
super les qypers vos adresses sont géniales les deux restaurants on les a testé avec mon mari, tous les deux sont bien mais on préfère chez max ou l’ambiance est plus conviviale. Sinon au niveau de la qualité c’est vraiment super tous les deux. Mention super bien pour les touristes qui passent dans cette ville, rendez vous chez max, le patron parle pratiquement toutes les langues il passé de l’anglais au chinois en passant par l’allemand, nous l’avons même entendu deviser avec des touristes japonais c’est vraiment un cas unique. Après avoir rempli notre coffre de champagne chez monsieur Nicaise dans la ville d’Ay nous voila repartis, à bientôt la champagne nous reviendrons cet été en revenant de chez tante Alice qui nous attend pour les vacances dans sa ferme de Teurtheville et à qui nous envoyons de gros bisous. anne gérard billy et noëmie
Devlam
Rating des Ortes: 4 Bruxelles, Belgique
superbe adresse nous y sommes rendus ce weekend avec mon mari contrairement a ce qu’on dit il n’y a pas que des retraités mais beaucoup de jeunes et surtout des touristes étrangers et c’est bien normal vu le rapport qualité-prix la cuisine traditionnelle française et les spécialités champenoise sont un régal personnellement je vous conseille le gâteau de foie au ratafia mon mari à craqué sur un pied de cochon au foie gras et l’addition est légére 70 euros à deux tout compris je vous conseille d’y aller visiter en saison touristique je pense qu’il faut réserver
Nicolas B.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Cuis, Marne
Le restaurant type du retraité: pour vérifier suffit de s’y rendre un Dimanche midi par exemple: moyenne d’age 70 ans. Bien evidemment je n’ai rien contre les personnes agées mais ce restaurant n’évolue jamais: décor retro et vieillot, cuisine avec une carte qui dure au moins depuis. 10 ans, et sans parler su service plus que douteux. Passez votre chemin beaucoup d’autres restaurants meritent plus Votre attention sur Epernay croyez-moi.