Prairial

When on a food tourism trip through France, Lyon is a mandatory stop and one of the cities dozens of Michelin rated restaurants is similarly mandatory. We were delighted to be able to make a reservation for dinner at Prairial just a couple days in advance when we passed through Lyon last month.

I've been to a few Michelin restaurants in the US but this was my partner M's first time experiencing Michelin food and I'm glad to say he did not at all feel like I over-hyped the experience.

We opted for the full tasting menu with drink pairings and were not disappointed. I think the sentence uttered most frequently throughout our dinner was "okay no I think this course is my favorite now." pretty much every time a new dish was delivered to the table. That said, a few weeks post-meal I'm still thinking about the gray trout, the pike and the veal courses specifically. We were resupplied with slices of a hearty but mild bread to soak up every drop of the various sauces.

The menu was very fish heavy so if you're not a fish person this might not be the spot for you. That said, this was the best fish I've had in my life so maybe it's worth a try if you ~think~ you don't like fish but haven't had any prepared by a truly next level chef. The only course we didn't love was a celery-centric vegetarian course that we both found to be quite bitter. I also liked but didn't love the dessert courses.

The drink pairings were truly perfect matches for each course however we did feel like the flavor profile of the various wines were often quite similar. Think wild, unfiltered, organic, earthy, funky, yeasty flavor profiles. I loved them but M thinks he would have preferred just picking a bottle we know we like that's mild enough in flavor profile to pair with everything.

Given the price, this is for sure a special occasion destination (our only Michelin dinner during our 10 drive through France), but we don't regret a single penny (are they still called pennies when the currency is Euros?). 100% recommend a stop at Prarial.

The boyfriend and I had a fantastic meal here a few weeks ago, in this beautiful and ultra modern restaurant in the heart of Lyon. I had specifically chosen this place as it was Michelin-starred restaurant that also had a special vegetarian tasting menu. How could I turn down a chance to dine in a restaurant of this caliber, in the birthplace of modern French cuisine as we know it?

Well, I didn't turn down that chance as I wouldn't be writing this review now. I had made sure to book a reservation here a couple of months out, and I was glad to have done so as every table in the restaurant was taken, and this was on a Wednesday night, too. You get a choice between 3 different tasting menus: a 4, 5, or 7 course tasting menu. Both the bf and I opted for their 5 course tasting, with mine being vegetarian friendly, and his just being regular. They do take in your personal preferences as well, so when I mentioned that I wasn't a fan of carrots, they were considerate enough to not feature any carrots in any of their dishes.

The meal was phenomenal. My personal favorite dishes were the second (which consisted of 3 different raviolis filled with different vegetable fillings, all in a vegetable consommé) and the third (which consisted of morels and asparagus in a foam sauce) courses. Although the menu stated there were 5 courses, there were a bit more, if you counted the different amuse bouches and other such gifts from the chef. The final dessert course was phenomenal, too. Who would've thought to pair together dill, apples, and meringue together?

Alas, the only reason why I am not giving this establishment a full 5 stars is because the service was a bit lackluster, especially towards the end of our meal when we were more than ready to leave. We waited around for MUCH longer than we deemed necessary for our check. Still, I'm going to try to remain optimistic about our time here because this meal was really one of the best I've had in recent memory. Worth checking out if you want to do a fancy meal in this gourmet town.

When in Lyon, be sure to make a few reservations at one of there 20+ Michelin starred restaurants - I chose Prairial and was not disappointed at all, I was actually very impressed that it was just 1 star. All the dishes were very fresh, creative and flavorful. I did the middle tier option, 5 courses with a wine pairings - started with a beautiful 36 hr smoked Tomato with grapefruit followed by 2 dishes of Arctic char (my only complaint was the same fish back to back - both tasted wonderful, but I enjoy more variety), followed by pigeon as the main, and then dessert.

The staff were very friendly and helpful and the atmosphere is also very cute. Would definitely rec

If you'd like poor inattentive service with a strong undercurrent of odd arrogance, this place is for you!
The dishes were ok but reminiscent of Wylie Dufresne in their overly engineered preparation. They also really like to serve things on inedible displays. Really odd.
The wine pairings were weak and they poured a glass of the bottle bottom sediment and when told they simply said, Oh. No action at all to remedy.
The male waiter was a total jerk and really strong-armed tipping. Overall a very regrettable choice. Go to Terrasses à Lyon for a truly world class dining experience.

Just saw a review with "poor and attentive" service. Wow, those folks had to have had a bad night. Our visit there just recently was wonderful. The service was excellent and attentive. The food was creative, fun, and most importantly tasty. Definitely worth a visit.

PRaiRiaL is located in the center of everything, so getting here on foot is easier than by car. We came for lunch, which was a great choice. The decor is light wood with pops of yellow for a light and relaxed feel, and there's a lot of natural light in the restaurant.

They had a 3-course, a 4-course, and the full 6-course tasting option for lunch. We opted for the 4-course to save some time and stomach space.

Amuses:
- Confit tomato and herb tart: the tart crust texture was great on this
- Mousse of smoked eggplant and za'atar in a pillow
- Mustard ice cream and pumpkin soup: I really liked the cool mustard ice cream with the warm creamy soup

1. Mushrooms:
- Wild mushrooms with sabayon, herbs, nuts, and flowers
- Parsnip and cep chip shaped like a leaf: thin, crisp, on point with the flavors
- Mushroom brioche

2. Arctic char with thinly sliced zucchini and an agastache sauce (herb like tasted like anise). The highlight was a red bell pepper / tomato compote on top of the fish.

3. Veal with paparadelle, chanterelles, and hens. The veal was cooked perfectly and was very tender. The pasta is an unusual accompaniment in France, but it worked very well.

4. Quince, agastache, and cep mushrooms: an interesting combination. Not too sweet, lots of textures, perfect to round out the meal with elements of mushroom and anise from earlier in the menu.

Petit fours:
- Tartlet of barley
- Chocolate caramel
- Pear and nuts: a thin dark chocolate shell with a cold pear liquid center
- Apricot and marjoram pate de fruit

It was a good amount of food for lunch. Wine pairings are also a good value. PRaiRiaL was a really nice lunch experience.

They suppose to be Michelin restaurant. But they are not. Just a wanna be. Go somewhere else, plenty of good places in Lyon

The food was fine. Too fancy, where presentation completely takes over contents, but that seems to be the norm in Michelin restaurants today...

The horror happened after dinner. They informed all the clientele that their credit card terminal is broken. Of course nobody had substantial amounts of cash required (our bill for two was EU 230) The best way to handle that? Send customer on a 10 minute walk (in freezing cold) to a cash machine mile away, while keeping wife hostage. No apologies, no discounts for terrible inconvenience. Sorry, Michelin restaurants don't treat customers like that. This place have no idea about service

This restaurant is absolutely worth a stop while you are in Lyon. We attended for lunch and my only criticism is the pacing of courses, it could be a little quicker. Oh and the plate they served ice cream on could have been colder.

But the flavors were on point and their plates were beautiful.

After several tours through the Bouchon bistros and restaurants throughout Lyon, we decided to try something less traditional. Prairial was listed as potentially vegetarian, and for the most part, it was. And it was superb. The staff was delightful. The food was presented in a series of courses from a menu of four main choices.

The fun of it was waiting for the next course to come and be surprised by the freshness and the creativity of the chef. This chef is truly remarkable. Everything was wholesome, inventive and fresh. All we could have hoped for from a detour from heaviness of traditional lyonnaise food. Bravo Prairial!

I have been to a lot of restaurants in NYC, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, London...and this ranks up there with the best.

Your food will be a surprise, Ms. Boinon told us as she handed us the cartes. Guests choose from three formulas with only broad definitions, like the number of servings and whether there will be fish, meat or both. Each party is expected to choose the same formula, with exceptions made for specific allergies or aversions.

Surprised we were, and delighted. Every dish at Prairial, from the first amuse-bouches to the final friandises, burst with freshness, flavor and, yes, creativity. We chose the "Closerie" formula, which promises four "creations" including fish and meat but we got no less than seven or eight servings, some quite small but all with distinctive characters and flavors. Chef Gentil, who briefly emerged from the kitchen at times, makes every ingredient stand out while magically "marrying" them, as in the 36-hour tomato with grapefruit.

The small dining room has a clean modern decor and excellent sound attenuation. Service was well organized and perfectly bilingual French-English. But more than anything, the freshness and flavors of the chef's "creations" made us want to return to Prairial.