Gorgeous little restaurant in the tiny village of Aigne - with a terrace outside. The food is excellent, creative without being gimmicky. For example, the chilled gaspacho with basil sorbet is superb. Prices are very reasonable for what you get, and the service friendly.

Firstly let me say that i have given marks on the basis of 5 for a michelin 3 star and good though this restaurant is my marks are consequently lower than many of the others I have seen. A mark of 4 is for me a very good restaurant; a mark of 5 is for an outstanding restaurant and will probably be at least twice as expensive as the Cagarol. My wife and I had sunday lunch and we had a four course meal (including amuse bouche) for 24 euros. The wine is also reasonably priced. Entrees were anchovy sals with peppers(3) and asparagus with ham and parmesan(4.5). Main course was duck with fig sauce(4) and entrecote with minervois sauce(4). Dessert was three different flavoured creme caramel(3.5) and strawberries in licquer with strawberry sorbet (4). The restaurant was absolutely full but the service was prompt, courteous and prompt. Overall very good value with above average food.

There is a restaurant so good in the region that you might expect to find it in London, New York or Paris. In fact, it might be easier to find La Raffinerie in one of these cities, rather than tucked away by the Canal du Midi on the Quai du Pont Neuf in Béziers. However, if you manage to circumnavigate the city’s one-way system you will arrive at a large industrial building, formerly used to crush sulphur shipped from Sicily for distribution in the local vineyards, hence its name. The first impression is of a large purple painted wall, the remnant of an old millstone. Walking into the restaurant, you find yourself in a triangular room, rich and sombre, brown, and with comfortable chairs. Knowledgeable staff is on hand to guide you through the menu, offering French based international cuisine, paying homage to Spanish and Italian cooking. For instance there is black risotto and calamari, or cannelloni made with goat’s cheese on a bed of courgettes and asparagus. There is also pork curry, sea bream, and lamb among the main courses. Portions are adequate rather than ample. The wine list is one of the best in the region, culled largely from the cellar of Philippe Catusse, a Béziers-based supplier who has cultivated many of the best winemakers for a number of years. Take your pick from some of the best Saint Chinians’, Faugères’, or Roussanne’s, ranging from €16-€24. Probably better value is Domaine de l’Arjolle’s Clos St Gabriel at €14.50. Wine boffs might baulk at the fact that there is not a bottle of Burgundy or Bordeaux in sight, but it proves that you don’t have to go outside of the region to drink well. It is no surprise to see the mayors of Béziers and Pézenas dining there, as well as a healthy sprinkling of local winemakers and local bourgeoisie. Holidaymakers lured by the bright lights of the coast are missing a treat, particularly eating out on the terrace at night overlooking the canal. The huge plane trees are theatrically lit, attracting a cloud of moths and bats that provides a cabaret of romance. Fancy a pudding? You can choose from crème brulée, pot au chocolat, fruits and sorbets. Coffee? It is good and strong. The cheese board, like the wine list, is culled from a good regional selection. The owner and manager claims that his inspiration for the place came from Chez Philippe, the celebrated restaurant in Marseillan. Here you can catch a waiter’s eye and he will actually respond rather than wink at you. For our money, Stefan has improved on the original, bringing flair, along with good manners and service to La Raffinierie. If this refined version maintains its dazzling start, this will be a place for many a memorable lunch and dinner. As yet, it is not booked up months in advance, but make sure you go there while you can still get a table. Prices around €25 per head including coffee.

I agree this is a great place to eat, and have had some very good food here. My only complaint is the service I had, I called on a saturday night to book a table for three and asked to arrive as late as possible (not a good start in France) but they took my booking for 9pm and we arrived on time. We had a very warm welcome and were shown to the table...after that it all went down hill fast, our waiter was clearly not happy at having to serve us so late, no smiles at all from him, he even started to clear the plates before my partner had finished eating. It spoiled what would have been a great evening, It's the first time in my life I have left and not given a tip! I would go back but with a grudge and that's not what it's about. So if you go, go early and you will maybe have the service you are paying for!!

The situation is perfect: canal-side setting with plane trees and so quiet it's hard to realise that Beziers' railway station and main through road are 100 m away. The restaurant is converted from an old sulpher refinery (sulphur for spraying vines against fungus). The decor can only be described as "stark" with the only decoration a pair of pictures of Bull-fighters with totally morose countenances. The staff at La Raffinerie take their cue from the Bull-fighters - no-one smiles and the woman behind the bar smokes constantly. The place was full of young black-suited Beziers salesmen on expenses which may tell you something. The lunch menu seemed a trifle pricey at €20 for two dishes (entree+plat chaude or plat chaude+dessert). I ordered smoked salmon followed by fish - Dorade. The smoked salmon was miniscule, around 12 grammes I'd say, and served on top of a sodden blini. I couldn't eat the blini and the salmon disappeared in one-and-a-half mouthfuls. When the Dorade appeared I thought they had served the wrong fish. It looked like boiled hake with the skin still attached on one side. (You can leave skin on some fish as long as it's fried - but boiled? No!) I'd ordered a half-bottle of St Chinian rosee but there arrived a Vin du Pays Doc. La Raffinerie must do better than this.

There has been much talk recently about Muslim integration into French society. It is hard for an outsider to see whether this is happening. However, compared to Britain - which has seemingly done rather well in integrating its immigrant population - one is struck by an overwhelming fact. What is Britain’s national dish? Fish and chips? Steak and kidney pudding? Actually it’s chicken tikka masala - as former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook famously attested to in his speech on immigration a few years back. It is now a rite of passage for young Brits to gather in Indian curry houses of an evening. This may have started out as a lark, or simply because there was nowhere else that stayed open late and served edible food. But the fact that Brits were prepared to eat curry, rice and popadoms showed a certain tolerance towards its immigrants, and may have helped them feel welcome. In contrast, in France, you struggle to find anywhere that even serves couscous. The last foreign dish the French adopted was probably Chicken Kiev, and that was centuries ago. Maybe it takes French palates a couple of generations to adapt to new tastes. But in the meantime, where do five million Muslims from North Africa go for dinner? Around Béziers, the discerning few go to Le Couscous Royal, where one can enjoy a Maghreb dinner of high quality and few pretensions - reminiscent of a curry house in a provincial English town. Hidden away in the old town of Béziers, just around the corner from the cathedral, it sounds like it has been nicknamed by Quentin Tarantino. The décor is North African, and the lighting bright rather than subdued. But the crowd that gathers is lively. They enjoy the large portions, the Moroccan wine with its unpronounceable and forgettable name, and the stewardship of its jolly manager. She will advise you to cut back on the order if you try to order too much food, as we did. Many of the dishes on the menu, such as the tagine, can only be ordered at the weekend and 24 hours in advance. However, the couscous is always available, served with chicken, meat or merguez sausages. If you need more sauce you will be given it. Going to Le Couscous Royal may be a small step in showing solidarity with France’s Muslim population, but it is also an enjoyable way to spend an evening. Price around €20 per person

In a pretty Midi village with a lovely outside terrace giving views towards Capestang and the mountains. The 23 euro menu offers a good choice of freshly cooked and well presented food. There is a good selection of regional wines plus aoc house wines available. Open from Easter - Toussaint, reservation advisable.

You can't expect too much from Asian restaurants in France, let alone Languedoc, but this Thai restaurant in the centre of Beziers is not bad at all - and a very welcome relief to months of French food. The dishes aren't terribly authentic and not hot at all, and probably as Chinese as they are Thai (I imagine the owners are Vietnamese) but the ingredients were good and fresh, and the food very tasty and quite diverse. The parwns in sweet chili sauce were delicious - large, plump and juicy, and the fried chicken in lemon sauce was also very good. The staff are very friendly, and the manageresse lots of fun - espeically when she proudly brough out her collection of pornographic shot glasses - it was a nice touch of 'Pat Pong' to round a good evening off...

David and Christelle will welcome you with open arms. Live music on Friday nights. Booking required. Great dishes of the day all prepared from fresh ingredients. Interesting wines of the week.

If you want a change from the often dour decor of most Languedoc restaurants, then this is the place to come for a little glamour. Set in a renovated wine cave, with high wood ceilings, modern art, and north-african inspired decor, you'll feel more like you're in a sophisticated London eatery than in a suburb of Beziers. The food is very respectable, though nothing amazing. The menu is fixed each night (so be sure to ask when you call to book) and you'll pay a fixed fee for food, wine and coffee (unless you want to order extra wine). It's also quite modern and fun - so one evening we had sushi for starters followed by a Moroccan tagine. But it's the decor and music and lighting that really make this place special - the sort of spot you might come to for a birthday with friends. But do book, as it fills up quickly.

Absolutely gorgeous style - wrought iron with coloured concrete, lots of greenery with plants both indoors and out, plus bright colours in the dressing fabrics to set it all off. Unfortunately this restaurant is let down by its rather off-hand treatment of its clientele. We were not told on booking that there is only ONE choice per course unless when you call you ask what's on the menu that day and then actually specify a dislike for this and negotiate an alternative - within their choice of propositions! The owner had the gall to say to us that he was not there to work too hard! No menu is offered on arrival and therefore you have no idea of the price. We were served an ok smoked salmon canelloni, followed by a plate of boring stuffed 'pintade' (chicken) with overcooked and very hard potato skins with bitter courgettes. Two cheeses followed (goats and Tomme de Savoie), then a quite nice summer fruits panna cotta. The wine choice, as you can probably imagine by now, was limited to either 'white, red or rosé'. We had the rosé. Finished off by two coffees. The bill? 74 Euros!!!! What a rip-off. I would choose the Entrepots or Octopus any time over these snooty, albeit stylish, restaurateurs.

Something quite special when you walk in. Food is good but you need to like surprises as you get what you are given - no choices apart from desert. Relaxed, friendly service. All main courses are served in targines which gets a little boring if you are a resident.

Traditional restaurant on banks of Canal du Midi.Good standard of food and excellent service overseen by the ever smiling Bruno.Very popular, must reserve table.

Great situation next to Canal du Midi. In summer, the terrace is always busy and you must reserve if you would like to eat outside. Excellent food with very friendly service.

Beautiful setting, good food for adults, but NO KIDS MENU and even worse, they wouldn't put themselves out to do anything kids would like. My 9 year old son was offered steamed fish and mash! When we asked for ketchup (a normal thing with kids after all!) the head waiter went mad and said "not in my restaurant"! Put us off, wouldn't go again, also pricey.

Tea, Coffee and beautiful cakes made in their own Boulangerie-Patisserie, served in a friendly atmosphere. Situated just off the main square.

I'm stretching the definition of restaurant here: a "restaurant" is where you go to "restaurer" yourself when jaded. Grand Frais in Narbonne is a store where you can buy a truly breathtaking selection of fresh vegetables, fruit and meat. It opened 14 months ago and has already made Carrefour and Geant look like Somerfield. Six or seven types of tomato: six varieties of mushroom: every herb you can think of: chirimoyas (custard apples) from Spain: pineapples: cheeses "fermier": five types of melon: every conceivable green or root vegetable: the list goes on. Customer service is exemplary - ask if a melon is ripe, they'll cut one open for you. This is my type of "restaurant".

Beautifully situated small restaurant on side of Canal.Run by delightful young enthusiastic couple from Paris. The set menu has 3/4 choices in each category and is E29 Recommend the Cauliflour Soup, Quail, and chocolate desert as being perfect, an Amuse Bouche and a Trou Normand are also included in the Set Menu.Well worth a visit. Easy Parking. Closed Wednesdays.

We had a delightful meal -- nicely served and beautifully presented. The restaurant is pleasantly decorated and the tables are set, so that one can have conversation without being overheard. The €29 menu is good value and it was a diffucult choice among the three main courses -- lemon sole, duck and veal. We chose the lemon sole, as it is rare to find this fish on menus here. We will return soon!

Having spent a week in Poilhes we went to the restaurant twice, great food and wine, we tried the 18 euro menu the trout was excellent great value for money.

We stayed in this area for 4 weeks in May 08 and this was by far the best restaurant .The food was superb and the service was great .We thought both menus were good value for money .

This most French of French restaurants offers some truly spectacular food - the sort you'd probably pay a small fortune for in London or Paris. But the €28, €38 and €54 menus are really very reasonable when you consider the quality of the fare. After a d'amuse bouche of frothy cream of artichoke broth with nut oil and hazlenuts, I dove into a delicious starter of foie gras, boudin (blood sausage) on top of mashed potato and a glazed slice of apple. My main of pigeon breast (incredibly tender) and livers was also superb. After a pre-dessert the ordered deserts looked like something out of the museum of modern art - very architectural and spectacular and very rich. Unfortunately, like so many French restaurants, the ambiance was lacking. The decor, strangely circa 1985, felt more like a dated office suite than a restaurant. And the service was very formal and stilted, lots of grastronmic deferance and pomp and circumstance. Overall, though, I don't mind sitting in an office and waited on by nervous staff when the food was quite this superb. I haven't had food any better than this anywhere in Languedoc. If they could just move the whole thing into a space more fitting, with heavy wood panneling, perhaps, antiques and an open fire, it would be perfect. I have to add that this is also a place for the wine connoisseur. The wine list is an impressive book with a fantastic collection of wines from all regions and this is backed up with knowledgable Somellier. We chose a wonderful AOC Chablis Grossot to go with the starters (most of the party was eating fish) followed by 1995 Hermitage Grippat and then an excellent local Pinot Noir from Bedarieux, VDP d'OC Clovallon 2005. A place for a celebration or just that special occasion.

If you are looking for a typical french style bistro...then this is it. The decor is lovely, complete with red check table cloths. Food and service are both very good, we arrived Saturday evening around 9.30 the place was buzzing with families, couples old and young and all french, whch we took as a good sign.

Right beside the famous Les Halles indoor market this restaurant is very popular with locals, particularly at lunch time, serving traditional French cuisine from a selection of set menues and an excellent a la carte, closed Sundays and Mondays, arrive before 12.30 if you want lunch.

We always visit this restaurant when in Narbonne. The service and the food are excellent. The steaks are fantastic.

This is one of our favourite restaurants. The cuisine is extremely good and of very high quality. We go there regularly for lunch after shopping, as it is close to Les Halles. The menu though small is satisfyingly innovative and the specials absolutely deserving of the name. Real favourites are prawns with coconut milk risotto and lasagne of moules in a citronella sauce. Every visit is a true gourmet experience. We cannot recommend Le Petit Monmartre highly enough

This is one of our favourite restaurants. The cuisine is extremely good and of very high quality. We go there regularly for lunch after shopping, as it is close to Les Halles. The menu though small is satisfyingly innovative and the specials absolutely deserving of the name. Real favourites are prawns with coconut milk risotto and lasagne of moules in a citronella sauce. Every visit is a true gourmet experience. We cannot recommend Le Petit Monmartre highly enough

Everything about the evening meal we recently had at le Petit Monmartre was excellent. There was a small unpretentious menu of top quality food cooked to perfection. We are very grateful to the previous review which prompted us to visit and we'll most definately be back.

Visited a few lunchtimes in August 2009 on the recommendation of this website. Food was excellent, the owner was charming (despite limited English) to our 10 year old son. In the evening ambience may well rate a 5. Thoroughly recommend this restaurant.

We decided to try this restaurant, because we had read about the chateau's recent renovation. Sitting outside on the terrace, we had a tasty and enjoyable lunch. The first sign of the excellent service was -- without a request -- moving a nearby umbrella to assure that it and our umbrella together kept us in the shade. While the menu at a fixed price of €26 is not inexpensive, it did include a novel concept -- the ability to enjoy at least five of the chateau's wines as a "wine buffet" -- without any limitation. The courses were served smoothly at a nice pace. The Caesar salad and the fish dish (a piece of dorade and lieu) were among the highlights of our lunch dishes. We plan to return!

Excellent food as the Chef, Jean-Marc has previously worked in 3-star Michelins restaurants as well as spent 15 years in Asia, working in 5-star Hotels. On the menu, we can find fresh seafood and freshly grilled meat on skewers. Service is friendly and attentive, which is run by his wife, a Chinese from Malaysia. The restaurant is open everyday except Wednesday and Saturday Lunch.

Of course, I forgot to mention that Jean-Marc & Rachel both speak excellent English, which is a great help in France.

Just a short note to inform everyone that the Appaloosa Restaurant is now open on Wednesday for Lunch & Dinner. Closing day is Monday.

Pls note that our Restaurant is closed on Tuesday. From October to June, we are also closed on Saturday Lunch. Thank you.

Very good quality food beautifully presented, with two or three amuse bouche. Extensive wine list from local chateau. We have eaten here over a period of 5 years and never been disappointed. About €35 per person incl wine and champagne aperitif.

Attractive roadside restaurant in the busy town of Gruissan. Shaded seating outside. Interesting salads and good selection of fish dishes. Pleasant service reasonable prices. Reserve at the week-ends.