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Image by Delphine Rieder
This amazing place is located in Rue de L’Ecole de Médecine in Plainpalais, a street where there are a few great bars on its two sides. It has been built, as the legend says, by three excited friends after a bet that they made. The music is always nice. Of course, the café is peaceful and quiet during the morning and the afternoon and is much more crowded I would say starting 06:00pm. I spent some of my most unforgettable nights there… It’s really close to Uni Mail (see the Unimail article), that’s why so many students come running to this place to enjoy their drinks, especially at night. For lunch, they always serve some delicious and original meals, and their student-formula is really attractive. At night, they have nice tapas with good beer from one of the longest and most diversified beer lists that I have seen in Geneva. From time to time, they have parties in there, where everyone is dressed up for the occasion. The staff is always nice, helpful and funny. They also have a great selection of teas, coffees and craft syrups. You can finish up by having their succulent and famous chocolate cake, that will make you come back many times. Details about this spot (Show on map)
Le Café du Lys | Bars, Snacks | Tapas CHF 6.00
7 rue de l’Ecole de Médecine | Plainpalais | +41223287826
09:00 – 02:00 daily
I went there a couple of months ago and I basically write only now, because I’m still very angry about everything. The place is a typical vegetarian unfriendly restaurant. They served me a dish so small and ridiculous, even a 7-year-old child would have asked for more. First of all, they gave me a bad look, when I asked for something vegetarian (that didn’t exist on the menu) and served me later a dish where they just left out the meat. So I ate only a really tiny bowl of lentil and 3 very tiny potatoes for over 25 Franks! The mistake that I made was to moan about it only when the bill came. I normally stay always when it comes to negative issues during a restaurant visit, but this time the whole place made me really angry. I simply refused to pay the whole bill and asked for a reduction for the ridiculously small dish. The arrogant waiter asked me “since when does the client set the price for the dishes?” and I told him that the dish was a joke. So the waiter started arguing with me about my attitude and reminded him about his own attitude. The conversation lasted about 5 minutes and at the end the waiter called me a “conard” (= idiot)… I finally paid the whole price because the waiter didn’t want to hear what I had to say. This is by far the most ridiculous restaurant experience I’ve ever had in my life.
Dear Andreas,
I’m truly sorry that you had such a bad experience in this cafe! Maybe you caught the waiter in his bad day, maybe the cook wasn’t that generous with the food, I don’t know. I go to this place for years now, to have lunch and to have drinks with my friends and I’ve never been disappointed by the food, the beer, the atmoshpere nor the waiter. As for the prices, I understand you: Geneva is expensive, and it can get you angry to pay a lot for something you don’t think it worths it! Here again, I’m very sorry that this happened in this cafe, I never heard anything about it. Did you look at the price of the dish you ordered on the menu? That avoids unpleasant surprises when the bill comes… Still, CHF 25.- seems expensive for a dish you said so tiny. Maybe come another time if you want to change your mind about the place! At the end of the day, the atmosphere is completely different! The bar is full of students ready to think about anything besides studies! Up to you:)