Mama Shelter Paris East

This only refers to the restraunt, not the hotel, generally. Booked the restaurant with friends. I think we should have been informed that there was a band due to be playing when we booked, but we weren't. When we observed that there was a band setting up, we looked to move to a different part of the restaurant as we were there to catch up with old friends. We asked to be reseated in an area with high tables and stools as it was further away from the band. However, we were told, that we could only have pizza in that area. They, for some inexplicable reason, refused point blank to allow us order from the full menu from this area. Perplexed and annoyed we agreed to this ridiculous "rule". The same staff worked both areas, the same wine list was used for both areas and the bill was paid in the same place for both areas. It was the same business. Now this is where things became almost comical. While begrudgingly eating pizza as far as we could get from the stage, the band started up. There was a speaker right next to us playing the band's sound, loudly! I cannot understand why the staff, knowing that we were trying to avoid the music, didn't tell us that this was the case! We requested that this speaker be turned off but we were told that this wasn't possible. However, one decent staff member managed to achieve this "impossibility" after a few minutes. Thank you. So, what was the pizza like? Awful. It was sloppy and floppy and somehow they managed to burn the base but still have it soft and undercooked - quite an achievement. It resembled a crepe more than a good pizza base. A burnt crepe. Also, two glasses of wine took about 20 minutes to arrive. The people I was with had previously very much enjoyed this restaurant but, unfortunately, tonight everything apart from one conscientious, pleasant server was a comical disaster. Never again.

When I say poorly designed I don’t just mean how it looks…I mean how things are arranged in the room. Shower has no door and space is such that water comes out, electrical outlet for blow dryer tucked in between towel rack and sink, difficult to reach. They don’t even provide shampoo… Not a buzzy place, but a lot of noise from outside. Terrible pillows. Head a neck pain. Forgot my iPhone charger…called them, they didn’t find it…lots of things were off.

The restaurant was great but the air quality in our rooms and hallways was unhealthy and suspicious to say the least. It smelled, and was damp and dark. Do not recommend especially if you've children. We checked in later in the evening after dinner and conditions were so bad in the rooms we had to check out and were lucky enough to find rooms at Mama Shelter West. Not fun, and the hotel did not refund our five nights which was the frosting on the cake. I highly DO NOT recommend lodging there. If there was a zero rating, I'd give that.

I have been in this hotel for the last five years. The ambiance is well-designed for the 25-40 well-heeled bunch (In French, les bobos). I am outside that range, but I enjoy the atmosphere and the staff. During this visit, I noticed that the hotel basics are no longer in place: during a 14-day stay, not a single day with a complete set of towels, a significant drop in WiFi speed (a few times below 1 MBps morning and evening time), and a feeble and rickety A/C (the outside temperature was 40C certain days, becoming the rule in summer Paris). I hope Mama will address the issues with urgency. A bobo twist is fun, but only if it colors a robust professional foundation in hospitality. A final note of warning: on F/S/S, the rooms closer to the main street are noisy due to the presence of a loud bar/concert venue opposite the hotel.

We booked this hotel because it was one of the cheapest options in Paris, but we should have spent a bit more money to get a decent hotel. Our room was not well cleaned, there was a small smear of feces on the toilet seat and the carpeted floor had numerous large stains, as well as many smudges on one of the mirrors (presumably left by previous guests). We also were confused and uncomfortable by the kinky undertones present throughout the hotel and in the room, as it was not promoted by the hotel nor mentioned in the reviews I read. Minor but worth mentionning, there was no kettle in the room and there were two hooks inserted in the wall beside each bedpost, presumably playing into the "kinky" undertones. Would definitely not recommend this hotel.