As ive not been doing europe long, (7 or 8 trips 
) i tend to stick to the service areas when overnight parking, which mainly stink of pee and serve food you would hesitate to feed your dog for a stupidly high price. After reading many a post on here about the fantastic quality and service of these routiers, i decided to purchase myself a 2012 routiers guide, with the hopes of trying something a bit different. Well it arrived this morning, needless to say its in french, but its easy enough to understand and im quite looking forward to giving it a whirl and seeing what all the fuss is about. My question to you more experienced people is, are they generally a safe place to park?
on the whole there safe to park never had any problems up to yet
Generally fine, and food is better and cheaper than at service areas. If you have a TomTom you can download Centre Routiers from their homepage as a POI.
Routiers are recommended by me. ( which means naff all ).
Never had a security issue although I have heard castets has had problems. Food is usually fantastic and usually friendly atmosphere.
Since 1991,i have NEVER had a problem,stay away from the MSA,it is too pricey,but you do get a 25% discount if you fill out a card at the cash desk,as you are driver,if you eat at the MSA in France.
You can also leave the MSA by the staff gate,and it is not locked,if you fancy a walk,you may find a place to eat in a village or town near the motorway.
On the toll road parking,you will be awoken all night and day by drivers starting the engines to charge the battery,so no sleep on without foam ear plugs.
You have done well to get the book,you will sit very close to the driver next to you at the table in the Rouitier,the Gendarmes,local council leaders or the town Mayor may eat there too.
It can get very noisy with all the chatting,the atomosphere is very good,you will learn to speak French quickly when you order some food not to your liking,like roast pigeon,snails,tripe which is very nice in the Calvados and Normandy areas,congealed meat with lard and fat wrapped around it,cockerel is very tough and takes ages to cook,tough as as old boots too.
The staff will help you choose or point to what you want from what you see someone else eating.
You can not drink so much wine as in the good old days,5 litres was the norm,in the jug that was shared on the table.
Dont worry too much about the weight limit signs heading to the Rouitier,i have not been done yet for having a meal,it is traditional to have a small drink at the bar before you sit down,she will give a ticket and ask voulez vous une cafe avec votre repas monsieur,do you want a coffee with your meal,or after the meal.
The parking is free,there are no curtain slashers,fuel thieves,or cab robbers,unless they want to take on about a hundred drivers.
Marseile is best to avoid that place,there is a big Rouitier outside which is safer,Lyon has had problems,and Castets was good years ago.
If you go Poitiers to Bordeaux,there is big one at Barbeziuex,pay to exit,barriers and has a motel for drivers.
There are some gems to be found south of Bordeaux on the forest road to Spain,but they fill up fast in the after noon,one has a barrier,if full park out side.
Try Calvados with a sugar lump,the coffee i have found not too good,acidic,the same brand all over.
You will get a starter,soup or salad,mains,pudding,for about 10 to 15 euros,enjoy it.
i tried one on tues and the steak took some catching as it was still alive on the plate 
i think it got shown the pan and that was it. i couldnt eat it to be honest the time i had finished trying cut it it looked like roadkill and my appetite had funny enoughā¦ disappeared.
so i tried one on tues and got pig fat, no meat just pig fat 
zb knows what that was meant to be. to be fair i really enjoy the starters buffet, next was the pig fat experiance then i got cheese and bread then a cake all for 10 euros
i stopped at one a few weeks back at la roche sur yon called chez juju and the food was fantastic.
once the chef tries to take my order i have a look round at what everyone else is eating and choose one of those. i nearly got caught out with steak on tues it was steak tartar which is raw minced beef with a raw egg
JD sounds like you had Steak blue,just in the pan for a few minutes with the blood coming out,did you have pigs trotters too,or hooves.
Had tartare once,never again.
One thing to remember, the French have a thing about food, itās all about the flavour (imagine that!) so what can look very unappealing will taste very nice usually, but beware of any meat that has been minced, they donāt normally do that until it is a bit manky
The Routiers experience is also not a quick in and out while on a 45 thing. To properly enjoy it you need the whole evening, a Pastis or two at the bar, go and shake everyoneās hand before sitting down at the first empty seat, a leisurely munch through a few courses while enjoying a few glasses of the local wine, then cheese and coffee, before the Cognac course, by the end of the evening you will have made a few new friends, maybe learned some new words and thoroughly enjoyed yourself 
JD ask for your steak tres tres bien cuit (very very well done) unless you happen to be in a Routier that caters for a lot of UK drivers (Ha Ha!) in which unlikely case you will probably get a crisp!.The French ā well doneā usually translates to rare to medium.As Toby says,you probably had a blue steak,which is lovely to look at,but virtually raw inside.
Sir +:
JD ask for your steak tres tres bien cuit (very very well done) unless you happen to be in a Routier that caters for a lot of UK drivers (Ha Ha!) in which unlikely case you will probably get a crisp!.The French ā well doneā usually translates to rare to medium.As Toby says,you probably had a blue steak,which is lovely to look at,but virtually raw inside.
Oh yes it was defiantly raw inside, I like in this country medium rare but as I said this was still wagging its tail.
It dosent put me off at all I just take great care when ordering in fact il even go to the kitchen and see the chef in future.
La Roche sur yon chez juju was amazing food, Iāve never tasted anything like it before.
Next week Il be doing a night out on the N10 and thatās full off routers so il try again
jessicas dad:
Sir +:
JD ask for your steak tres tres bien cuit (very very well done) unless you happen to be in a Routier that caters for a lot of UK drivers (Ha Ha!) in which unlikely case you will probably get a crisp!.The French ā well doneā usually translates to rare to medium.As Toby says,you probably had a blue steak,which is lovely to look at,but virtually raw inside.Oh yes it was defiantly raw inside, I like in this country medium rare but as I said this was still wagging its tail.
The trouble with ābien cuitā & however many ātresā you put in frnt of it is that they just turn the heat up highter & take it out when it blackens on the outside, the ātermā you need to learn is āCuire lentement veuillez, droit Ć traversā so they cook it slowly all the way through. No point in adding anything about a little red in the middle as this will only serve to confuse the chef further & itāll come back ābleuā!!!
Good luck, Ross.
bigr250:
jessicas dad:
Sir +:
JD ask for your steak tres tres bien cuit (very very well done) unless you happen to be in a Routier that caters for a lot of UK drivers (Ha Ha!) in which unlikely case you will probably get a crisp!.The French ā well doneā usually translates to rare to medium.As Toby says,you probably had a blue steak,which is lovely to look at,but virtually raw inside.Oh yes it was defiantly raw inside, I like in this country medium rare but as I said this was still wagging its tail.
The trouble with ābien cuitā & however many ātresā you put in frnt of it is that they just turn the heat up highter & take it out when it blackens on the outside, the ātermā you need to learn is āCuire lentement veuillez, droit Ć traversā so they cook it slowly all the way through. No point in adding anything about a little red in the middle as this will only serve to confuse the chef further & itāll come back ābleuā!!!
Good luck, Ross.
cheers ross.
jessicas dad:
[quote="bigr250The trouble with ābien cuitā & however many ātresā you put in frnt of it is that they just turn the heat up highter & take it out when it blackens on the outside, the ātermā you need to learn is āCuire lentement veuillez, droit Ć traversā so they cook it slowly all the way through. No point in adding anything about a little red in the middle as this will only serve to confuse the chef further & itāll come back ābleuā!!!Good luck, Ross.
cheers ross.
[/quote]
Iād normally steer wide of the steak at cafeās as they usually only have the cheapest cuts, in France, if you ever see āragoĆĀ»t de chevalā definately try it, itās horse meat but donāy let that put you off as itās usually delcious. I had it first at Berchem MSA in Luxembourg and always looked for it &enjoyed it all over France, remember horse meat is a real delicacy over there so well worth a try.
Ross.
a bit horse wouldnt put me off, mmmmmmmmmmmm
Itās a stew by the way;)
Ross.
bigr250:
The trouble with ābien cuitā & however many ātresā you put in frnt of it is that they just turn the heat up highter & take it out when it blackens on the outside, the ātermā you need to learn is āCuire lentement veuillez, droit Ć traversā so they cook it slowly all the way through. No point in adding anything about a little red in the middle as this will only serve to confuse the chef further & itāll come back ābleuā!!!Good luck, Ross.
Good info,Ross,thank you.However,just to confuse JD a little bit more-if you see a burger or steak a(or is it au??) chevalāitās not horse meat,it just has an egg on top.
Iāve never had a problem with security at a Routiers, yet.
Food can be a bit hit or miss, rather like over here. But, the standard starts at a much higher level in France.
Itās best not to just point at something. Find out what itās called and ask for it by name. Youāre more likely to remember and able to ask for it if you like it or avoid it if you donāt.
Always found it much easier to skip the meal no matter how nice it was and go strait to the Calvados. Happy days.
Ossie
newmercman:
One thing to remember, the French have a thing about food, itās all about the flavour (imagine that!) so what can look very unappealing will taste very nice usually, but beware of any meat that has been minced, they donāt normally do that until it is a bit manky
The mince thing is worth remembering, a steack hachĆĀ© is not generally a French delicacy, unless it is a gourmet burger made from good meat. Unlikely!
A proper Steack Tartare is made from finely chopped / diced steak and not from minced steak.
Always worth looking out for is Rosbief in Holland or Rosbif in France
