The latest luxury hotel to open this summer in Paris, well behind schedule (comme d’habitude), is the Mandarin Oriental Paris on the chic Rue St-Honoré. Since it’s my job to be on top of these things, I stopped by last week to check out their Bar 8 with some friends. Oddly, I couldn’t find much online about it at all except canned PR and one scathing review by society blogger Petite Brigitte. So I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting much.

I do like the glittery entrance to the hotel, it makes it seem like something magical awaits inside. But the lobby has an anonymous “luxury hotel” decor. Not that it’s bad, but there’s nothing remotely “Parisian” about this place at all. Perfect for people who…don’t like Paris?

On the left is the entrance to the Bar 8, which is nicely low-lit (it’s already past sunset when I arrived), with the same anonymous contemporary style that could be found anywhere in the world. It’s a “sitting only” kind of bar, so no one actually stands at the bar (there are a few stools on the end). What a shame, since most people won’t even really notice the huge hunk of fancy marble bar, “quarried in Spain and sculpted in Italy” that the press releases go on and on about.

My friends, who were already seated, certainly didn’t notice it. They were mesmerized by the “Bedazzled” walls behind their booth. These are actually Lalique crystals, but unless you read the press releases or the hotel’s website, you’d have no idea how expensive this place must have cost to decorate. They must have exhausted their budget on the décor, because they certainly didn’t overspend in the HR department.
>more