2 St. Germain restaurants
 

Feedback please on Cafe de Flor and Les Deux Magots. A freind recommends these and I gather they are historic, but my main interest is good food, pleasant surroundings, and decent value, re approx $50 per person.

I would look elsewhere. Our experience at both was that people were there to be seen or to people watch, not necessarily for the great food and service. We thought it overpriced and found the service not as good as most places we've been to in Paris.

Well, I certainly like to visit Deux Maggots and sit outside at the last table that is closest to Louis Vuitton. This way I get to witness all the tarted up Parisian women and tourist who go in to feel up the merchandise.

I have seen some real horror stories---American women mostly---in clown makeup and cheap shoes from Payless to in and try to pretend that they are Carine Roitfeld.

No, you don't go for the food but to look at the Ship of Fools floating on by.

OMG! Is she really wearing Maud Frizon boots from 1989?

Your old friend,
Buffy Buttmarkington

Poison...sounds very Thin.

I've heard similar stories. Go for lunch, or a coffee and sweet.

I am very thin. Do you have something against skinny people?

You are very rude.

I am deeply offended and am going to hit the gray triangle.

Buffy

They are, indeed, very old and historic. They are not good value in my book and the food is OK at best. They're right next door to each other. If you want to watch the passing scene, both have extensive outdoor seating and the there is lots of pedestrian traffic passing by. Stop by early one evening for a glass of wine.

OLd and historic, for sure. Good people watching, yes, but that's pretty much a given at any café. Good value, no. Good food, no. And it's not Maggots, Buffy - those are worms - it's Magots. I would pick a hundred other places before I'd go back to either of those.

Who on earth advised you to go to either one for a meal? Maybe someone who has just read a guide book??

definitely you can go to one or the other for people watching and a drink maybe and reliving literary history. But for a meal - uhuh.

It's my ritual to go to Deux Magots my first morning in Paris for croissant and cafe creme while waiting for my hotel room/apt. to be ready; it is over-priced and all the other things people above said about it, but it's my thing to do. Never a meal, though!

Good advice above. I've been to both numerous times for a drink, or light snack, but never a meal. For the same "scene" if you will, you also might want to try the Cafe Bonaparte on the other side of Louis Vuitton.

I agree with all of the above. And especially with ruedebuci. Same scene at Bonaparte ,1/2 the price!

If your main interest is good food, I'd recommand Vagenende with its beautiful surroundings, the food is good and not very expensive!

I can second the Vagenende-food isn't exceptional, but good quality, it's historic interior is beautiful and the wait staff was most kind to us (letting us come for a full dinner 15 minutes before closing time). You can find their menu on the internet and see it would fit in your budget w/o expensive wine. Overall positive evening.

If it's to "experience" the two you mentioned, I would stop in in the afternoon or later evening for a glass of wine or a café and watch the world go by and consider it money well spent, but not a meal.

Cafe Bonaparte is our favorite place in Paris for breakfast. It is so much fun to watch the children going off to school and the adults to work while we relax and enjoy our delicious petit dejeuner Francais or our petit dejeuner Anglais. I love to watch everyone running off to work - I feel wonderfully on vacation and I get lots of ideas on how to wear scarves!

There are so many places with good food nearby. Vagenendae has already been mentioned. Fish on rue de Seine, Au Saint-Benoit, rue St Benoit, Les Minisiteres, rue de Bac does a 3 course menu , 1/3 bottle of wine for 35 Euro, Au Pre Clerc on rue Jacob, Bistrot de Paris on rue de Lille are all within a few blocks of Flor and Magots

Yes, Cafe Bonaparte. Also one of the haunts of old for french intellectuals. Last time I went they had a good Croque Monsieur. And yes, outdoor seatign gives you nice views of the Square.

...PS...Poison, I am chastized and bow down to your Proenza model-like waifness.

Unbuff

Skip30- No, not those two for a decent meal - I'm looking at two specific places in this area because of good information on their food.
The writer Michael Steinberger gives a big lunch nod on the direction of Le Comptoir du Relais for a salad Nicoise(which he describes as sensational) chased down with a Lapierre Morgon, and on the side, Yve Comdeborde's superb country bread.
Follow that with a stroll to Pierre Herme` on rue Bonaparte and indulge in the praline mille feuille with pastry so light and flaky it may float off into the next arrondisement!
Link: http://tinyurl.com/2u2e729

Next, not to far from Le Comptoir in rue Racine, Bouillon Racine for a moderately priced meal in lovely surroundings.
Here's the link with photos: http://tinyurl.com/29p4lgl

Ha, Michel. That's good! (If anyone on Fodor's is above reproach, it's you.) O:)

Sap,
Have I ever told you how smart you are? :)

OK, a couple of St Germain restaurants I've tried and like: Le Petit Zinc, Chez Clement and La Jacobine. There was also a decent lunch spot on the Rue de Buci, but the name is sadly not written down.

Otheres I have seen here include L'Epi Dupin, Le Timbre. Chez Maitre Paul, Bouillon Racine, Leon de Bruxelles

From another list I made..Chez Marcel, La Palette, Cafe de la Mairie, L'Ecluse, Au Gourmand, Bon St Pourcain, Le Pre Verre, Le Comptoir, Bastide d'Odeon

Just down the street on a side street is Cafe Du Paris, along with other cafes with excellent food choices. We love their borderline bordello decor.

Best fresh oysters we've had in a very long time. Shucked by the hot guy out front.

;)

"Borderline bordello with oysters shucked by a hot guy." Why would anyone want to go anywhere else after hearing that?!

I also like the Café des Editeurs, which is also a landmark.

The food at both is worse than a fallen souffle, but there's excellent people-gawking at either.

BTW, I also like Cafe des Editeurs.

Are there no "Julie Delpy" shuckers in Paris? I could maybe learn to like oysters and not hold my nose.

Hi skip,

>my main interest is good food, pleasant surroundings, and decent value, re approx $50 per person. <

You go to those places to pretend that you are Hemingway or Sartre. They only went there because they were comped.

For what you are seeking, I suggest

Pizza Vesuvio 1 Rue Gozlin

Brasserie Lipp 151 Bld St.Germain

Leon de Bruxelles 131, bd St Germain 01 43 26 45 95 for mussels and a beer.

Le Petit Zinc 11 r St Benoît 01 42 86 61 00

Restaurant Vagenende 142 Boulevard St. Germain (331) 43 26 68 18 Métro: Odéon Open 12 noon ‘til 1 a.m.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

I would second Le Petit Zinc. Lovely and wonderful food and service. Also Le Temps Perdu at 54 rue de Seine...really really tasty, and authentic (to my limited knowledge) food and kind service.

Les Deux Magots (The Two Apes?) is a place to nurse a glass of wine and watch the people passing by.

Just south of Bl St Germain on rue Mabillon, there is La Petite Cour, which is reasonably priced, very friendly, and very good. Their lovely courtyard is open in warm weather.

Is les Editeurs the one near the Odeon next to the flower shop and kitty-corner from the Horse's Tavern?

Yes, it's right there at Carrefour de l'Odéon.

Comptoir du Relais suggested by tod is excellent but for dinner requirees reservations made 2 or 3 months in advance!

Another vote Les Editeurs. We also like the Italian at Del Papa on rue de Buci right off St Germain

Restaurant Roger la Grenouille on Rue des Grands Augustins between St. Germain and St. Michel is good for dinner.

Le Espadon Bleu across from Roger Le Grenouille is also excellent

Deux Magots means the >Two Mandarins<

If you go inside you will see the statues of the two Mandarins.

Your old friend,
Buffy Buttmarkington

Bookmarking

<i>Deux Magots means the >Two Mandarins< </i>

What is a Mandarin?

Chinese Guys.

<i>Chinese Guys</i>

Where is that written?

I wouldn't go to the Flore to look for great food. I have gone there for probably 25 years as I have a Flore tradition, so to speak. I go in, on arrival day or night, and have my traditional kir royal and if it's during the day, I have an herb omelette to start, to buffer the effects of the champagne in the kir royale. No alcohol on an empty stomach.

I then just sit, for about an hour, very relaxing, and check out the scene and also plan the rest of my week by jotting down things in my journal. Since the apartment that I rent is about a 7-minute walk away, it's easy to just drop by. As for the Deux Magots, I have never been there as I'd feel like a traitor. LOL! Happy Travels!