Did a search on this, but didn't really find the answer.<BR><BR>We've never reserved ahead for a Paris restaurant. Although occasionally we've lucked out without reservations (Chez Maitre Paul comes to mind), more often than not we end up with not-so- memorable cuisine at some anonymous brasserie.<BR><BR>I'm not talking about Le Grand Vefour here. I'm thinking of places that range from Balzar at one end to Bistrot d'a Cote Flaubert at the other. <BR><BR>Our trip is still several months away and my husband thinks I'm crazy to try to reserve any sooner than one month out (yet he's the one who'll be most disappointed. . .)<BR><BR>Would love to hear from someone with experience. Thanks.<BR><BR>

For most mid-priced restaurants in Paris there is no need to reserve more than a couple of days ahead. It doesn't hurt, of course, to reserve as far in advance as you can, but you should be able to get a reservation without any trouble at any good restaurant. <BR>The Bistro de Papa is a very good restaurant near the Ecole Militaire. You can make reservations there about a week prior and be fine. Another good one near Montparnasse is Le Bistro de la Rotonde--excellent seafood. <BR>All that said, if you're travelling in July or August, you might have trouble because many good restaurants close for one of those two months. If you are travelling then, you'll definitely want to call well ahead of time to make sure they're open.

Great question- We're going in April, and I was trying to figure out how far i n advance to mn ake reservations for places like Florimond. Any advice? Helaine

The only time I've ever reserved WAAAAAAAY in advance was to have my birthday dinner at Arpege. I called about a month ahead of time. We generally travel in April or May, so for anywhere else, we'll have a couple of options picked out ahead of time, and may either call a couple of days ahead, or we've also stopped in during an afternoon and reserved for that night. (Found a lovely place in Florence that way. The maitre D was joking with a departing customer after a late lunch while we were reading the posted menu. It looked good, people seemed to be having fun, so we asked him right then if we could get a reservation for that night. We ended up in the dining room with local clientele rather than tourists, and had a terrific time and meal.) I called Les Bookinists (that spelling looks wrong) one Friday morning last April and got 8:30PM reservations for 2 that night. Some mornings we've called from the hotel and reserved for that night, and if it was someplace we really wanted to go, would ask if we could get in the next night. We've never been disappointed. I check out the websites, read guidebooks, and find I depend more on personal recommendations from people I know (some from here, at Fodors). Another good source is to ask the waiter or maitre d at a restaurant you like, where they like to eat when they have a chance. We've also gotten good recommendations from the desk people at the hotels we stay at (usually smaller, 2-3 star places). <BR>

For those reservations really important to me on particular days, I e-mail the hotel a few weeks ahead and ask them to make them for me, especially for the lunch/dinner day of arrival. (It would probably be unreasonable and burdensome to send a long list though.)<BR><BR>Otherwise, we'd have someone at the front desk phone for us on our way out in the morning for that evening, or the next. <BR><BR>If any places on your list are at www.reservethebest.com, this is a very handy way to make lots of reservations in advance from home.

Hi Elle,<BR>We book everything we can in advance, because I hate to have my heart set on eating somewhere and get told no!<BR>The popular places do book up! We like L'Epi Dupin and that books about 2 weeks in advance.<BR>uhoh_busted~I believe you did spell it right and it definitely is worth booking in advance. <BR>There are some nights where you might just feel like discovering something, but when you want to eat in a particular place, you should reserve way in advance.<BR>Have a wonderful time~

I would rather be safe than sorry--it wouldn't hurt to make reservations a month out. For a while some friends and I had a leapfrog thing going--they would be in Paris and eat at Bistrot de Bretuil, and while there would make reservations for ME as I would be showing up a month later. When I got there, I made reservations for my sister, who would be showing up a month after that. Aside from Jules Verne, I don't think I would reserve more than one month out though.

As a side note, the Bistro de Papa is about 3 blocks from the hotel I normally stay at in Paris (for the past 20 years) and I have been there on quite a few occasions. Not only would I NOT recommend it, you certainly don't have to make reservations there in advance, except perhaps in July. It used to be a nice local bistro. It is now a bad penny in a neighborhood chock full of better restaurants. Both the food and service have declined, and it's now mainly catering to tourists, which in Paris means it's lost its cach&eacute;. And I really can't believe it requires reservations a week in advance - I always walked right in, and have seen people doing so in recent trips to Paris (I walk right by it at dinnertime with some frequency). It certainly doesn't have the type of reputation that requires reservations, and never did. <BR><BR>To answer the original question, most of the famous bistros/brasseries get crowded after 7:30, but you should be able to make a reservation once you get to Paris for a dinner a night or two in advance, unless you are planning to dine at Paris's really top restaurants. If you're not comfortable with this, fax the restaurant a week or two before your departure.

I never reserve more than a day or two ahead, and usually never, but I don't go to those kind of real popular places like some mentioned on here (Balzar, etc, are all very well known). <BR><BR>I think the TheDukes probably meant Bistro du Dome as the seafood place in Montparnasse, it is well-known for seafood. La Rotonde Cafe is one of my favorite local haunts and does serve dinners, but it does not have a separate bistro bearing its name; it's just good avg. cafe food.

Hmmm, actually uhoh, I think it should be Les Bookinistes, with the &quot;es&quot; at the end. Sorry, too, Scarlett. : )<BR><BR>Elle, this is a good question as I'm going in April, too, and I know exactly what restaurants I want to go to on what nights - was thinking 4 weeks ahead was ok as that's what Scarlett told me once.<BR><BR>Scarlett, what did you eat at L'Epi Dupin? I've seen in a couple of guidebooks that they make a great skate with cream sauce. What did you try? And your wonderful hubby?

We were in Paris for two weeks in late March. We made all our reservations (including Balzar)while we were there and only a day or two in advance. I always recommend it..but Astier is a winner and we ate there twice reserving on the very day we wanted to eat. It's a three star in the 11th..serving lunch and dinner..check out listing in Patricia Wells &quot;A Food Lover's Guide to Paris&quot;.

St. Cirq is EXACTLY right about Papa. Wish I had known it last October when we walked in (with no reservation). It was as if we had inconvenienced them for the whole evening. Came VERY close to leaving. And as she says there are SO many good restaurants in that particular neighborhood.