My husband and I are taking our ten year old son to London and Paris in ten weeks. I have made a reservation at Taillevant and wanted to know if anyone knows how a child will be received. Also, he is very apprehensive about not being able to read menus himself. Will a restaraunt such as Taillevant have menus in English, so as to not frustrate him too much?

Hi Ralstonian,

A child who is used to fine dining and won't disturb the other patrons will not be a problem.

Here is a link to the menu at Taillevent. He can start practicing.

http://www.taillevent.com/restaurant/carte.html

Thanks Ira- the website is great, I printed out the menus in both English and French for him.

Glad to help, Ralston.

Let us know what he orders, and which wine he chooses.

With regards to the silverware, tell him to work from the outside in.

On our last visit to Taillevent, we were seated next to a Japanese couple and their young, pre-teen daughter. We barely noticed her presence, which when you're talking about children in a high end restaurant, is probably not such a bad thing.

Based on what I saw, I think they will welcome a well behaved, well mannered child. I would suspect, loud, rude adults wouldn't be welcomed, let along children that fit that description.

In terms of the menu in English, I don't recall that they are. But, the staff is extremely competent and will barely flinch when you as for help.

Thanks Ryan- I'm sure my son will make me proud!

This is not my idea of the type of place one takes a ten-year-old but, as long as the child is well behaved and can sit still for that length of time and doesn't mind being around boring adults, why not?

When we dined at Taillevent 2 years ago we sat next to a family group of 5 which included a 4-5 year girl. Mr Vrinat the owner came over and discussed what the young lady would like for dinner. It was determined that plain white fish with mashed potatoes would suit her. She brought her doll to play with and was fairly well behaved though obviously bored as I would have been at that age with 4 adults. If your son is well behaved he should do fine and they will be welcoming to him which I think is just as important as his behavior. On the other side of us were a father and adult son from Philly who requested that all the little chocolates etc served at the end of the meal be boxed for them for the plane and then didn't order dessert. I didn't think that was well behaved.

They will of course provide you a menu in English as well as your waiter will speak perfect English.

My opinion on bringing a pre teen to this restaurant will remain mine but I will say that I would never pay for my child to dine in such extravegence. It is so expensive, and worth it, to the food savy, doesn't this get wasted on a child?

Also there is a book called "A Meal Observed" that is all about dining at Taillevent. It is very good.

And if you have never eaten there before, I think You will LOVE it! The food and service are amazing!!!

To AGM -

You are right- I think my son will more than likely have better manners and behavior than most adults I see in the USA

A well behaved 10 year old should not have a problem. I took 3 children to Jules Verne when they were 11, 13 & 14 and there was no problem. Of course, the girls left after dessert to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower and promptly ended up at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower because they did not know what they were doing. My son, who was at that time inimidated by the height, kept me company until the girls found their way back to the table.

Everyone enjoyed his meal and the view and the waiter got a nice tip.

Taillevant is several steps up from Jules Verne and I would not think that sort of food would be enjoyed by children and would not take them there until to a place like that before they were older, but that is my choice. You are certainly not obliged to follow it.

Again, there should be no problem.

Faux ste marie-

Thank you for your imput. We are also having lunch at Jules Verne. I am hoping that the food will not be a waste on my son. He has been reading the menu off the web sight and already has decided on the rabbit! We shall see.

I think if you have the money to spend on nice restaurants you should take your children - how else do they learn to behave?

Not that we could ever afford such places as the current subject,but we took our children very young to as nice places as we could afford to expose them and teach them how one behaves. They were very young when they learned that now was the time for "restaurant manners"

It's the same with church. Children learn to how to behave in church by going to church, not by playing in the nursery.

But then I've always believed children have as much right to occupy space as anyone else, an opinion not shared by everyone.

Joelle

Joelle

Joelle

Thank you, that is exactly why we travel with our child. That and we love his company.

Joelle and Ralstonian: You both have boiled child raising down to its essence. How important for all kids to understand the concepts of "Sunday clothes" , "church manners" ,"adult, not kid, conversation (DO NOT INTERUPT), etc. so that their company can be enjoyed by all in somewhat difficult settings.

The main problem with children in an upscale restaurant is the time it takes to get served. Anytime my two went down that road, I would say, "This is a slow food restaurant. You have to wait." Most of the time that worked, but sometimes they were just too hungry.

Any fine restaurant should be accomodating enough to make a burger or a simple chicken dish for a child if that was required to make him happy. Just ask if your child does not see what he likes on the menu.

The highlight of our meal at Jules Verne, by the way, was the couple at the next table. He asked her to marry him and she said "Yes".

My daughter and her girlfriend overheard the conversation and told me. I immediately asked if they wanted me to take their photo (They did). My daughter and her girlfriend, being teenagers, were mortified. I sure hope that nice cute young British couple has had a nice life!

Almost anything embarasses teens, by the way. I used to say: "How to embarass your teen: Just show up." LOL

By the way, and I left this out while we are talking about high priced restaurants. The last time I was in Paris during August 2001, my daughter (who now lives in Europe) and I went to Pre Catalan, an upscale restaurant in the Bois de Boulogne on the edge of Paris (You have to take a taxi to get there).

We had this wonderful lunch and this elderly French gentleman (who turned out to be very famous in France) picked up the tab!!!! If you do a search under "Pre Catalan" you will find the thread. In fact, I will look for it for you and top it off if I can find it.

What a wonderful experience! Sadly the elderly gentleman died a few months later.

I think this is just Grand! I love to hear about parents taking their children with them to really great places!
We had no choice, when my children were small, I had just moved to NYC , we had no babysitters. So at very early ages, my children were out in public and learned out to behave accordingly.
Today I have two grown-ups who know how to order all kinds of exotic foods and which forks to use and how to speak politely to a waiter and they were doing this before they were teens! .
Ralstonlan, have a great time! I can just picture that little boy in his jacket and tie, all eyes and ears and soaking in what is going on around him.
(You will get an English menu and much discussion from the wait people, it is their pleasure)

I looked online for my Pre Catalan story and can no longer find the long version, so I am going to repost the story but on a separate thread for those who are interested. The short version is on "Most Memorable Restaurant Meal", which I have topped off.