Hi we will be in paris from may 2nd for a week and I need your help. We are staying at cayre hotel at 4 bd raspail(rue du bac metro). For breakfast I guess we can go to gerard mulot and pierre herme. We don't like to eat late(after 6:30 or 7:00) and heavy at night, so I figure we eat a big lunch each day and have something light at night. I am concidering the following:
le pre verre
le camptoir
l'Affirole
perraudin
mon vieil ami
gaya
les bouqinistes
fish
wadja
batide d'odeon
leo le lion
chez denise
restaurant l'Equitable
le clos des gourmet
cafe varenne
marage freres(brunch)
I appreciate your help and if I had a spell problem forgive me. I haven't slept in two nights thinking about all the things I need to do like finding a good walking shoes, buying a new camrea and finding good places to eat. No wonder I can't sleep.
PLEASE HELP!!

you better decide and book now. You don't have any lemons there.

Well I am curious myself about Gaya and Pierre Gagnaire, the restaurant and the chef, so I hope others will let us know their recent experiences at both Gaya and Pierre Gaganiere. Is Gaya super-experimental as well?

Chez Denise is an old school bistro and you will not go wrong if you bring an appetite.

We just returned from Paris and ate at Gaya on Thursday evening. We sat downstairs and found this modern looking restaurant attractive and comfortable. It is not cheap. The menu is divided up differently from most Paris restaurants so is a bit confusing. The cold articoke soup is outstanding and is 19€. I had the "Surf and Turf" for 35€ for my plat which was excellent and included lamb and shrimp with good seasonings. My husband had the ray and it and all the fish choices around 25€ were very plain. His recommendation is "don't get the white fish"! The woman next to me ordered the fish and chips for 15€ as her plat and wondered where the chips were. There are none. We each only ordered 2 courses and spent 45€ each for our meal. The wine was excellent, and the bill was 127€, no dessert. The food is not to daring.

We LOVED Carte Blanche and Louis Vins.

Carte Blanche , 6 rue Lamartine, 9th (Metro : Notre Dame de Lorette)
T : 01.48.78.12.20
Closed Saturday noon and Sundays
Menus at 25 and 31 €, a la carte 35 €.

Louis Vins 9 rue Montagne SteGenevieve75005
Tele : 01 43 29 12 12 open every day, even Sundays They don't take credit cards. 3 courses 26€ and worth more!

In addition both restaurants are very attractive, and not to large. Service was excellent.

We ate at Le Pre Verre in January and it is also very good, and is only 25€ each for 3 courses.

We've eaten twice at Les Bouqinistes and enjoyed it both times. Le Clos de Gourmet is also excellent. In the same area, is Le Petit Troquet. We ate here Friday night and thought it was also very good. 3 courses is 28€ but there are a few suppliments, which we did order. The dining area is small but so cute. The food excellent, but they did have alot of English speaking customers, although not Americans, but British. They speak English here.

Le Petit Troquet
28 rue de l'Exposition 7e arr., Paris 01.47.05.80.39
Metro - Ecole Militaire


Have a great time!

Mimi,
we will be in Paris June 19th-25th. How early do you recommend we make our reservations? I was thinking late May, but maybe that's too late???

Thanks,
Dina

I was at Gaya in March, and had an excellent meal. I was going to sit downstairs at the bar, but my leg had acted up and the stool too high for me being a short person, so the waiter kindly walked me upstairs wuch I like better. There are photos on the wall but the same corian tables with the seaweed design. and none of those blue lights. I had a late long lunch of a wonderful lobster couscous followed by a fantastic piece of swordfish with salicons and mushrooms, wine, an apertif(suze) and a digestive (calvados)
I did not have a reservation, and I got the last table upstairs after leaving the bar. I suspect most were on their lunch time as I was the only tourist there.
Dina, that sounds good. The earlier the better for the ones you really want to go to and as soon as you arrive have the hotel book places. One never knows, I've been able to get into alot of places through the years without.

Dina,
Make your reservations now.

So many thanks to all of you! How would you all recommend making reservations if one does not speak French all that well?

I am thinking that Gaya is under the direction of Pierre Gagnaire, one of the most experimental/innovative French chefs....so good to hear these reports about his newer place.

I am only asking because I will be there for a week or so in the fall and want to think about my places to eat as early as I can although I know I am thinking and planning too far in advance now..... Thanks again.

THE OP is correct that it's best to alternate lunch and dinner reservations.

A few weeks before departure, phone or e-mail your hotel and request that they make reservations for you the first few days. Once there, as you leave for the day, ask that they make your reservations for the following day.

To make a reservation, when you call, first say "bonjour", then "Parlez vous anglais?" If they do they will say yes, if not they will find someone who can help you. We were just in Paris for a week staying at an apartment, so did not have the luxury of asking someone to make a reservation for us. My above strategy always seemed to work for me.

The only restaurant on your list that we went to was Bastide d'Odeon and it was excellent and had great service. They did not start serving dinner there until 7:30pm.

pre verre was great value for money.
we made reservation at lunch time for dinner that night during the week in MARCH.

now might be different story.

images 2- carte blanche was on my try to do lists for lunch. what was your meal like? same question for louis vins! thanks. we are pretty experimental eaters (was not a fan of petit troquet). we have reservations for l' ardoise for sunday but may change based on your comments. thanks

these were helpful

Hi,

Here's my 2 cents:

You can always count on a great meal at Fish. I've eaten there at least a dozen times (I live in Paris);

I ate once at Mon Vieil Ami and it just wasn't very good- I'd skip it;

The food at Bouqinistes is great but the service is spotty and it's very touristy;

Mariage Freres is lovely for afternoon tea (I haven't been there for brunch.)

And Gerard Mulot is fabulous - good choice! Pierre Herme is pretty wonderful, too.

Just about everyone speaks English so you should have no problem making reservations.

Hope that helps.
AK
www.far-and-near.com

Thank you every one. I really appreciate your help. I can't wait to get to paris and eat,eat,eat!!! I love food, can't you tell?

images2-still waiting to hear about your meals at louis vins and carte blanche. thanks

We have eaten at several of the listed restaurants and have enjoyed all. Le Pre Verre, Le Comptoir, L'Affriole, Bouquinistes, Fish, Bastide d'Odeon and Clos des Gourmets are all great. I think, for the most part, they would be better for a big lunch than for something light at night. Once you decide, have your hotel make reservations.

bookmarking, and thanks