Going to Paris for NYE? Please share your dining experiences
 

Our family (our children are all in their late 20s - 30s) is returning to Paris in December 2008, and we'll be there for NYE. I was hoping that we could find a nice restaurant for about 50 - 75E pp (? am I dreaming here? just giving a number so you have SOME idea of a budget). I realize that this is a year in advance, but was thinking that I could get some advice from those of you celebrating now, in 2007. My husband and I are going to Paris for a few days in April, so then I could scout them out ahead of time.

When we were all there in 2006, we went to Gallopin (very nice) and Le Troquet in the 15th (lots of fun!) together. The two of us celebrated our anniversary at Le Violin d'Ingres. I am looking for a different place this time - perhaps a little dressier than Le Troquet, but not too stuffy. Le Violin is out of our range, I think. We like most everything, but would like at least one fish option.

We will be staying in an apartment in the First, Palais Royale. I'm thinking that it would be a good idea to walk somewhere fairly close by - perhaps over the river would be ok too, just not close to the masses on the Champs Elysees.

I've been reading some good things about Maceo, Willi's Wine Bar, Le Reminet (mixed reviews on that one). Anyone have experiences with them? Or just a general experience of dining out on NYE?

Another completely different option would be cooking at the apartment, and if you think that's best, ok - I guess we could get some pretty wonderful things on the rue Montorgueil, etc. and eat in.

I appreciate your advice! And if you have any websites so that I can look at menus online, that would be wonderful. Thank you.

Wow, staying at the Palais Royale is veery special, buy champagne and the works.

My general experience with dining out on NYE in Paris is that almost every restaurant that's open will have a set menu or a few set menus, and planned festivities, and you'll need to reserve far in advance.

I'd recommend someplace like Bofinger or another of the Flo chain restaurants. Bofinger's fun any time of year, but I imagine it's quite festive on NYE.

I'd get this resolved really soon.

I love Maceo, by the way, but since it's really a British establishment I wouldn't necessarily expect it to treat NYE in a typically Parisian way.

Within very easy walking distance of Palais Royal is Le Grand Colbert, which is a very pretty setting for a celebratory dinner. I agree with StCirq that nearly every "nice" restaurant will have a fixed price, fixed menu NYE dinner, but they may wind up being within your budget.

We once made a reservation for NYE at Caviar Kaspia, thinking we'd just have blini and the least expensive caviar with champagne, as we had in the past, but we reckoned without NYE menus. We got there, looked at the set menu, realized we were waaay out of our league and got up to leave, explaining that a five course, smoked salmon and caviar dinner wasn't what we had in mind, thanks anyway, sorry.

No problem, as it turned out. They were happy to serve us whatever we wanted as long as it was part of the special menu and didn't have to be cooked to order. We wound up having a great time with our blini and caviar. Maybe a consultation with the restaurant of your choice would get you what you want.

Thank you! I will look into Bofinger and Le Grand Colbert. In fact, the owners of the apartment had recommended Le Grand Colbert last time, but we decided on Gallopin instead. St. Cirq, I see that you liked Maceo. I know that it's British-owned, but are most of the diners Parisians, or is it primarily tourists? We did walk past it and it looked very nice.

I'm hoping that folks that have made plans for this year's dinner will see this and give some ideas too. Is it insane on NYE there, like Valentine's Day dinners in LA? There will be eight of us.

Cigalechanta, you're right about staying at the Palais Royale - it is a wonderful location. It's the parisvacationapartments place. I think seafox just got back and I'm looking forward to his/her trip report.

I've eaten at Maceo at least three times and it was almost always a preponderance of French people, not tourists, but the tourists who were there were primarily Brits and Americans.

It's a lovely place with an interesting menu, and because it's owned by the same people who run Willi's Wine Bar, has an excellent selection of wines, if that's important to you.

It's actually the first place I ever tried ostrich - it was outstanding!

Thank you St. Cirq for the follow-up on Maceo! One of my sons and his GF are actually in the wine business, so that might be a very good place to try. Maybe we'll check it out in April.

I also looked on the website for Le Grand Colbert - they have an 85E NYE menu earlier in the evening and a 130E later, til 3 am. I couldn't find any other advertising of revillions (sp?) at other restaurants.

Is this a good time to go to Paris? I'm sorta locked in (everyone is very excited, including me)..but are most places open, or closed? We arrive Dec. 27th and leave Jan 3rd.

Thanks.

We stay there in the neighborhood and much prefer Le Vaudeville over Le Grand Colbert. It is right up the street, across from the Bourse.

I've seen various restaurants' New Years Eve menus in Paris, and don't have any specific recommendations except to tell you that I think your budget is rather unrealistic. 50 euro for a NY eve menu in Paris? Restaurants charge 2-3 times their normal rate. I'm surprised the Grand Colbert is that reasonable, but some do have cheaper menus early in the evening, as that isn't really what most people think of as a big NY eve out -- leaving by 8-9 pm. But if that works for you, it's a good idea. I'd just be prepared to up that budget, especially since you want an expensive, dressy place.

Thanks Christina. I know that here in the Los Angeles area restaurants raise the pricing, but not 2 or 3 times the usual, so that was a little bit of a surprise to me. As far as the earlier seating, to be honest, I would prefer to leave by 9:30 or 10:00; I can't sleep after eating really late. Let the younger ones go out and celebrate, we'll sit at home and read :)

I also wrote to the owner of the apartment we're renting, and he just emailed me back saying that the restaurants are "very expensive and very crowded", and would suggest eating in. He has some places to suggest purchasing food, so, I guess that's what we'll do. We do have a lovely apartment, so we wouldn't be slumming.

Thanks again for all your input. It did help me to see that NYE isn't the best time for all of us to eat out - maybe we'll be better off splurging on a great lunch somewhere on another day.

We stayed in the Palais Royal 3-bedroom last June. There is a Monoprix nearby (Pyramides) right next door to the main tourism office. It has a good grocery selection and a large prepared food counter. It also sells wine, beer, and liquor. Very convenient.

It's a wonderful location.

CW

You have received good ideas so far for dinner. And yes, for NYE, the prices are quite a bit higher so if you can bump up your budget you will have some choices.
And, as recommended, book now!


Also, I would pick someplace that is within walking distance as cabs are a nightmare on NYE!! A 20 minute cab ride to the restaurant was over 3 hours after midnight!! And while the Metro is open later for NYE and is/was free, I would skip that as well.

Have a fabulous time as NYE in Paris is spectacular!!

Hi! Avoid the touristy places if you want to eat well, but that applies to any big city in the world,not only Paris.There is this very cute,small ,fine and outstanding restaurant we 've been a couple of times called Le Bamboche.It is a gastronomic restaurant with a creative and modern cuisine in a relaxing atmosphere.The portions are generous and beutifully presented.They have an excellent selection of wines.We really had a wonderful experience eating there,one of the details that makes the difference is that you are served by the owner himself which happens to be also one of the "chefs de cuisine".He explains each dish passionately and suggest you the wine to drink with it.What else to ask?!If you wanna visit the restaurant or check the menu here goes there website: www.lebamboche.com

Transportation Warning: It can be impossible to get a taxi after a late dinner out on New Years Eve! We once had to walk a long way back to our hotel, in the rain, because there wasn't a taxi, or any other transportation, to be had.

But, have fun!

Thanks for the restaurant recommendation, wise traveler! It looks very nice.

We're going to be in the 7th in April for a few nights; maybe we'll check it out.