Moulin Rouge
 

We have one night in Paris and we're thinking of going to the Moulin Rouge. Is it worth eating dinner there? Would this be a good evening for a couple with their college aged daughter?

Please, please do yourself a favour and do something else! I was there 5 months ago and was appalled at how tacky and 'un-Parisian' the whole affair was!<BR>The food was horrible and the atmosphere worse! Try a concert at Saint Chappelle or a dinner on the Ile St Louis. Far more charming and memorable for a one-off night. Additionally, the area that the M.R is in is quite dangerous and unattractive. Sorry to sound so negative but you really should know this. I wish that someone had told me...

ac- I agree with Eve. M.R. is a tourist trap- and a poor one at that. Our dinner was terrible, the entertainment poor. Don't waste an evening.

I saw a review on TV recently which pointed out that very few of the dancers were even French now, infact the pretty young lead dancer was American.<BR><BR>I personally wouldn't waste an evening there, but then, these sort of shows are not really my thing, so I wouldn't go to one in Las Vegas or anywhere else either...<BR><BR>Kavey

A place I went with my college age daughter is Au Lapin Agile, the oldest cabaret in Paris, which used to be the haunt of writers, poets, and artists. It is located in Montmartre (take metro to Lamarck-Coulaincourt) on the rue des Saules. It is a fun evening, with old time chanteurs and chanteuses; a bit touristy, but it is small and does evoke the sense of long ago Paris, as opposed to Las Vegas.

There are periodic threads on Moulin Rouge on here and I've given comments and alternative suggestions several times so won't again as I am biased against that kind of stuff in principle (like Kavey, I would never go to that stuff anywhere, Paris or Las Vegas, unless forced to, which I was once just because a relative wanted to go).<BR><BR>I think the Lapin Agile is a good idea (www.au-lapin-agile.com), and even though people say the food is nothing extraordinary, a dinner cruise on the Seine at night would be far superior entertainment, I would think (and about the same price as Moulin Rouge).

I suspected the tourist trap part about Moulin Rouge which why I've never been tempted while in Paris. <BR><BR>It is surprising how many places live off the reputation and allure formed decades ago and are now merely tourist traps. <BR><BR>I went to the Raffles hotel in Singapore for a drink at the famous "long-bar." While I didn't expect to find a haven of British literary expats, I also didn't expect to find souvenir plastic cups and "pre-mixed" singapore slings.<BR><BR>It's funny, the "in-crowd" that made the reputation of these places (like Toulose-Latrec, Somerset Maugham) wouldn't be caught dead in them today (if they weren't already dead, that is.)<BR><BR>

ttt