One special dinner for family in Paris
 

We will only be in Paris two nights and I would like to pick one great place for a nice dinner with my husband and two daughters ages 15 and 17. The girls are fairly well traveled and enjoy good food but I don't want to pick a place that is too formal or stuffy. We do want to get dressed up for dinner and go someplace nice. <BR>So, of these that have been mentioned on Fodors which would you pick? It will be either a Sunday or Monday night. Would it be better to pick a couple of these for lunch?<BR><BR>Au Bon Accueil<BR>La Regalade<BR>Chez Maitre Paul<BR>La Fountain de Mars<BR>Vieux Bistro<BR><BR>How expensive are these places? Is it better to try lunch at the more popular ones?<BR><BR>I know I have a million questions but I just dont have enough information to pick one of these.<BR><BR>Thanks for any input. Feel free to suggest others also.

Susan: Of those on your list, I've visited only Le Vieux Bistro. The food is excellent French comfort. The decor is understated, not exactly a place where you need to dress to the nines to be admitted. My Dorling Kidersley Guide (2000 ed.) calls the decor "slightly rundown," though when I ambled past it last year it appeared closed for renovations. In the same neighborhood, other island, you may wish to investigate L"orangerie at 28 rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Ile, which might please. Great neighborhood for a walk. Good ice cream at 31, same street.

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ttt<BR>

I've been to Le Vieux Bistro, and it's very good, but for something more special, I'd go to La Fontaine de Mars. Not stuffy or formal (but definitely dress nicely), but OH, the food! Check to make sure it's open Sunday or Monday, though - those are tough restaurant days in Paris.

If you've only got twonights, and don't want anything "stuffy," check out a dinner cruise on Batteaux Parisiens. the food is good, and the views from the Seine at night are very nice.

Toppering

Susan,<BR><BR>I love Chez Maitre Paul but really don't think it's a dress up event. I haven't been to the others but I wouldn't recommend one of the dinner cruises. I have heard that the food is mediocre at best.<BR><BR>Dinner for 2 at Chez MP was $75 including wine and tip. A bargain!

Hi Susan: I have two daughters 11 and 15. We've been to most of these on your list over the past few years. Like the other posters, I wouldn't call these places true "dress-up." We always carry our "basic black dress" that can be dressed up or down for wherever we eat at night, and we certainly wore them in casual mode at these places. The more formal places--Jules Verne, Tour d'Argent, etc.--are true dress-up and called for the dressy scarf and/or necklace.<BR><BR>I like most on your list. I must admit I was surprised not to have been treated very well at Au Bon Accueil, though, and I think you'd like Chez Maitre Paul better. I think Au Bon Accueil might be exhausted by the recommendations found on this board, as it sometimes happens.<BR><BR>That said, I think you should go to Jules Verne. It was not our best restaurant experience foodwise,true,but it was hardly mediocre and it was a glamourous evening. A truly first-class "formal" French restaurant treats all of its diners like royalty, and that is how my daughters were treated. <BR><BR> Go for it--have a beautiful memory.