Paris Restaurant Selections and Suggestions
 

My wife and I will be in Paris this September celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. We will be staying in St Germaine Des Pres.

We are making the following restaurant reservations every other day as follows:

Saturday: Senderens for dinner
Monday: ???
Wednesday: L'Epi Dupin for dinner
Friday: Jules Verne for lunch

Have not decided where to book for Monday, but am considering Allards or Fontaine de Mars. We are leaving the other days open without reservations to remain flexible.

We are also planning to visit St Chapelle on a bright sunny day (maybe Sunday along with Notre Dame) and would like to dine in that area for lunch before or after our visit.

Maybe take one of the Seine boats to/from Senderens on Saturday night???

Hopefully, we can plan our sightseeing itinerary to work with our restaurant reservations. Want to see the sights but in a relaxing fashion rather than be harried everywhere we go.

Would greatly appreciate knowledgeable Fooderites comments, opinions, and suggestions.

Merci Beaucoup!

Two restaurants I highly recommend are Le Bouquinestes (53 Quai de Grands Augustins)for something special. this is the fames chef Guy Savoy's bistro and lunch is an amazing bargain for their prixe fix, although we ate off the a la carte menu and had the best Foie gras ever! Nice to walk along the quai after seeing Notre Dame and/or St. Chappelle, have lunch and then walk on to Musee D'orsey but I'm not sure if they do lunch on Sunday.

My other favorite is Le Hanger, a tiny bistro located behind the Goe Pompidou with amazing French food for rediculously low prices. They don't tak credit cards here but it's so worth it. Have a good map becuase it's a bit tricky to find but worht seeking out. The address is 12 Impasse Berthaud, off Rue Beauborg behind the Pompidou Centre.

Enjoy!

We had dinner at Dans le Noir. You eat in total darkness. The servers are all blind. It was an experience! The food was pretty good too.

http://www.danslenoir.fr/

hi. we recently returned from paris. our favorite by far was the 6 course tasting menu at le troquet. inventive food, great flavors. fun, casual, lively place.
really liked le pamphlet. very cozy and well spaced seating. menus (no blackboards!) translated and impeccable service.alot of choices.
fontaine de mars was right next to our apt. have never eaten there on any of our trips-have heard it is not as good as in past years. had plans to eat at allard but we passsed-menu looked "ok."
we also love chez eux-have eaten there all 3 times. hearty southewestern food (mmm, the cassoulet and fois gras!) and great service.
l'os a moelle was a bit of a disappointment but alot of others seem to like it there. menu changes daily so maybe we got an off night.
astrance is amazing-but you'd need to reserve now-more formal service. we did the tasting menu w/ wine. best meal i've ever eaten. this would be the big splurge but worth every penny.
Happy 25th!

For Sunday lunch, I highly recommend Le Reminet! (To which I was directed from a trip report posted by someone here...a tip for which I could not have been more grateful!) Utterly charming place, magnificent food, moderate prices. It's an easy walk from St-Chapelle located at 3 Rue des Grands-Degrés (you can map this at www.pagesjaunes.fr) Reservations essential 0144070424.

After lunch, you could return to Isle de la Cite to visit Notre Dame.

Also, on a Sunday, highly recommend the Flower Market at Place Louis Lépine to the west of Notre Dame. On Sundays, it's a bird market also. Awesome birds! Here there are also gifts and crafts you won't find anywhere else in Paris (and at favorable prices). Magnificent ceramics, etc.

In the 7th, I would recommend Le P'tit Troquet or Au Bon Accueil (sidewalk tables have a spectacular view of the Tour Eiffel).

If you have lunch at Le Jules Vernes, let your waiter know that you'd like to go outside after your main course (there's a special staircase and this level is the best, I think, for photo ops) and enjoy your dessert and coffee in the cocktail lounge, where the views are the very best (toward Hotel de Ville, Notre Dame, Place de la Concorde, Pont Alexandre III). Most people head straight for the elevator after their meal in one of the dining rooms, without even noticing the cocktail lounge! Evenings, there is a wonderful piano player (not sure about lunch time).

About taking "one of the Seine boats to Senderens"...this restaurant is at Place de la Madeleine, and not near the river. None of the boat tours start/finish within a reasonable walking distance (if you're all dressed up for dinner), and the Batobus does not run very late (only until 6PM at the latest).

After dinner at Senderens, highly recommend strolling over to Place de l'Opera and having coffee/drinks on the terrace of Cafe de la Paix with Opera Garnier beautifully lit up at night!

Just wanted to pop in and quickly say that our dinner a few months ago at Fontaine de Mars was *fabulous*!

Dans le Noir, what sort of cost involved and was it fun ?

On our (my) last trip to Paris, our dinner at Fontaine du Mars was quite good but not the most impressive for us. Although I found the food to be quite good (their cassoulet is very close to those served in the south-west), on a Sunday night that we were there, they seemed to use the upstairs room to seat all English-speaking tourists together and it feltt like we were in a French bistro in the States. The waiter spoke good English, too.

L'Avant Gout in the (13th(?) - near Place d'italie) and Au Bon Accueil (7th) were both very good. L'Avanta Gout is a personal favorite and definitely a must on our return. My wife raved about Le Reminet and Le Dupin on her successive visits to the city.

<<they seemed to use the upstairs room to seat all English-speaking tourists together and it feltt like we were in a French bistro in the States>>

When this happens, I think it's because they assume all Americans prefer non-smoking...

hi, am not a fan of petit troquet (standard food) or au bon accuiel (rude service and ok food) , but the person that we rented our apt from loves l epi dupin. he said the food is imaginative and very flavorful. we planned to eat there but i got sick this trip. i also wanted avout gout-have only heard raves. will need to put that on the list for our next trip.
be careful with sunday. alot of places are closed. we eat at l'ardoise on sundays. people were getting turned away w/o reservations.

When my hubby and I were in Paris last October, we decided to pick a new restaurant out of Zagats. We went to AOC, knowing nothing more than the Zagats review. We had a lovely, delicious meal and were probably the only non-locals in the place. The staff were warm and friendly, and the atmosphere is like a cozy farm house. I would highly recommend. http://restoaoc.com/indexa2.htm

Another vote for Les Bouquinistes. We had a wonderful dinner there and even with a nice wine our bill was very reasonable--maybe a bit over $100. We will definitely return on next trip to Paris.

Having eaten on both floors of La Fontaine de Mars it just depends on what you want. Upstairs is much better for a quiet, even romantic dinner.

Thanks to everyone for your help. Booked Le Reminet for a Sunday lunch bewteen our sightseeing of St Chapelle and Notre Dame.

Am also considering the 9:00 seating at Alt 95 in the Eiffel Tower for our 1st night's dinner. I understand that the sun doesn't set in early September until around 9 PM so we should be there when the Tower lights go on. Also could you recommend the best way to get back to St Germaine Des Pres after dinner around 11-12 PM?

Merci Beaucoup

Could I ask you how you booked Le Reminet?

<<Also could you recommend the best way to get back to St Germaine Des Pres after dinner around 11-12 PM?>>

First, Happy 25th to you and your wife!

There is a taxi stand right outside of Eiffel Tower. It is about Euro 7 or 8 back to the 6th. So painless, really.

About Jules Verne, we had lunch there this June. The whole "high" of being there and dining in the Eiffel Tower is incomparable, so well worth it. The food was just food, but really beautifully presented. They will also place a silver dishfull of dark chocolate truffles on your table at the end of your lunch. Have many of those-- they are better than the entire lunch! Here is what you should know: there is a set menu for lunch, which is Euro 57 or 59 during the week, but it is only printed in French (the rest of the menu has an English version) and the waiter will not point it out to you for obvious reasons that ordering ala carte would be triple the price. Just know that the set menu is on the very first page and remember that it is the experience and not the food. BTW, our next table neighbors, who ordered ala carte, did not love their lunch any more than we did, but still loved the experience. And, they tend to overcook their pork tenderloin and undercook their chicken and I like it exactly the other way around. With wine and the set menu, it will set you back about $250.00.

I understand that there are other posters here who either love or hate Jules Verne, but the above is just my opinion.

Anna Roz

Crunchy, I just called Le Reminet and booked as I have with the others. It is quite easy. Just call early afternoon (there's a 6 hour diff between the EST and Paris (Romance) time. When they answer, say Bonjour. Parle vous Anglais. They usually respond in English or find someone who does. Just be polite, speak somewhat slowly and be articulate and you should have no problem. I have ended with a Merci Beaucoup.

Ana, Thank you for the info and the well wishes. This will be our last day before going on to London so I thought that the Jules Verne lunch would be a nice way to wrap things up with a view of the city. What did you do after your lunch?

Thanks, MarchM. I tried to book Le Reminet for a Sunday dinner in October through my hotel and they told me it was far too soon to reserve. I am wondering how far in advance they took your reservation. This place gets good reports and is open on Sundays. I have a group of 6 persons so would like to be sure of getting in. Do you think it is too soon to call them? The other palce I wanted to book for that weekend is Le Pamphlet..same story from my hotel..too soon to book. I think I should call both and try myself! Thanksk for the reponse and have a wonderful, tasty trip!

ps. any special reason why you choose Senderens? I might consider this one for a solo dinner during my stay..