Paris restaurants? What's your favorite?
 

Hi,
My husband and I are heading to Paris on Saturday- need suggestions for places to eat in all price ranges and all cuisines. Thanks.

Chez Julien, metro Hotel de Ville, corner of 1 rue Pont Louis Philippe and 62 rue de l?Hotel de Ville..
traditional French food and charming decor, probably about 60-70 e pp these days (more, depending on wine), though a less expensive prix fixe is also available.

any more suggestions?

McDonalds, Champs Elysee Moderate prices, French-style American cuisine

see the thread I generated on eating in La Marais....I leave on Friday - let's hope for good weather!!!

Hi hb,

Have you done a text search for "Paris Resturants"? There are dozens of threads.

Hi,
Cafe de la Poste on Castex in the Bastille area. Quaint and delicious. I've honestly not eaten any bad food during my two trips to Paris. Enjoy. Tim

Bofinger near the Bastille...a great brasserie.

Jules verne in the Eifel Tower for a very special, romantic evening. Usually you need reservations months in advance...but tell your concierge to check for cancellations...we did and it was wonderful.

June

We like some of the smaller bistros with typically French bistro cooking such as Bastide d'Odeon, opposite the Luxembourg Gardens and La Fontaine de Mars, which is open Sunday, in the 7th Arr.

hb,

Here are a few of our favorites from our last trip. They are listed from most expensive to least.

1. MICHEL ROSTANG: Absolutely, positively the best restaurant experience of our lives. I have worked in and run restaurants and hotels for nearly 21 years and have never had an experience to equal this one. The dining room is gorgeous, the service beyond fault and the food indescribable. We ordered three courses (al a? carte) but ended up with around ten?they just kept bringing out delicacies as the chef whipped them up. If you want to be pampered beyond belief, this is the place to go.
2. LE JULES VERNE (Tour Eiffel): When we initially made reservations for lunch (dinner was booked through the 4th of never) they told us there was no chance of a window table: they lied. When we arrived, they seated us at what was arguably the best window table in the place. The second we sat down, Clare de Lune (sp?) began playing (one of my all-time favorites) and I lost it. The view, the music, my beautiful date?I was simply overwhelmed. As for the food, it was much better than I expected. It wasn?t on par with Michel Rostang but it was very, very good (crab souffle? baked in a loaf of bread, marinated squid stuffed with chantairelles and fois gras). I realize this place gets uneven reviews, however, I would recommend it as an unforgettable experience not to be missed.
3. BRASSERIE BOFINGER: We simply loved brasseries and this was our favorite! Great atmosphere, great service and wonderful brasserie fare. If you?re in the mood for shellfish and choucroutte, this is the place for you.
4. LE BON ACUILLE: I?m quite sure I haven?t spelled this one right but it?s a lovely little restaurant near the tour Eiffel. Delightful prix-fix menu featuring everything from seafood stews (one of the best soups I?ve ever eaten) to duck with figs. Great place and reasonably priced wine list to boot.
5. BRASSERIE BALZAR: Small neighborhood brasserie in the 5the featuring probably the best sole meuniere and Steak Tartare I?ve ever tasted. Good solid service and an intimate locals atmosphere. Place was packed every time we walked by.
6. POLIDOR: Locals place located in the 6the. Very casual, very inexpensive and quite good. They serve classics such as blanquette de veau and beouf bourgignon. Be prepared to share a table as everyone is seated at picnic-style tables.


Have a great trip!

Strive

thanks for the suggestions!

For a lively brasserie atmosphere with attractice decor and good solid meals, try Le Vaudeville, on Rue Vivienne across from the Bourse in the 2nd.

Consider Le Buisson Ardent, 25 rue Jussieu, near the Jussieu Metro, great food at a great price, modern preparations. Don't miss the fruit soup dessert.

L'Atlas, 12 bd St-Germain, 5me, Metro Maubert-Mutualite, for interesting combinations of ingredients in their tajines and cous cous, and a nice decor to boot.

Au Dromedaire Gourmand, near the Maubert Mutualite Metro, for copious high quality North African fair at bargain prices. Simple decor.

FLUNCH! For a lot of food, a rarity in French restaurants, head to Flunch, a cafeteria featuring the most French of al possible foods. Like Old Country Buffet in the States, Flunch provides unlimited helpings of many of the most popular French foods. Located all over paris and France, for about 10 euros can you eat and drink all you want. Plus you need not deal with surley waiters!

good suggestion. when you need lots of food, but don't care about the quality, just the quantity -- head there.
Pull up to the trough and fill up. Soo-ey!

Palenque - what IS it with you and Le Flunch? I mean, yes, it's an all you can eat place in Paris that tries to mimic similar places in America, but is this what you go all the way to Paris for? YUCK! I mean, it's FINE for kids - believe me, when my kids were toddlers, we ate in Flunches, but are you kidding as a serious place to eat in Paris, the food mecca of the world?

La Fontaine de Mars and Le Florimond are two of my favorite places to eat in Paris, both in the 7me. Le Croque au Sel is also good - VERY inexpensive (they have a major special for people - read tourists- who order before 8 pm) right next to La Fontaine de Mars on the rue Ste-Dominique. All are inexpensive to moderate, meaning 20 - 40€ per person with wine.

Le Grand Cafe at 4 boulevard des Capucines by the Opera Garnier. The entire place if stained glass, they cook the food at your table, and it's very reasonably price.

Have a great trip.

Another vote for Le Grand Cafe. They have a web site.

For lunch either Mariage Freres in the Marais or Laduree on the Champs Elysee.

For dinner, L'Orangerie on the Ile St. Louis.

For ice cream or light fare Berthillon on the Ile too.

I am surprised, no one mentioned the Restyaurant Chartier. Acording to the Parisians is a landmark. When you get tired of all the grand restaurants, which I doubt you would get a table, due to such short notice, you can head to Chartier, and know you are in a 200 years original decor, with aproned Parisian waiters serving you. The menu is typical bistro fair, not at all inspiring, but honest. All for around 15 to 25 Euros. There is always a line, which moves fast, so be patient. The address is 7 Fab.Montmartre, near the Grand Boulevards, Metro station just short walk from the restaurant, is Grand Boulevards on line 8 or 9. For ambiance you could try "Le Train Bleu" Belle Epoque decor at the Gare de Lyon. It is so beautiful!and Andre Malraus declared an historic monument in 1972. the food is very honest, and the restaurant cuisine is done by the same people as the hotel Crillon, so you can expect mistake. For a Michelin restaurant I started going to, when it just started at the Rive Gauche(left bank)is Yvan. Now installed at 1 bis R. Jean Mermoz, on the 8th. arrondisement, in the Champs Elysee area. Many new generation celebrities go there to be seen. And the seafood is superb, as Yvan himself, when he comes to the dining room to gree the clientele. The metro is Franklin-D Roosevelt, line 1 or 9.
I lived in Paris for 2years, and in Grenoble for 6, and the restaurants above, are the ones of many we would go with our Parisian friends. But most of them are very friendly to the tourists as well.
I love Paris, so hope you really have a great time.

I agree on Chartier. The real deal.

Hi,
Ones I've enjoyed over the years:
Angelina's: Right Bank, Rue Rivoli, near Louvre, "tea room", fabulous deserts, and a hot chocolate , the "africain" that is death by chocolate...
Reine Blanche: Ile St Louis, family restaurant, small, great food, friendly lady running the show
Au Gourmet de L'Ile: Ile St Louis,very nice, stone-and-beam decor
Berthillon: on Ile St Louis, some people say this is the best ice cream in the world...they have a street outlet here
Rotisserie du Beaujolais: near above restaurant, lots of locals, great chicken/duck, same owner as the nearby **** Tour D'argent....
Atlas: Left Bank,#12 Blvd St Germain (east end), Moroccan food, my friend says it was very good, and plentiful
Chez Rene: Blvd St Germain, right across street from above, bistro, lots of locals, Catherine Deneuve once in a while...
Moulin de Vent/Chez Henri: left bank, Rue des Fosses St Bernard, bistro, locals, and as with the above ,good/great food
Napoleon - Rue St Germain, near Cafe Flore and St Germain church, good croque monsieur and cafe creme, nice spot for lunch, french intellectuals used to go there (still do? :))

I've found that if you get the Red Michelin guide and go to those restaurants, you won't likely go wrong.
HOpe this helps, and have a great visit!

Mike

Hey gardyloo, I know you've posted before that you really like Chartier. I was wondering how your French is. With kikikim spending so much time in France I assume she's very good at French.

If your French is good, maybe that's why you had a more pleasant time. If your French isn't good then it's back to the drawing board for me to figure out why I had such lousy service there. :-)

I think we've been over the Chartier issue in other posts -- a few people like it, but many do not. I don't care for it at all and I do speak French fairly well. Speaking French doesn't give you good service at that joint, nor does it improve the food. I was seated with all French people and none of us got good service. It's just a place they are in a hurry and want you to get in and out and not ask for much, they are busy. Sure, it's an institution and the food reflects that. It's really more a fast-food lunch place than what I would call a decent restaurant (no, it's not the same decor and style as McDonalds, but it's not for a nice dinner unless you are a masochist).

One of my favorites is in the 15th so most won't be in that area or want to (it's Bistro Champetre), but in the center, I quite like Bouillion Racine near bd St-Michel. Great food, beautiful decor, excellent service and only about 40 euro each.

To everyone who recommended Chez Julien, do you think this would be a good New Year's eve place? We're still looking...

If you happen to visit the Musee D'Orsay around midday, have a meal there. Besides friendly service, good food it is a gem of a Museum.

La Gare, over in the 16th, not too far from the Marmottan Museum. Very smart decor, very smart crowd, very good food.
Cafe l'Esplanade near Les Invalides. Part of the Costes chain. Hip decor (based on a cannon and cannonball theme), great place for afternoon tea (a great place to enjoy Mariage Freres tea without the mob scene at the Mariages Freres shops/salons). Finally, my new favorite place for tea is at the Plaza Athenee Hotel on the Avenue Montaigne. For 8 euros, you get a big, silver pot of outstanding tea (try Darjeeling Margaret's Hope) and flawless service in an atmosphere of pure luxury (FYI, it's not just a ladies-who-lunch kind of place--when I was there on a Tuesday afternoon, there were several men having drinks and a few cigars on their own).

I can understand that people can take or leave Chartier. The times we've been there it was great - food good, interesting people around us, preoccupied but not especially snotty waiters - like I said, the real deal. Our French is rudimentary (to be charitable.) Others may have had different experiences; thankfully there's no shortage of restaurants in Paris to research ;-)

My take on Chartier. It's fine, but no comment about it should be without a qualifier -- "good for the money". If this same food was served at higher prices, people would complain about the mediocrity of it all. It is only "good" because it is "cheap" in my humble opinion. You get what you pay for, and if you're looking for a really cheap meal, then it's a good value.

One of our favorites is Au Monde des Chimeres, a charming little restaurant on Il. St. Louis. Reservations are recommended. Prices were reasonable.

The "Le Petite Pont" near (guess where?). Yes right next to the bridge. Saw it on a poster in a french teacher's room some years back. Looked it up on my first trip in '93 and have eaten there at least once on each trip for the last 4 visits. Crowded, sidewalk dining, but how typically Paris! Wonderful.

Another vote for L'Orangerie on Ile St. Louis. We celebrated my 40th (gasp) birthday there, and the food was outstanding and atmosphere was cozy and romantic. If my memory serves me, I think we had a prix fixe meal, including a bottle of decent red wine, for 65 or 75 euros each.

One more vote for Le Florimond (non-smoking restaurant) and Jules Verne. As to La Fontaine de Mars we did not have a good experience there but it seems that everyone had a great meal in this restaurant so in May we are going to try to dine there one more time hopping to add this restaurant to our list.

mp413, if you're looking for a romantic place to toast the new year by candlelight, yes, Chez Julien would be perfect. If you want lots of hoopla and large crowds bumping into each other, kissing everyone in sight, and making merry through the night, I don't think it would fill the bill. It's quite lovely in a traditional, old-fshioned, candle light and flowers kind of way.