The First Post has recommended six good value Paris restaurants:
Le Villaret, Le Baratin, Le Bistro Paul Bert, Le Temps au Temps, Le Cerisaie, and Le Comptoir

http://tinyurl.com/2onz98

La Petite Hostellerie, Rue de la Harpe.

Wonderful 3-course meals for 9.95 euros, mostly locals in a tourist location.

Great value meal.

Ah. Le Comptoir -- where I wanted to have my birthday dinner in mid July last summer, but they were fully booked in March. After a couple of months of calling I finally gave up.

You mean there really is edible food on the rue de la Harpe?

Please tell me there wasn't a Greek standing outside holding a plate with plastic food reproductions!

Rosa Jackson gave a rather luke-warm review of lunch at le Comptoir in the latest "Paris Notes" newsletter...

I had a meal at the La Petite Hostellerie several times. Although the food was okay, it's better to describe as "Cheap and Cheerful".

The place was full of tourists and the distance of table to table was very close.

Giving a scale of zero to ten, I would certainly give a five. I would go back, if I was in the area.

Blackduff

Blackduff,
We sure expected the place to be full of tourists, but when we ate there (twice), we were the only non-French-speaking people in the place. I thought that was really odd!

Having rented an apartment for 10 days above one of those "cheap Greek places" on Rue St. Severin (right off rue de la Harpe) I can tell you that it is quite misleading to think those places are all tourists. The main language we'd hear coming and going at all hours was French. It's not too hard to believe that the big majority of French people are NOT eating at the 20 to 50 euro per person places generally discussed here. Many of them head to rue de la Harpe and that area where over 100 cheap restaurants flourish. While none of those places are going to earn any dining stars, the food at a lot of them is better than mediocre -- and many have a loyal following of locals. And a great many of the younger people you see there are students -- many of them French.

If I remember, La Petite Hostellerie was listed in the Arthur Frommer's book.

Blackduff

I really like Creperie de la Cluny on rue de l'harpe.