We are considering the Sunday Brunch there on Sunday, July 1. Do we make reservations for this?

What is the menu? Is the renovation in the dining area/restaurant complete? I read that it was being renovated last summer, but do not know if it has been completed.

Can we tour the museum after the brunch? It is free museum Sunday. If we eat brunch there do we have to stand in line to go to the museum?

If you have done this would you recommend it? Thanks.

No one has any information about this? This must not be a popular idea.

Hi M,

I have an alternative, that I think you would enjoy more,

Take the metro to the Monceau stop. There might be an antique fair that day.

Stroll through the Parc Monceau to the
www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com/en/jacquemart/
for Sunday Brunch (starts at 12:00), and a visit to the Museum.

Afterward, walk to the Arch de Triomphe and down the Champs Elysee as far as the Tuileries.

You can then cross the bridge to visit the D'Orsay in the late afternoon.

We were there during our week in Paris about a month ago (a month ago!) but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a Sunday. There are two eating places -- a casual room and a more formal dining room and that's the one we were in. I saw no sign of construction and it was quite lovely.

We didn't have a lunch reservation but the short line moved quickly. I'm sorry -- I don't remember what we had for lunch. I don't think it blew me away but I'm sure it was good. We had our lunch before we toured the museum and no, you don't have to stand in line again once you've finished your lunch. It's a beautiful museum!

We didn't buy the museum pass that lets you bypass the entry line nor did we get there early to avoid the crowds. We probably joined the line just before noon. It was one of those 'snakey' lines but it was moving fairly quickly. We were about halfway through the line when the guard from the 'reserved' door came over and got our half of the line to come in that door. I guess they weren't busy over there and wanted to move things along -- our good luck!

I don't know how all of this changes for Sunday brunch, sorry, but I hope this helps somewhat.

Surely you will get answers; I can't believe that this is an unpopular idea.

(By the way, didn't you give me some advice on a little boutique hotel in Maui a year or so ago? I am blanking on the name; we like it a lot, but I think the owner was on the verge of selling the place)

Like hdm, I am not sure how it might be different on a Sunday - - and I ought not answer at all, as my experience was 9 years ago now - - but we had a wonderful lunch, combined with some museum visiting, both before and after. We did make reservations (we were a group of 14, for one thing), and it was a superb lunch - - the extraordinary (formal, as described above) dining room, excellent food, excellent service, and very affordable, at least back then.

Please report back, whether you get up-to-date answers from others on the specific Sunday question or not.

Best wishes,

Rex

If you're vigorous I think Ira's suggestion is excellent.
I've been to both the rests. ( the Orsay and Jacquemart)... and I think the Jacquemart has the edge for charm (and food). Of course, the Orsay has the edge for art! I'm wondering if the Jacquemart takes reservations.......

We had lunch there in April and it was good and reasonably priced and worth it for the ambiance alone. Don't know if you'd have to stand in line for the museum if it's free as the restaurant is on an upper level, so you're already inside the museum.

The room is beautiful and I think it is a good idea. You do not have to stand in line to tour the museum after lunch. Reserve in advance.

I wouldn't want to stand in the free Sunday line. As hdm said there is a casual room and a formal room - they also do tea there later in the afternoon. I missed the pre-fix lunch in the formal room one year's visits, and had heard it was lovely. The following year, I returned for the lunch, no reservation, but it was nouvelle-cuisine portions- absolutely tiny, not that artful to look at and I was unimpressed with the taste. The room was ok. I was seated next to someone who struck up a conversation and the meal passed pleasantly if unremarkably. Orsay is still one of my favorite musems, but I much preferred my lunch at the outdoor cafe at Rodin.

Thanks everyone for your helpful advice. Here is what our hotel found out:

We called Musee D'Orsay today concerning the brunch on Sunday, you no need reservation, you just buy a ticket at the entrance and of course you can visit the Museum and go the museum's restaurant (open at 12.00 AM).


So, this does not sound like a good option considering the long lines for free museum Sunday. I know my family will be much too hungry to stand in a long line to eat lunch.

Thanks again everyone.

Sounds like a good decision. If you go to the D'Orsay on another day, you might still consider lunch. We ate in the more formal dining room, and had an extremely good and relaxing lunch. It is a beautiful room and was a wonderful respite from a rather hectic day.

Two points to consider:

1. Are the people who are standing in lengthy lines to get into the museum for free likely to eat in an expensive restaurant?

2. When I ate lunch from the buffet at the Orsay, it was very good, but there were only a few choices, nothing like a buffet in the US. Was that only because it was a week day or is it always that way? Do you care? It was definitely not a go-back-and-refil- your-plate or keep-going-back-for-more- plates kind of buffet.

Hi G,

> I'm wondering if the Jacquemart takes reservations.......<

No.

The resto opens for brunch at 12:00

Thanks dfr. I am glad you enjoyed your lunch there. It sounds like a pretty setting.

Ira,thanks for the information. I don't think my family will want to stand in line to eat lunch right after we arrive, but both museum lunches sound like a wonderful setting.

Ackislander, I am not sure I am following you. You have to stand in line to get into the museum and then go to eat the brunch at the Orsay.

Also, I was not even aware it was a buffet. I had never seen that mentioned.

Anyway, thanks for your help.

My husband and I had the buffet at the D'Orsay, but it was about 5 years ago. It was recommended in the "Cheap Eats" book. We just got back from Paris and we were wondering if it still existed. We had it on the night the museum was open late.

In my experience, if you are at the Orsay at the opening you may not have to wait long. HOWEVER... once.....we arrived at the back of the museum at opening time..saw no lines and sat down and had coffee across the street. We paid high price for this dawdle. When we wandered around the corner we were at the END of a line that turned on itself about 3 times and was down at street level. So be early or beware -
Or buy tickets ahead of time.