Am I right in my presumption that tickets to ascend the Tour Eiffel can only be bought at the ticket office at the base?
Next question; Does one need a ticket if you are only having lunch or dinner at Altitude 95?
And lastly, can tickets be bought in advance or only on the day you would use them?
Many thanks to anyone who knows the answers.

Best I know (and others will correct me if I'm wrong) is that you cannot buy tickets in advance, only at the base and no, you don't need a ticket if you are going to the resturants, there are separate lines for that and you tell them you have a reservation.

I can answer the second question -- yes, you need a ticket to go up to the first level to have lunch at Altitude 95. I found this out the hard way -- showed up 10 minutes before reservation and you should have seen the stares as I jumped to the front of the line to purchase a ticket for the elevator.

Don't need a ticket if you are dining at Jules Verne -- they have a separate elevator.

Thanks a bunch!
Looks like I need to take my friends there in the very late afternoon (hopefully avoiding a long wait in line) and then do dinner on the way down. Thanks again.

Note that the tower has FOUR bases... they sell tickets at at least TWO of them (maybe more?) We walked right up and bought our tickets at the "far" base, when there were about 60 people in line at the first "base" you come to from the metro.

Excellent tip no matter where you are: Always look for a shorter line.