Top 20 Paris Restaurants
By Rosa Jackson
Paris Notes restaurant editor, Paris Notes monthly restaurant columnist, multiple French food guidebook writer and editor, longtime French food magazine writer, owner of Edible Paris food itinerary service and Les Petits Farcis cooking classes
What does it mean to eat well in Paris today? For me, it could just as easily mean a freshly made bowl of Japanese noodles with a side order of gyoza as a thick strip of steak doused in creamy pepper sauce and served with French fries cooked in suet. French tastes are growing more cosmopolitan by the day, and the three-course meal washed down with plenty of red wine is no longer compulsory at lunch and dinner.
That said, most people come to Paris for a French experience and you can find the alternatives easily enough without my help. Anglo-style soup, juice and sandwich bars have popped up all over the city—some of them good, others less so—and there are dozens of international cuisines to choose from, ranging from Afghan to Rwandan. Convincing as some of these can be, foreign cuisines do get watered down to suit French tastes and you should be especially wary of the hundreds of restaurants claiming to serve Italian food.
My main job, as restaurant critic for Paris Notes for the past eight years (click on the PN issue graphic on the right to download a free sample of Paris Notes, containing my Paris Bites monthly column), editor of six editions of the Time Out Paris Eating and Drinking guide, and longtime updater for the Fodor’s Paris guidebook has always been to seek out the kind of French restaurants that people are willing to fly across the ocean to experience—the restaurants that couldn’t exist anywhere but Paris. Even if the Paris dining scene is changing at an unprecedented pace there are still plenty of these to be found, perhaps more than ever as ever-younger chefs open their own creative bistros.
Value is increasingly an issue for visitors, and if the days of the €10 bistro lunch are well and truly over there are still ways to eat well and cheaply in Paris. You can graze your way through the markets and food shops at lunch and save your pennies for dinner, or do the opposite and take advantage of alluringly priced lunch menus in bistros and haute cuisine restaurants. A result of the government's crackdown on drinking and driving is that all restaurants now serve wine by the glass as well as the bottle, and allow you to take unfinished bottles home. Wine bars can be a great alternative to bistros, allowing you to nibble on a plate of cheese or charcuterie, slurp a few oysters or tuck into a surprisingly good plat du jour.
I’ve chosen the restaurants on this list not just for the quality of the food but also for their reliability: these are all restaurants where I would happily become a regular, if my job (and budget) allowed me that luxury. I feel confident recommending all of these restaurants, but should your experience not match your expectations please don’t hesitate to let me know about it by visiting my website (see banners below) and sending me an e-mail. I’m all too aware of how fast things change in Paris, and the least predictable aspect of dining in this city is the service. I have no qualms about bumping a restaurant off this list if I receive complaints or have a bad experience; I regularly update this list with my latest great finds.
Even this carefully thought-out selection would be meaningless unless I explained my Paris restaurant criteria, which you’ll find at the end of the list. I have chosen Paris restaurants that represent a range of prices, food styles—regional, traditional, modern, fish, haute—and neighborhoods. This was more of an accident than anything, reflecting the fact that I don’t like to eat the same food or spend time in the same neighborhood every day. Restaurants are listed by arrondissement order, as it would be impossible to list them in order of preference.
Unlike the feared Michelin inspectors, I don’t consider any restaurant sacred—and, with very rare exceptions, I dine anonymously and pay my own bill. I am confident that if you try every restaurant on this list you will have a complete—and encouraging—picture of Paris dining today, one that will keep you coming back to this city for the food alone.
The List
Ordered by Arrondissement
Criteria used for inclusion at bottom of page
Average price listed is for a three-course meal, without wine or berverage
RESTAURANT DU PALAIS-ROYAL
There can hardly be a more romantic setting for dinner in Paris than the Restaurant du Palais-Royal, looking onto the serene symmetrical gardens across from the Louvre. You can’t help but feel privileged to be here—especially if you nab a prized seat on the summer terrace. In winter, the jewel-toned interior makes an equally stylish setting for an intimate meal. The contemporary yet simply prepared French food lives up to the surroundings: among the specialties are risotto, such as a glamorous squid-ink version with lobster (the menu changes seasonally); an elegant take on steak-frites favored by the businessmen at lunchtime; some standout fish dishes; and millefeuille with seasonal fillings for dessert (chestnut in winter, strawberries in summer).
•110 Galerie Valois, 1st. Tel: (1) 40 20 00 27. Closed Sun. Average €50.
WILLI'S WINE BAR
Run by a pair of British wine aficionados with a penchant for the Côtes du Rhône, Willi’s has been around since 1980—yet this is one place where quality never seems to flag. Chef François Yon works wonders with seasonal ingredients: the great-value daily changing menu (€25 at lunch, €32 at dinner) might bring you a Tatin of pearl onions with salad, roast cod with eggplant and basil "marmalade," and roast pear with spiced caramel and hazelnut cake. The dining room decorated with wine-themed art is perfect for a leisurely meal, but you can also drop in without a reservation to eat at the long oak bar.
•13 Rue des Petits-Champs, 1st. Tel: (1) 42 61 05 09. Closed Sun. Average €32.
AUX LYONNAIS
This belle époque bistro with stunning painted tiles was languishing in mediocrity until star chef Alain Ducasse bought it a few years ago, dusted it off and put a fine young chef at the helm. Now it’s widely acknowledged to be one of the finest regional bistros in Paris, with a Lyonnais theme. Lyonnais cooking is not known for its lightness, but here the chef revisits classics such as coq au vin, quenelles de brochet (pike-perch dumplings) and frogs’ legs with a deft touch. Desserts are just as sophisticated and satisfying, and there are some interesting wines from the Lyon region.
•32 Rue St-Marc, 2nd. Tel: (1) 42 96 65 04. Closed Sun. and Mon. Average €45.
L'AMBASSADE D'AUVERGNE
Few restaurants in Paris are as proud of their regional origins as L’Ambassade d’Auvergne, which serves the rib-sticking cooking of the volcanic Auvergne region in central France. Whether you order the vinegary lentils in goose fat with bacon, the aligot (cheesy whipped mashed potatoes) or the unapologetically dense chocolate mousse, the serving dish is left on your table and you are jokingly scolded for failing to polish it off. The setting is that of an old country auberge—strike up a conversation with then handlebar-moustached maître d’, who has many a story to tell.
•22 Rue du Grenier St-Lazare, 3rd. Tel: (1) 42 72 31 22. Average €35.
LE PAMPHLET
If you like everything about haute cuisine except the price, chances are you will love Le Pamphlet. The red-and-ochre dining room feels unusually calm and comfortable for a bistro—the cushy chairs even allow for the inevitable waist expansion—and chef Alain Carrère could probably get away with charging twice as much for his southwest-inspired food (though it would be wise not to mention this to him). The €33 menu changes often, but you might run into squid ink risotto, cod fillet on a bed of white beans, glazed suckling pig with root vegetables and an intriguing banana cake. Prices are higher if you order à la carte, but still good value considering the quality of the food.
•38 Rue Debelleyme, 3rd.Tel: (1) 42 72 39 24. Closed Sun. No lunch Mon. or Sat. Average €30-€50.
MON VIEIL AMI
Young chef Frédéric Crochet, a protégé of Michelin-starred chef Antoine Westermann in Strasbourg, turns out reliably wonderful updated Alsatian food in an Ile Saint-Louis setting that’s both medieval and minimalist: stone walls, sleek dark furniture, frosted glass. Among the dishes that are already considered classics on the €39, three-course prix fixe are the country pâté with a knob of foie gras in the middle, and the breast of hen stuffed with a delicious pork filling—fish dishes, such as fried skate with potatoes sautéed with preserved lemon, are also delicious. The waiters are friendly without being overly familiar, and the restaurant is non-smoking.
•69 Rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile, 4th. Tel: (1) 40 46 01 35. Closed Mon. and Tue. Average €39.
LE PRE VERRE
Given the caliber of cooking at this lively plum-painted bistro adorned with framed vintage jazz album covers, the prix fixe menu for €26.50 is an incredible bargain. Chef Philippe Delacourcelle, who honed his technique in Asia, might rustle up such unusual dishes as crisp-skinned cod with smoked mashed potatoes, suckling pig in a creamy cassia bark sauce, spice-crusted rump steak with a squash-filled spring roll, and tangy rhubarb compote with ginger-spiked white chocolate mousse. Best of all, the main floor room with its picture windows onto a quiet Latin Quarter street is non-smoking, while smokers are relegated to the basement.
•8 Rue Thénard, 5th. Tel: (1) 43 54 59 47. Closed Sun and Mon. Average €27.
CHEZ DUMONET - JOSEPHINE
Chez Dumonet should be declared a national monument, so well does it represent the old-world bistro. Its menu illustrates why I came to Paris in the first place: help-yourself marinated herrings with warm potato salad, potent boeuf bourguignon, crisp-skinned duck confit, pan-fried foie gras, monkfish with white beans, and some spectacular desserts such as a millefeuille big enough for three and a Grand Marnier soufflé whose architecture rivals the Eiffel Tower’s. I pray that Josephine will never change, with its 1930s light fixtures, white-linen-draped tables, and jokey waiters (who speak a little English). Just don't try to order your steak well done or ask for cream with your coffee, as the staff cannot bring themselves to commit such heresy against French tradition.
•117 Rue du Cherche-Midi, 6th. Tel: (1) 45 48 52 40. Closed Sat and Sun. Average €50.
L'ATELIER DE JOEL ROBUCHON
L’Atelier is no longer the bargain it was when this trendsetting restaurant first opened, signaling the end of super-chef Joël Robuchon’s semi-retirement, but a meal here is still a uniquely thrilling Parisian experience. Seated at one of the two black bars with views of the open kitchen, start off with one of the tapas-style small plates (starting at €12), followed by a main course that illustrates why Robuchon is so revered: perhaps merlan Colbert (deboned and fried whole whiting with tartar sauce) or an inauthentic but wonderful spaghetti carbonara with crème fraîche and Alsatian bacon. Reservations are officially taken only for the 11.30am and 6.30pm sittings, though staff have been known to make exceptions.
•5 Rue de Montalembert, 7th. Tel: (1) 42 22 56 56. Average €60.
LES COCOTTES DE CHRISTIAN CONSTANT
Christian Constant has already proved his ability to relate to the Parisian masses with his nostalgic bistro Le Café Constant and his reinvention of Le Violon d’Ingres as a contemporary brasserie. Now he has created another sensation with Les Cocottes, in the same street as his three other successful restaurants. The concept is simple: diners choose a high seat along the long counter and mix-and-match from a menu of salads, soups, verrines, cocottes and savory tarts. Food is served nonstop from morning until night with no reservations, but you can be in and out within 45 minutes (which is the idea). The authenticity of his “vraie salade Caesar” is arguable, but green pea velouté with chorizo and sea bream with ratatouille in a cast-iron cocotte are just what you expect from modern bistro cooking. Desserts, scribbled on the blackboard, are homey French classics.
•135 Rue Saint-Dominique, 7th. Tel: (1) 45 50 10 31. Average €25.
LES OMBRES
Les Ombres is on top of a museum, has a fabulous view (of the Eiffel Tower, no less), and is clearly making an effort to be fashionable. What are the chances of having a great meal? Surprisingly good, thanks to 30-year-old Arnaud Busquet, whose Mediterranean-inspired cooking shows a strong Joël Robuchon influence. Like the Musée Branly the chef borrows from different continents, but these ingredients show up only as subtle touches such as lemongrass in a broth for scallops and a pineapple and passion fruit dessert. The €37 menu de saison is tempting and varied enough that nearly everyone opts for it at lunch, while dinner is a pricier affair costing about twice as much. Unusual care is evident in dishes such as thin asparagus curved into a nest with tiny lardons and a poached egg fried in breadcrumbs, or perfectly deboned red mullet fillet with an accompaniment of minutely diced zucchini with lemon. A bit brasserie-like during the day, the restaurant comes into its own at night, when you’ll be treated to a close-up view of the glittering Eiffel Tower (from the terrace, if your timing is good).
•Musée Branly, 27 Quai Branly, 7th. Tel: (1) 47 53 68 00. Average: €70.
GAYA BY PIERRE GAGNAIRE
If you can’t afford to eat at Pierre Gagnaire’s eponymous restaurant (and who can?), this Left Bank fish bistro gives a more accessibly priced taste of his daring style: cod “petals” come in a martini glass with soba noodles, mango and grapefruit, while a French take on fish ‘n chips shows his affinity with London, where he runs the restaurant Sketch. Gagnaire’s unpredictable way with fish is all the more welcome in a city that favors a minimalist approach to seafood, and the revamped dining room provides an inviting contemporary setting (particularly the main floor room with its fish-scale wall and bar for solo diners).
•44 Rue du Bac, 7th. Tel: (1) 45 44 73 73. Closed Sun. No lunch Mon. Average €60.
LA TABLE DU LANCASTER
The Troisgros restaurant in Roanne, Burgundy has attracted international foodies since the 1970s, but only in 2004 did current chef Michel Troisgros open a Paris outpost in this discreet boutique hotel. Just as striking as the food itself is the Japanese-style terrace with red walls and bamboo plants, which reflects owner Grace Leo Andrieu’s Asian origins. The menu explores often under-appreciated ingredients, such as sardines, eel and frogs’ legs, alongside luxury foods such as langoustines and scallops. If you find yourself hesitating, order the signature cod in a seaweed bouillon with koshi hikari rice (the finest Japanese rice). Desserts are splendid—Troisgros has a special fondness for tart flavors.
•Hôtel Lancaster, 7 Rue de Berri, 8th. Tel: (1) 40 76 40 18. No lunch Sat and Sun. Average €60.
TAILLEVENT
The most expensive restaurants in Paris generally excel at making their customers feel uneasy. Not so at Taillevent, where consummate host Jean-Claude Vrinat treats even relative paupers like royalty —ask the valet to park your moped and he won’t turn a hair. Since the arrival of chef Alain Solivérès the kitchen has been on a roll, turning out flawless dishes such as a superb spelt risotto with frogs’ legs, bone marrow and truffles, and wild duck with Reinette apple and persimmon. Choose the subdued front room for a romantic (or illicit) meal, the livelier and more crowded back room to really feel part of this Paris institution.
•15 Rue Lamennais, 8th. Tel: (1) 44 95 15 01. Closed Sun and Mon. Average €150.
CHEZ MICHEL
It’s well worth venturing out to this quiet neighborhood near Gare du Nord to taste Thierry Breton’s unexpected take on the cooking of Brittany in a cozy wood-beamed dining room. One of a group of young chefs who has reinvented the Paris bistro by offering a bargain prix-fixe menu (€30) based on seasonal ingredients, he is famed for his game dishes in winter (you might try wild boar stew in a cast-iron pot with little grenaille potatoes) and for his take on Breton classics such as kig ha farz (hearty pork stew with a bread stuffing) and the signature Paris-Brest (choux pastry filled with hazelnut buttercream). He also runs the even more reasonably priced Chez Casimir a couple of doors down.
•10 Rue de Belzunce, 10th. Tel: (1) 44 53 06 20. Closed Sat and Sun No lunch Mon. Average €30.
SPRING
This pocket-sized modern bistro run by 20-something chef Daniel Rose has fast become one of the most sought-out foodie destinations in Paris. Rose might be American but he has a solid foundation in French technique, having worked with Yannick Alléno at Le Meurice among other greats. Once you’ve booked your table you’ll be in the chef’s hands: Rose serves a single, prix-fixe menu every night with no substitutions, based on the fresh ingredients he picks up at the Place des Fêtes market. These might range from spring cauliflower, which goes into a remarkably creamy cream-free soup, to juicy guinea fowl with parsnip, carrot and beet. It’s not a restaurant for fussy eaters, but if you’re open-minded and have a good appetite it’s hard to do better in Paris at this price.
•28 Rue de La Tour d’Auvergne, 9th. Tel: (1) 45 96 05 72. Average €40.
LE TEMPS AU TEMPS
Ever since young Lyonnais-born chef Sylvain Sendra and his wife took over this little bistro near the Bastille a few years ago, they have put a “complet” sign outside every night. The formula behind its popularity is simple enough, if extremely hard to pull off: ambitious cooking + great value + enthusiastic service. The chef’s dramatic style shines through in dishes such spiced mackerel fillets perched atop an os à moelle (marrow bone) and pork belly a la plancha, served with a frothy seafood sauce. Typical of the fish dishes are pollack with creamed artichokes and exceptionally moist chestnuts was spot on. Just as lip-smacking are desserts such as chocolate terrine with a wonderful, almost chewy texture and homemade honey sorbet.
•13 Rue Paul Bert, 11th. Tel: (1) 43 79 63 40. Average €30.
LE TROQUET
Those who consider Le Troquet their neighborhood haunt are very lucky indeed, since this restored 1920s dining room serves cooking several notches above ordinary bistro fare. Chef Christian Etchebest is from the Basque Country, and his allegiance to this region shows in dishes such as axoa de veau (veal stewed with bell peppers) and an inventive salad of snails with lamb’s lettuce, capers, bacon and pistachio vinaigrette. The current pastry chef trained at Le Grand Véfour, which explains why the hand-whipped soufflé rises so high. Etchebest rewrites his menu every three weeks, but the price remains accessible at €30 for three courses at dinner and €26 at lunch.
•21 Rue François-Bonvin, 15th. Tel: (1) 45 68 89 00. Closed Sun. and Mon. Average €30.
ASTRANCE
It’s famously hard to get a reservation at Astrance, where chef Pascal Barbot has created a contemporary French cooking style that relies on purity of flavor rather than fat. His multi-course tasting menu for €150 leaves you feeling surprisingly sprightly thanks to Barbot’s instinctive sense of balance. Dishes rely on textures and colors as much as flavors, frequently drawing on Asian ingredients such as miso (in lacquered eggplant) or lemongrass and chili pepper (in a palate-cleansing sorbet). The dining room is sober gray, the waiters serious about their work—the only thing missing is an affordable lunch menu.
•4 Rue Beethoven, 16th. Tel: (1) 40 50 84 40. Closed Sat-Mon. Average €150.
LA TABLE DE LAURISTON
If too many frothy sauces have left you longing for simplicity, you’ll appreciate Serge Barbey’s straightforward yet sensual cooking at La Table de Lauriston. The setting feels surprisingly warm for a restaurant in the business-minded 16th arrondissement, with pink, orange and silver-striped walls and chairs in indigo and gold. The frequently changing menu of bourgeois classics draws on seasonal ingredients, such as asparagus from the Landes (in south-west France) and morels in spring, and his pan-fried steak is gargantuan. Best value is the €25 limited-choice lunch menu, but that would mean missing out on one of the most extravagant baba au rhums in town, doused in a choice of three rums.
•129 Rue Lauriston, 16th. Tel: (1) 47 27 00 07. Closed Sun. No lunch Sat. Average €50.
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Critera for Inclusion on This List
To qualify for the Paris Notes Top 20, each of the restaurants had to satisfy all of the following requirements:
A great overall experience
Years of restaurant reviewing have convinced me that food alone does not make a great meal. A lovingly prepared dish slammed down on your table with a scowl will turn your stomach before you’ve even taken a mouthful. That’s why I value service almost above everything else, even the talents of the chef. Helpful, professional and discreet are the qualities I look for, but what really wins me over is a dose of well-judged humor. The best restaurant meals are those in which everything comes together —food, atmosphere (whether jovial, low-key or festive), and service. Décor can add a great deal to a meal, but bad décor can occasionally prove endearing.
Good value for money
This has become much more of an issue since the euro was introduced in 2002. Where once restaurateurs might have bumped their prices up by a few francs they now do it by a few euros, with disastrous results for those who have to keep an eye on their budgets (that is to say, most of us). Some of the restaurants on this list are expensive, but at all of them you should feel that you are getting your money’s worth in terms of the quality of the ingredients, the effort being made in the kitchen, the surroundgs and the service.
Consistency
Remember the Paris branch of Nobu? New Yorkers can’t get enough of Robert De Niro’s restaurant, yet it only lasted a few months here. This list consists mainly of well-established restaurants that have proved their ability to be consistent. I won’t include a new restaurant unless it’s truly exceptional, from a chef with an impressive track record.
That extra something
Each of the restaurants on this list stands out in some way—it might have a lovely terrace, a dazzling view, a vintage dining room or a jaw-dropping wine list. Never, though, will any of these extras serve as an excuse to skimp on the essentials.
French food
With a little luck, talent or help from well-informed friends, you can find excellent Moroccan, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Jewish, Indian and even English food in Paris. International cuisine, however, is not the subject of this Top 20 list—it would require an entirely separate list, or several lists if I were to do it thoroughly.
