Paris Restaurant Tips by Laura_Mexico

Saveurs de Savoie: French food, decent prices

This is the place where the VT meet group had our last dinner together (many people had already left by then). So you will find this same picture and similar comments on the other attendee's pages.

We ended up here because all along St. Severin street there were several restaurants offering cheap french food menus for dinner, so we checked out the menus for 2-3 of them and decided to stay here because of it being easily accesible for one of the group members' wheelchair. The food was ok, nothing spectacular, but the cheap menu was only 10 EUR (which is a REAL bargain in Paris) and it included an entry, a main course and a dessert. Beverages were not included and they all cost 4-5 EUR and up, but it was still pretty decent. They also had a 16 EUR menu which had more choices for each course and bigger portions. But I was perfectly ok with my 10 EUR menu and 5 EUR coke or so.

Favorite Dish: The onion soup was ok and the beef dish I had was also fine. The chocolate mousse for dessert was a bit too sweet. But I wasn't expecting anything out of this world for this price.... it was a hot, decent meal and for a decent price.

Address: St. Severin street

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: Between Blvd. St. Michel and Rue St. Jacques.

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 3

Theme: Local

Le Venitien: Across the street from "Le Grand Cafe"......

I found this place by chance while walking along the Boulevard des Capucines in 2002.... Just about a block ahead from Le Grand Cafe (coming from the Avenue de L'Opera) and across the street, there's a small restaurant/bar with a stand right outside where they cook crepes of several different flavors right in the moment you buy them... and to take away. You can always eat them inside but the price is higher, especially after 10 PM. They also sell alcoholic beverages and other kinds of dishes at this place. I did not get the name last time but now I did! Definitely recommend it.

The crepes to take away are not too expensive (around 4-5 EUR) and they are really DELICIOUS!!! Perfect for a snack or even for an entire meal, if you're trying to eat cheap ;-)

NOTE: they no longer have the stand outside the restaurant to make the crepes, but they still showed in the menu so I suppose you just have to go inside and order them to take away (remember, eating inside the restaurant will cost you more).

Favorite Dish: I had a crepe with ham & cheese the first time, and now I had one with cheese & mushrooms, and even though they were simple they were really GREAAAAAT! Bon appetit!

Address: Boulevard des Capucines

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: Almost across the street from the "Le Grand Cafe" restaurant, close to a Pizza Hut restaurant!

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 4

Theme: Local

Artisan Boulanger: Wonderful pastries

I stayed close to the St. Denis arch/door, where the Blvd. Bonne Nouvelle (that later becomes Blvd. Haussmann) and St. Denis street meet. This is a bit north from Les Halles.

Very close to this arch, walking towards the north (so getting even farther away from the most touristic area) there are a lot of little shops run mainly by people from arab origin. Fruit stores, bakeries, grocery stores, even a couple of supermarkets. This is a small bakery but they have the best cakes.... I bought here several "religeuses" (eclair-style cakes but round and tall instead of flat and long), an eclair filled with whipped cream which was also very good, a sort of mille-feuille cake and a sandwich. Everything was great. Unfortunately it's rather off the beaten path, but if you happen to stay in this area I highly recommend it. Also, they open late (10 AM) and close early (6 PM) and I think they're closed on Sunday. But we still shopped here as many times as we could. The prices are pretty decent too. The shop is rather small and the sign isn't too visible, but it's the only bakery in this area (it is around number 40-50 of this street).... just look through the windows!

Just for the record, we found a very similar bakery in the Pigalle area, walking from Moulin Rouge towards the Montmartre funicular along the Blvd. de Clichy, close to the Erotic Museum. It is almost across the street from a Carrefour supermarket. This one was bigger with lots of cakes and bread, and they had a mille-feuille cake to DIE for. Highly recommendable too.

Favorite Dish: Religeuses (translation: nuns!!!) cakes, coffee flavor (chocolate was a bit too plain).

Address: Rue du Faubourg St. Denis

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: Walking north from the St. Denis arch/door, on your left side. Lots of good fruit shops around, too!

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 4

Theme: Bakery

Le Grand Cafe: Near the Opera Garnier, open day & night Le Grand Cafe Review

Located very close to the Opera, this is a very old yet very good restaurant. It's been there since the first time I visited Paris (some 20 years ago) and it's decorated in an Art Deco style. This is a rather expensive place to eat, but the quality of the food is good and it's a nice one-time treat.

However, after a few visits to this restaurant I have to say that I'm rather disappointed and would probably not go back on my next trip. On my previous visit the place was crowded -as usual- and, since it was only another guy and me, they gave us a SUPER SMALL table next to other people that were eating in couples too or alone, and it was rather uncomfortable to move in and out of your seat (i.e. to go to the restroom)... the space isn't much and the place is usually crowded, especially during regular meal times (it probably gets worse at dinner time, between 7-10 PM)... so it's better not to go when EVERYONE is having lunch/dinner! It's open 24 HRS so you should be able to go anytime, and hopefully it won't be as chaotic at 2-5 AM.

This "success" obviously has an impact in the quality of the service, which was amazingly POOR during my very last visit (2007). It took me nearly 2 hours (!) to finish having dinner and it was only myself at the table...!! The waiter was kind but was TOO busy to pay attention to me, and the lady that was helping him was definitely rude when I reminded her that I had been waiting for my dessert for 20 minutes... she said that "I shouldn't despair and that it would come some time, and that I should notice that the room was crowded". The food was still nice but I don't think that's the way to treat customers at a place of this category, so just keep that in mind when eating there as it looks like it's crowded ALL the time, at least in peak season.

Favorite Dish: If you love desserts like me, don't forget to ask for the "Assiette Gourmandises", which includes a small sample of nearly ALL the desserts they have (around 5-6) for the price of ONE!!! It costs 8 EUR and you can taste their best desserts in small portions. Definitely worth it!

The onion soup they serve here is great as well.

Address: 4, Boulevard des Capucines, Paris 75009

Comparison: more expensive than average

Phone: +33 (0) 1 43 12 19 00

Price: US$31-40

Rating: 2

Theme: Local