credit cards at resturants in paris

I can't recall any that did not accept credit cards, neighborhood kabob joints excepted.

Master Card and Visa are accepted in most restaurants and cafes. We've paid for many dinners by card. Europeans use mainly "chip and PIN" cards instead of the swipe cards we use, but most restaurants in cities should be able to take your swipe card, either by swiping or by hand-entering the number. We've had problems with this in a few smaller towns, but not Paris. Rather than take your card to the register, the waiter will bring a hand-held machine so the card never leaves your sight. This is more secure but apparently beyond the capability of US restaurants.

That said, I'd recommend paying cash for breakfast, snacks, coffee, a glass of wine, and such. Save the card for bigger costs like dinner, hotels, etc. Businesses pay fees to card issuers, cutting into their profit. I wouldn't like making them do that on a small purchase I can easily handle with cash.

You don't need to take a lot of cash to Paris with you if you have a debit card for your checking account. Use the debit card to make ATM withdrawals as needed in Europe. Here is good advice from this website about money.

The only place we ate at that did not accept a credit card was Restaurant Polidor in the 6th.

The only caveat using US credit cards is to make sure you notify your card company of your foreign travel dates or your card might be blocked. We always take two, a Visa and a Mastercard, since we've had problems with Visa blocking our card then calling our home phone to verify..... while we are in Paris.

Our Capitol One card was refused at SNCF Avignon TGV a few days ago, right after paying Europcar, and despite the fact that we notified them a week before leaving and called back to confirm it. The National railway, not a corner Tabac or an online thing. They had no good explanation for this. As George says, take at least two.
And by the way, in Lyon we saw "Kebap" advertised in a window, what's the difference here?

a kabap is a type of food, often spelled in in other languages as kabab.

The most common spelling I have come across is "Kebab" or "Doner kebab".
Street food stalls in general are unlikely to take credit cards. A French crêpe stand, a British Fish-and-Chips shop, a German Wurst stand and a Dutch Fritjes van are all likely to be cash only.

This is a great question! So many times I wondered the same thing about credit cards. This is what I found while writing my travel book in Paris. Most cafes do take American credit cards. There are some cafes though, even Café de Flore, that asks for the EMV chip in the credit card (European cards have this). If cafes ask for another card with an EMV chip, kindly ask the waiter to slide the card into the machine, rather than inserting the card and having the machine read the chip. Many waiters do not, or pretend?, to understand this difference in credit cards. But in general, almost all cafes in Paris take credit cards, and only a small percentage accept the EMV chip credit cards.