Do I need to plan meals like I plan trips to museums/sites?

We haven't typically booked any meals in advance. We're not foodies, mostly we're just looking to eat something. But for our upcoming trip to Paris and Normandy, I have booked some restaurants because I'm a little concerned about availability due to COVID business closures.

I used thefork.com for several reservations and the restaurant's own site for one. This is all for dinners

If you want to go out for a really nice dinner and are unsure about needing reservations, check the restaurant's Google and Yelp profiles to see if they take reservations and just make one. You could also look at user reviews to see if people recommend making reservations.

Outside of that, part of the fun of travel is spontaneity. Just wing it and you could stumble on a hidden gem!

I’m a planner, but I don’t plan meals. Sometimes I might jot down the names of restaurants that I read or hear about that sound good, but most of the time, I don’t even do that. I never know what time we’ll be ready to eat or what we will be in the mood for.

We enjoy eating, but we are not foodies. We are happy with takeout, bakeries, food markets and casual cafes. If we feel like a formal sit down meal, we walk around looking for an appealing restaurant or one that I’ve got in my notes. It can’t be too fancy because we don’t bring nice clothes.

We’ve been to Paris numerous times and we’ve never eaten in a restaurant. We love the bakeries and takeout crepes and markets in Paris, so we’ve never felt the desire. When we were in Chamonix in the spring, the weather was terrible, so meals became the highlight of our visit and we ate nice sit down meals every night. A couple of times we reserved ahead that morning or the night before.

Reading the posts on this site, where so many seem to plan and schedule every waking minute, I can see how you might wonder about the necessity for making advance reservations for your meals. Except for the case of some place special, a famous joint perhaps, I have not typically made reservations for more than one or 2 meals on any weeklong trips to Paris. London is tougher, and there I always try to book a table through the Open Table app. But Paris is easier, I have found.

However, it is always safe to look and book online, like on Trip Advisor, and when online booking is possible, do it a day or two in advance, if not just an hour or so before hoping to dine somewhere. In the past I have used the TA booking platform 'The Fork / La Fourchette' with great success, sometimes only an hour before the time desired. Or if while walking around and you see an interesting place, go in and inquire about getting a table reserved, if not for that evening, for the next day.

You will not starve or get shut out of good joints in Paris if you don't have reservations. There are always exceptions, like weekend evenings, or holidays, but in general you can safely wing it on meals, especially at lunch time.

THAT is hard core. Glad you enjoy it. We never plan a meal. But we tend to run on two meals. A substantial breakfast in the AM and a nice evening meal. Might have a bite of ice cream or coffee and pastries mid-afternoon if convenient. For the evening meal we will either have a restaurant in mind or just find someplace that looks interesting. The interesting part pays off about 80% of the time, maybe a little more depending on the country. For the evening meal we generally make reservation earlier in the day when we are walking by the restaurant. We have found that reservations are more widely expected in Europe.

It depends on if there is a must eat meal you want, then yes plan it and reserve it. If not Then just wing it. I had a list of all these places I wanted to eat and in the end , when we were tired and hungry, we just chose the cafe down the street which had great meals with most cafe's we found to have a steak, a burger, a pasta...we always found something we liked. My only must have meal is Steak Frites at Le Ralais de l'Entrecote, and you just line up for that. Side note: They eat a burger with a fork and knife and fries with a fork, we were the only Neanderthals eating both with our hands.
If you are looking for some Paris only must haves there is a you tuber named Jay Swanson that goes arrondissement by arrodissement and tells you thes best food in each, I have quite a few of his places marked for my next visit.

Okay, thanks! We usually only eat twice a day also, with either lunch or dinner being a sit down, someplace unhurried with a nice glass of wine. Yes reading the forums was starting to make me feel like we had to reserve now or be left wandering looking for carry out. Glad to know I can follow my instincts, which is to bring a few ideas and maybe make a reservation the night before or morning of, or not at all. It will help to lay eyes on the places we are thinking about before we commit. I will also be able to ask the concierge and/or our local guide for help once we get there. This is what we have done in other countries very happily.

Thanks Letizia I will check that out!

I have not traveled to France yet but the situation would be similar to other places I have traveled to... this question reminds me of when I was a kid when my parents took me on some road trips in neighboring states and Ontario. On those trips we ate every meal in restaurants. I used to think that during travel, every meal had to be eaten in a restaurant..... the vast majority of restaurant food is made with oil or added fat, salt, and sugar.... I didn't eat restaurant food even once for 13 days in Spain and 8 days in Florida... Maybe some of the highest class restaurants take or require reservations. It you have to eat at one of those places, I guess you would have to call ahead or make a reservation. If you are not that picky, just wing it. If the first place if too crowded, go to another place... You will probably be in densely packed touristy neighborhoods where you can walk to multiple restaurants... To me food is just food. I can eat fruit or unsweetened whole grain cereal or sardines on a bench or out of the way spot in a square or park, or in my hotel, because I am more addicted to putting food in my mouth and chewing instead of caring about the taste... My brother is too picky about exactly what he eats. This is super annoying.

edit: You need to eat more than twice a day. Otherwise you would hurt your digestive tract wolfing too much volume down in each of those sittings. Like if you need 2,100 calories a day, eating twice a day = about 1,050 calories per sitting versus 700 calories per sitting if you eat 3 times a day or 525 calories per sitting 4 times a day.

Big time planner here- and IMO it’s so easy to fall into crappy food, miss memorable places from cheese shops to markets to fine dining if there’s no plan. So we do and don’t plan.

If there is a place I definitely want to eat at and it requires reservations I make them.

I also bring name/hours/what it is for anything food-related I may be interested in near my museums and sites. This lets me quickly pick a winner, find good eats but remain very flexible on what exactly I’m eating which day at what time. A customized guide based on where I expect to be, and a way to be in the moment but well prepared.

There are those who appreciate fresh, quality ingredients and a skilled kitchen staff, and there are those who are satisfied with meals for sustenance. If you are in the latter group, there is no need to dwell on finding outstanding restaurants, there will be plenty of satisfactory eating locations. Currently, there are plenty of cafés/restaurants serving adequate 2 or 3-course menus in the 30€ to 35€ range. What is served will likely be frozen, maybe sous vide, and will originate from large commercial kitchens, sold through wholesale sources such as Métro. I have called these tourist class restaurants, they are not tourist traps, but typically offer nothing more than what most home cooks can prepare and little is actually prepared on site. One restaurant worth considering in this group is le Coupe-Chou, in the 5th. Le Choup-Chou has a quintessential, old-world atmosphere, what tourists expect of a French restaurant. Everyone should visit at least once.

If you are in the former group, can easily recognize and seriously appreciate the skill of a talented kitchen, there are many amazing restaurants in France. One rarely finds these accidentally. You will need to seek them out, and certainly make a reservation. It takes money to operate at this level, and you will typically pay more than 35€ for a 3 course dinner. One excellent source for finding restaurants is the Michelin Red Guide, which suggests noteworthy restaurants at all price levels.

In Paris, I find that the 5th arrondissement still has a number of excellent chefs operating small restaurants at very reasonable prices - 40€ and under per person. Lilane, au Bon Coin, la Forge, and Hébé, among others.

When dining at restaurants, I always reserve. It is a courtesy that is appreciated by restaurant operators. For cafés, reservations are not always necessary.

There's NO way to be absolutely sure that the restaurant you choose is an artisan restaurant* or features 100% house made* dishes or what % of their servings include previously frozen ingredients*.

( * ) all distinctions that restaurants and chefs have sought to have, over the years, to separate the thousands of purveyors.

Most important to diners should be the quality of the meal ie. the cut of meat - is it a premium cut or a much lesser cut that has been seasoned and braised for hours to tenderize it - yet sold as a premium French-prepared dish.

If you're a planner, like me, then go for it. To me the restaurants I eat at are important. But i am a foodie. To me France equals the best food on the planet. I can't imagine being happy with a grocery store sandwich.

Thanks for all the “food” for thought…😉
So for those of you with specific recommendations, how did you narrow it down to find your favorites? Trial and error? Forums? Your concierge? Poring over Yelp? I read that one person’s strategy was to see how many stars the reviews got in French language, that way she knew what the “locals” thought.

So for those of you with specific recommendations, how did you narrow it down to find your favorites?

For Paris, I have relied upon and had great success using Tripadvisor to generate a list of places to consider. That is how I "discovered" most of my favorite restaurants, the ones I return to on every trip to Paris. For smaller restaurants with more or less one seating per evening, I make reservations when necessary to secure a table and time to our liking. For bistros / brasseries / cafes with all day service, we never seem to have trouble getting a table without a reservation, even in the evening, or if we have to wait for a table we have a drink at the bar.

But I also "discover" new places that become favorites when I am walking around and I notice places, check the menu, etc. We tend to "wing it" at lunch time, find something wherever we happen to be around that time. We like to eat evening meals within a few minutes walking distance of our hotel (we travel to Europe in the winter months when it gets dark early). So my choice of hotel is influenced by the location of my favorite eateries, and we tend to return to the same hotel on every trip, the same neighborhood. Find that neighborhood, and a hotel you like, and you will never run out of favorites and new places you will discover.

Assuming you can trust reviews and the advice of strangers then making an advanced decision on which restaurants to book makes sense.

If you want to make your own choice do it on the ground once you get there.

I only ever book restaurants I need to be at. Otherwise I make a decision a couple of hours earlier (and for restaurants in France I never trust reviews in english)

Well in France, it's quite easy to see what is made from scratch and what is something that is reheated from frozen since there is literally a symbol (which is a cross between a house and a frying pan) that restaurants that make things from scratch are allowed to use

In a major city like Paris , London, Madrid we always have a few reservations in place for restaurants we definitely want to go to for a special meal. Other nights are left free. We don’t like our time over programmed.

Hello from Wisconsin,
If you want to eat well. Eat above average French food, which means spectacular food, yes, you should have reservations.

There have been times where we walked up to the restaurant and were seated. The next day, same place, same early time, we were waved off because we didn't have a reservation. More frequently, we were told restaurants were booked.

I have watched from the inside of a restaurant as people were told they were done for the day. It finally dawned on me. In the USA you make food pretty much until customers run out. it is how you maximize profits. But to have that much food in reserve means your menu doesn't change day to day. These fine places in France change their menu. For today's offering they have 28 fillets. Once they have 28 sold, end of story. Their refrigerator is not an endless supply of mass produced hamburger. This is also a way to manage work life/home life hours.

A second observation which also may be wrong, they have regulars. The locals, and maybe the utility workers in the area. A place with good food has customers. Now I am reporting and guessing from experience in rural France.

Often where we stay, and this is rural France, can make reservations for us. Some times same day, some times a day into the future.

I hate to plan in advance. I really do. So we don't book in advance every night. We roll the dice and eat where we can.

wayne iNWI

If you don't mind spending the money, take a food tour on one of the days pre-tour.

I plan the same way you do - grouping geographically, rough skeleton plan with flex time. I rarely plan meals because I just don't know where I am going to be at whatever mealtime. And I kind of like the pleasure of accidental discoveries :-). I also like to take the pressure off myself to plan one more thing. That being said, I do sometimes look around and area online and make note of restaurants but I find that I rarely end up at them, so I have kind of stopped bothering with doing that. Do we sometimes have a less than stellar meal? sure - but I think that can also happen in a place you've researched or reserved. But we've also had some fabulous experiences just picking a place we're standing in front of. Of course, if there is a special meal, say a birthday or anniversary or a place you really want to try, then by all means make a reservation and plan your time around making sure you're there.

“Do we sometimes have a less than stellar meal? sure - but I think that can also happen in a place you've researched or reserved.”

@BJL, YES! because no matter the recommendation, the online reviews are usually pretty mixed. Varies by server, mood, and your expectations going in. That being said, there is nothing I hate more than the “I don’t know, what do YOU want to do?” question when your standing in an unfamiliar neighborhood tired and “hangry” and being turned away because you didn’t reserve.

I truly appreciate all of these comments. We eat out a lot at home and when traveling stateside but every country/big city has its own customs. I have a better feel for Paris now and will plan (or not! 😉) accordingly!

Where I dine is just as important to me as is any other element of travel. I have rarely been disappointed by any restaurant that I had fully researched in advance, other than the disappointment of not reserving soon enough.

LOL -- I totally get the "hangry-on-the-sidewalk" thing LOL We had a moment like that towards the last few days of the last trip. I was exhausted and after having a drink, even more so and just wanted to pick up a frozen meal from Picard down the street and head back to the apartment. Unfortunately it was a Sunday and Picard was closed. We decided to go in the next place we came to which turned out to be Thai. I wasn't in the mood for Thai but just didn't want to walk any more etc. so we went in and ended up having one of the best meals of the trip. Did the same thing for lunch the next day and that one was the best meal of the trip. (quiche in the Marais)

Also never schedule a meal. Most often will ask the hotel in the AM and have them make a reservation for dinner - never yet disappointed. We do not do Michelin Star restaurants. We tour with a "loose" framework, some things scheduled and times, but wandering time allowed in the day.

Between Rick's recommendations, Trip Advisor and the Hotel desk always come up with a good meal.

I remember having a stuck on the sidewalk and just want to sit down and drink wine moment in Paris - 25 years ago. Don't do that anymore! Being older we are happy to walk in early for dinner, have a leisurly meal and bottle (!) of wine, and retire for the night. In Italy this spring we usually hit a restaurant at 7:30 (opening time!) and had no issues with availability. Every single one was completly full by 9:00 though.