Paris for a Few Hours and Dinner

Hi!
At what time of the year are you coming? 8PM is too early for a "night lights" tour right now (doesn't get dark until 9.30pm) ; sunset is later than 8pm until early/mid-September or so. Also, you'll struggle to find a properly special restaurant open before 7.30pm, so is there any chance you can delay the tour by an hour or so?

I’m saying the same as balso that a proper restaurant doesn’t start serving until 7:30. However, posters here have mentioned one place with continuous service: http://www.maisonconstant.com/cafe-constant/. I’ve never been there so others can tell you how long of a wait for a table and how long for a meal.
Otherwise, you should be able to find a snack shop or cafe for something that early in the evening.

As for sunset, in June, it’s light until 10:30 p.m., so date does matter this far north. Actually, the late summer sunset is one of the joys of being in Paris.

I've never had much success planning meals in restaurants ahead of time.
In Paris, many popular restaurants either have menus that are not appetizing to us or they're incredibly expensive. Last meal we had in Paris was a 12' pizza and 2 beers--50 Euros. Another off the beaten path meal was a crock of lentil beans--25 Euros each.
Best meal we had on our last two trips was Thai food just south of Notre Dame.
We'll be there 6/5 to 6/9/2019 with a 7 year old granddaughter. It should be interesting.

I'm afraid $20 - $35 is not going to get you a memorable meal close to the Eiffel Tower. Either be prepared to pay more or look elsewhere, further from the tower which will actually improve your chances of a better meal at better prices.

Thank you!!!!! Balso, we will be in late June so it sounds as if I should send an email to the tour operator to see if we can do the tour later. It is a photo tour so twilight pics are really good. When do the lights say on the Eiffel Tower and bridges and stuff come on? Others, Thank you so much for your restaurant advice. Once again, I will look at a later tour. It is a private tour so hopefully they will be amenable.

Lights come on about 10:00 p.m. in June.

We have enjoyed dinners at Café Constant, near the Eiffel Tower. This is their website and I'm sure you can see an example of a menu online to see prices. http://www.cafe-constant.com/fr/. We have also eaten at Cafe du Marche on Rue Cler, though it's been 10 years since we've eaten there. I'm sure you can read reviews for both places.

Café Constant is indeed very nice, but Café du Marché doesn't fit the "special" requirement - main draw is the low prices, which come at the expense of inventiveness. It's OK if you want something simple like duck confit with potatoes, steak and fries, etc. but that's it.

Also, I wonder what kind of tour company offers a night lights tour at 8pm in June :-), I hope they'll agree to reschedule - else, you can always uber from place to place for your own night tour.

Another vote for Cafe Constant. They don't take reservations if I recall. I was there 2 years ago and it was definitely one of our more memorable meals. I will be there next week with my daughter and I plan on taking her there. We are also going to try his other restaurant Les Cocottes.

I like Cafe Constant as well.
(But if we all keep recommending it we'll never be able to get in again... ;-) )