Boullion Chartier restaurant

You might get more replies if you changed your title from restaurant to Bouillon Chartier experiences. There are lots of opinions out there. I've never been, so I can't help you.

I find Bouillion Chartier nothing short of discusting. The kitchen is just a battery of microwave ovens.

Thé one on rue du Faubourg Montmartre is thé original, thé others being restaurants bought by thé same person and renamed bouillon to fulfill our nostalgia and make a profit. Thé one at Gare de l'Est was a longtime Alsation brasserie, while thé one at Montparnasse was a white tablecloth place.

I recently took a grown son and granddaughter to thé original, so they could sée what a real one looked liké and because I used to take my kids in their strollers when it was still semi-authentic. Thé décoré is fine, not necessarily original. I choked down thé food and will never eat there again. It's gimmicky.

It’s cheap, microwaved food that is not good. Prices are low. Go for the old world atmosphere and unpleasant servers but don’t go for the food.

Very cheap. Huge menu of traditional French food. It is a great place to take kids whom you don't want to waste buying an expensive meal on to have them take two bites. It is airplane food, but adequate airplane food. The one in Montparnasse has a simply stunning room; the original has a lot of charm and yes they still add up the orders on the table cover -- l'addition.
My granddaughter tried snails at the Montparnasse one.

The Bouillon PIgalle in Montmartre has somewhat better food that they claim to prepare on site. I don't know about that, but the food was a tad better. When we ate here with French friends a few year ago a liter of wine that was perfectly drinkable was 9 Euro -- I think it is closer to 14 now.

Great place for feeding a family with different tastes. VERY cheap compared to other options. You don't go there for the freshly prepared cuisine. BUT let me tell you a secret -- if you are dining at an ordinary French restaurant where the food is relatively inexpensive odds are very high you are eating microwaved airplane food -- and if the menu is large, you can guarantee it. Many restaurants in Paris serve microwaved food prepared in central kitchens and that includes plenty of the cafe lunch specials.

I have tried all of them. They serve French classic food of reasonable quality for a reasonable price. They don't take reservations.
I am french but not a foodie. I like good food the way my grandma used to make. I don't get excited by Michelin stars. I have tried them but I prefer good ole bistro food. I used to own a restaurant in the days before microwaves. We used "salamandres" to heat-up dishes. Some dishes are made to order, some are pre-cooked. You can't cook a coq au vin ou une tête de veau to order. Some dishes are cooked the day before.
If you own five restaurants it makes total sense to do some dishes in a central kitchen. It's going to be pre-cooked and reheated anyway. It's not a question of price. A guest is not going to wait 3 hours for a cassoulet or a canard a l'orange. The microwave is just a tool. It has its place in the kitchen.
Jeannette

We went to the sister restaurant, Bouillon Racine, near Place de l’Odéon last May. (And they take reservations at that location.) Ahhh, based on the other comments, I now understand why the steamed vegetables that came with the second course were overcooked! Broccoli and cauliflower that is trop cuit is unappetizing. That was the low point of an otherwise fine 3-course meal in a beautiful setting.

All of the Bouillon restaurants seem to have the same schtick to draw you in, the beautiful Art Nouveau interior. We loved that aspect of Bouillon, even though it felt a bit gimmicky. If you have the RS Paris guidebook, there is a good description of Bouillon Racine in the Left Bank that sums up what many have said here.

If you don’t have much time in Paris, I’d skip it. If you’re nearby one of the many Bouillon restaurants in Paris, take a look inside for the view. If you want to dine there, the advice I’ve heard is to order something like the soup or dessert. Or consider a drink at the bar.

Jeannette, great post, great perspective.

Frozen, microwaved food in France can be better than the US equivalent. Think Picard.

And you know what, if it tastes good, i don’t care if it’s frozen and microwaved. We eat at Café Med on Ile St Louis, 3 course lunch/dinner for €15 and we really like it. Their puréed vegetable soup is fantastic, curried chicken with rice is excellent, and their tarte tatin is super good.

I’ve eaten at Chartier and thought it was god awful. Ate at Julien, not as bad as Chartier, but wouldn’t eat there again.

I kind of feel the same about Au Bon Crus in the 11th. It's on par with the boullions. Everyone seems to go crazy for it, calls it home cooking etc etc. I just think it's cheap. tasteless yuck.

In response to Jeanette, I think some of the dishes done in sauces can be quite good when cooked in large batches in a central kitchen. I always have a jar of fish soup in my fridge, for example.
But Chartier in 2023 was an interpretation of home cooking with scanty ingredients. My son liked his Bourgogne, the same deep purple one with boiled potatoes often found in cafes. However, my choices showed how they can charge such low prices. I had classic shrimp-avocado but with only one small shrimp covered in the mayo sauce. My chicken at noon was so dry that I wondered if it hadn't been left from the evening meal before. My granddaughter's too. No sauce, just bone dry. The dessert in a small coupe was a tiny, tiny sliver of ice cream, a tiny wafer of meringue, and one piece of sliced peach, topped with eye-catching whipped topping or cream for a Melba. Exciting to see, meh to eat. These were skimpy interpretations of classics. But my peach Melba was only 6€. I got what I paid for. Chartier serves a purpose and if it makes people happy, then that's good. Just don't order poulet et frites.

I think all Bouillon Chartiers are similar in food. Service can vary. Definitely its more affordable as meant to be accessible for all. Id check out some other restaurants for comfort food/cheaper French cuisine like Southwestern French food. Some good ones on here : https://theparisshortlist.com/best-comfort-food-in-paris/

"It is airplane food, but adequate airplane food."

You are obviously flying better airlines than I am .... It was not near as disgusting as the warmed over two day old TV dinners the airlines try to pass off IMHO (Can you tell I don't eat airline food. I'm not a foodie, but I am also not eating just because it's there)

Hence the modifier 'adequate' -- it is airplane food but better than you get in coach.

I have no trouble understanding that braised meats that require long cooking are prepared ahead, but to pay restaurant prices for Piccard food is annoying. I like restaurants that have short menus that change frequently and have food prepared in house. And Much Piccard food is awful -- their basic ingredients are good, their soups are bland and tasteless unless you alter them, a lot of their casserole type dishes are lousy. And in the US Trader Joe frozen entrees are in the same class as Piccard -- they just have a bit less choice as Piccard is a frozen food store.

And the most disappointing take out meal in Paris will be from those ubiquitous asian places with vast arrays of dim sum like offerings. They look lovely. They are prepared in central kitchens and in our experience they are quite awful. We got a big array for Christmas Eve with family one year and were so looking forward to this beautiful selection of scrumptious food. We could hardly eat it -- and we are not foodies or all that picky -- heck we enjoyed eating at Chez Gladine and at the Bouillions.