Hello,
My husband and I will be spending 2 1/2 days in Paris. We are staying in the district of Saint Germain des Prés. We plan on seeing as much as we can while in Paris. Looking for dining suggestions. We prefer something that is not too expensive. Also wondering if reservations are generally required or will it be easy enough to find restaurants on the go?
Thank you for any suggestions
Jane
So excited for you! I would recommend reservations for dinner. After a busy day, it's nice to know you have a table in a nearby restaurant. Not sure what your budget is so check menus. Here are two suggestions:
La Mediterranee
https://www.la-mediterranee.com
they have indoor and outdoor dining
We saw a very famous American actor here :) no names
La Ferrandaise
http://laferrandaise.com/english/home.html
indoor dining. tables are rather close to each other, but the food including dessert is wonderful. We always go while in Paris.
Cafe Varenne (in the 7th but walkable) you'll be walking a lot :)
https://menuonline.fr/cafevarenne
we have not been able to book a spot at this restaurant but others recommend it highly. Open for breakfast thru dinner
There are a lot of cafes in St. Germain so you can check outside menus or daily specials and decide on the spot. No need for reservations.
Also in the 6th, but farther from your location are a couple favorites of ours:
Cafe St. Placide (Arr 6) indoor and outdoor; casual, good service
127 rue de Rennes
https://restaurantguru.com/Le-Saint-Placide-Paris
Villa Medici, Italian indoor and outdoor; casual, excellent salads pizza
Suggest combining with a trip to Bon Marche, just one block away
11 rue St. Placide
https://www.restaurant-villa-medici.com
While I have you, you must go to Luxembourg Gardens while in Paris.
Have a wonderful time.
This is so helpful! Thank you!
Merci! I saw this post as I have just now finished RS Paris 2024 section "Eating in Paris". I will be looking for places to eat in the 5th & 6th arrondissements. I am not interested in the famous and over priced... Deux Magots, Flore, and Procope. Your suggestions are exactly what I have in mind. Thank you for providing the links... very helpful.
jjpain9989,
In May 2023 we had lunch at two places in the St. Germain area, both with good food and service and reasonable prices:
Cafe Mucha and Breizh Cafe. I would check their websites for menus. Breizh Cafe has more than one location. It features Breton-style crepes (savory), and it appeared to be full of Parisians on their lunch hour(s)....a good recommendation. Cafe Mucha was typical food and very, very good. Service was friendly and efficient. We would go back to either place anytime. We didn't have reservations last year (lunchtime, weekdays) but if we were going to dinner we would reserve. Prices were good also.
We tried to renew our acquaintance with Brasserie Lipp, a family favorite for decades, and a bit iconic. We were dismayed to have poor service (and a bit snooty) and food that was "meh", and overpriced. We got the feeling that we were treated badly because we were tourists, and that is NOT typical of Parisian cafes and businesses. It was supposed to be an homage to my deceased mother-in-law, who was a regular there in the early fifties when she lived in Paris, and we have been there ourselves in the past, but we left with a bad taste in our mouths due to the food and service there. We won't be back.
Enjoy your time in Paris. It is a magnificent city!
I second Cafe Varenne. I have had some very good meals there. Also, I suggest Le Petit Littre -- not in Saint Germain but quite walkable depending on exactly where you are in Saint Germain. Two other suggestions are Les Antiquares if you want some delicious French onion soup and Chez Fernand Christine where I had an excellent meal last November but if it matters to you, the entire restaurant was full of tourists when I went. It is easy to find restaurants on the go but I usually have specific places that I want to go to for dinner and so I make reservation a day or the afternoon before I plan to have dinner. And there are some popular or trendy places where you might need to make reservations weeks before.
I always reserve for restaurants. Not required for cafés, maybe some bistros/brasseries.
Inexpensive or cheap restaurants you may find of interest:
la Jacobine (now with two locations in the 6th)
l'Isolotto (good Italian)
Seulement Sea (seafood)
Au Pied de Fouet
The Crying Tiger (Thai on Cherche Midi)
Bouillon Racine
Crêperies you may want to consider in the 14th:
Any along rue du Montparnasse or rue d'Odessa
Very cheap, offered without recommendation:
Polidor
Bouillon Chartier (at the old Montparnasse 1900 location)
thank you all for taking the time to reply. We greatly appreciate all of your suggestions and are excited to try them out.
L'Atelier Rouliere is fairly upscale and nice, nearby is Cafe de la Mairie which is more of a cafe. both near St. Sulpice, "as seen in the Da Vinci code." There's also a cool wall nearby with a large poem on it.
If you want the absolutely the best beef bourguignon, then by all means I third or fourth the recommendation for Cafe Varenne. We had arrived in Paris in April without a second night's reservation, so I asked our hotel who might not be completely insulted by our lack of a reservation. They gave us two suggestions and we went with Cafe Varenne. The absolutely gracious host was not flustered, didn't act annoyed, and said to give him a few minutes. (We had expected him to turn us away as it was rather busy.) We felt absolutely comforted that a few others who appeared to be locals came in without a reservation as well. Everyone else did have reservations.
We had a lovely experience, amazing food, wonderful waiter and our host thanked us as we left.
Le Sevres Raspail was inexpensive; fun to people watch and reservations were not necessary.
Don't forget, you can not only ask your hotel desk for suggestions, you can ask them to call you in a reservation. That's how we got into a restaurant that was "booked" already.
