Special Occasion Restaurant in Paris

Memorable, good food (not necessarily outstanding), ambiance, and open on Sunday - I would consider Le Train Bleu. Also Les Ombres might work.

I had a very nice meal at the Grand Cafe 3 weeks ago. https://www.legrandcafe-paris.com/

For a much more intimate, out of the way, place I also enjoy Bistro Vivienne. I've had two very good meals here and the wait staff was exceptional. Good wine list too. https://www.bistrotvivienne.com/

all our celebratory restaurants are closed on Sunday but Les Ombres is open then and it really would be a great choice for an anniversary. The view of the ET through the ceiling is magical. We at e there years ago and the food was fine and the ambience sort of magic. Look at their website and see what you think.

Jules Verne restaurant in the eiffel tower. Memorable and expensive but a great way to celebrate your anniversary. You wont forget the experience.

https://www.restaurants-toureiffel.com/en/jules-verne-restaurant.html

Thank you for the great suggestions so far. Please keep them coming.

I had totally forgotten about Jules Verne. I looked it up and saw it was Michelin starred. Of course there is a strict dress code, which I could deal with but we are not going to carry around proper attire for my husband considering we will be gone for 11 weeks. We will need to find somewhere that he can wear a nice button up shirt and black pants to. He can throw in a tie if necessary. We leave in two days so that would need to get figured out now.

We really enjoyed our dinner at Le Train Bleu, June, 2025. The restaurant is beautifully ornate - check out the interior pictures. It was my birthday dinner and the waiter brought us celebratory chocolates after our dessert. DH wore dark jeans and a button-up shirt which was quite acceptable. If you go there, order the crepes suzette for dessert - quite a flaming show at your table. We have also eaten at Les Ombres. The food was excellent but the decor is more minimalist. The ET view as I remember (our dinner was 2018) was of the lower section.

Thank you, Cynthia. Le Train Bleu is on my list for this trip and we had already talked to a friend who will be there part of the time we are and we discussed having breakfast there. I’ll look into what their menu is like for dinner. Another plus is that we could walk there from our apartment on I’le Saint Louis. We will be arriving in Paris on a Friday and our anniversary is 2 days later. The weekly Navigo pass won’t take effect until Monday. Taking the metro, bus, taxi or anything else isn’t a dealbreaker, but it is definitely not necessary for Gare de Lyon.

My husband and I had lunch at Le Train Bleu which was stunningly ornate and beautiful. I had the leg of lamb special with potato gratin dauphinois--excellent. Wander around, go into the restrooms, it's all exquisite. Waiters are formally dressed but the atmosphere is not stuffy.
Happy 40th!

Lindy, thanks for another thumbs up for Le Train Bleu. On their website the only part of the menu shown is the Starters. I wish the entire menu was visible. Even if it’s not 100% correct it would give me a good idea of what they serve.

Andrea, Google Le Train Bleu. When the results appear, click on menu. You'll see photos taken by customers. The 1st photo is from 2 weeks ago.

Enjoy your anniversary dinner!

These are all on Ile Saint-Louis.

L'Orangerie & Auberge de la Reine Blanche (on the main street) is good for a very nice dinner. Cafe Med (near the start of the island) is good for a lunch, and St. Regis (on the main street of the island) has a good light breakfast for just a little money. They also are open in the evening. For your sweet tooth there is Berthillon.

You should be able to google all of them and see if they are open on Sunday, and meet your desires.

Andrea, try this: https://www.le-train-bleu.com/en/a-la-carte-and-set-menus.html
You have to go all the way down the Le Train Bleu website to "Restaurant Menu" and click on it or go to the top of the page on the right to "Carte and Menu". You can also subscribe to their newsletter further down if that interests you.

For something a little different, you could try Bustronome. https://bustronome.com/paris/ It sounds goofy, but it's actually quite nice. The food is much better than you would expect for food served on a bus. And in September, the sun is likely to set during the ride so that when you stop at the Eiffel Tower, it will be all lit up against a dark sky. The photo of me and my son with the ET in the background has been the Lock Screen photo on my phone for almost 7 years because it is my favorite.

I would go (back) to Maxim's. But tgen I am a pompous arse

TC, I was already looking at L’Orangerie and it looks very nice. Thanks for your suggestions.

I don’t know where I’ve gone wrong looking for Le Train Bleu menus, but this is as much as I’ve been able to find.
https://www.le-train-bleu.com/media/original/carte-restaurant-ete.pdf

Andrea, you've got it. Scroll down for more. I see 7 pages of menu from entree all the way to children's menu and coffee & tea.

Jeanm, it is so frustrating because it doesn’t scroll down at all. It’s just what I posted.

When I click on your link, it scrolls perfectly == maybe try a different browser -- the problem is not the site but something to do with your machine or browser.

Andrea, that is frustrating.

Did you try the Google Search for Le Train Bleu? Tap on Menu. The first picture under "View the Menu" is from 2 weeks ago. It looks like the same menu as the pdf that's not working for you.

Good luck.

BTW, if the weather is cooperative, lunch on the terrace of Le Recamier is nice.

I’m in France now, though not in Paris yet. I started reading reviews for Le Train Bleu and while some were glowing, multiple others gave them one or two stars. I’m leaning toward having breakfast there a different day with a friend who we will be seeing there and for our anniversary we could go to L’Orangerie. It is a 3-4 minute walk from our apartment and the reviews are good. We can cap the night off with the Seine cruise at sunset that leaves from Pont Neuf.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and we will try to check some of the other places out.

I have always enjoyed Benoit for a special dinner and it is open on sunday.

Walking distance from the Isle Saint-Louis and nicer than the tourist-class places on the island are Hebe, Atelier Maiter Albert, Bel Canto (something different, with opera singer waitstaff), or Bonnie, with it's wonderful view!

I looked back at our pictures (April 2023) when we ate at Jules Verne and my husband had on a long sleeved button shirt, no jacket. I had in a nice blouse and slacks.
We ate lunch from 12-3 because at the time the dinner was fully booked. It was less expensive and just as nice. And the food was fabulous. We would definitely eat there again on our next trip.
You enter through a special door and they also have a nice outside viewing platform for guests.
It was our one special meal during our trip and a spectacular one.

Thanks all for the additional suggestions. I haven’t had wifi for about 5 days. I will check into them asap.

Barbara, I like your idea for lunch at Jules Verne. I don’t want to take the time for a long lunch on our anniversary because it is on the weekend that places will be available to see that aren’t ordinarily open to the public. We can try going there another day though. We will be in Paris for a month and will not going be going out to eat every day, so we can splurge another day, right?

I see Jules Verne mentioned in this thread. It's definitely a special occasion restaurant, but not for the food in my opinion. It's about the experience of dining on the Eiffel Tower and view.

I would have preferred Maxim's in 1913 as it was mentioned in J. Renoir's , "The Grande Illusion." (1937)

Andrea, some of us are breathlessly waiting for a review of your anniversary dinner. Where did you end up going and what did you have to eat. Did they provide a special dessert to celebrate a major milestone? At the end of the evening did you walk back to your apt holding hands, enjoying the lights of Paris? (Nosey, aren't I.) I really do hope it was a special night.

Laurie Beth, today is the big day. I will report back after dinner!

Thanks, just thought I'd set the expectations of your fans. (hee hee)

I hope the dinner and my report won’t be a disappointment. Lol!

Laurie Beth asked for a report after our dinner, so here it is. We went to L’Orangerie, located at 28 Rue St.-Louise-en-I’lle on I’le St.-Louise. It is only a 4 minute walk from the apartment we rented, so that was a plus. It also had very good reviews. The restaurant isn’t large and has a cozy feeling. It has white table clothes and the tables are pre-set nicely, but it isn’t stuffy and diners wore everything from jeans and sneakers to nicer clothing. We were seated in front of an unlit fireplace at a table for two. It was slightly removed from other tables so a bit more private than many restaurants with tables crammed together. The service was really good and the food was delicious. I had duck breast with roasted potatoes, a medley of vegetables and salad & chocolate pot de crème for dessert and my husband had sea bass with mashed potatoes, vegetable medley and salad. He wanted his own dessert so he got a chocolate cake that was warm and served on a bed of custard. My dinner was a Plat + Dessert and his was just a main dish. We each had a glass of wine. The price was very reasonable. We both really enjoyed it and I appreciate the recommendation for going there. We will probably go back again at some point while we are here.

Sorry for all of the detail, but Laurie Beth really wanted to know. ;-). Oh yeah, LB they did not do anything special for us even though I mentioned the anniversary when I made the reservation online. We didn’t care though.

Thanks, Andrea. Great report and sounds like my kind of special place to eat, i.e, not too stuffy. Maybe a special dessert is a USA thing and the thinking is any meal in Paris is a special occasion.