Chez Andre
12, rue Marbeuf (8) Tél: 01-47-20-59-57 AMBIANCE/DÉCOR Located close to the grand hotels, so a popular recommendation of concierges. Looks right. Friendly service. Bustling. All good – until presented with an English menu - missing Read more
Voltaire (Le)
27, quai Voltaire (7) Tel: 01-42-61-17-49 AMBIANCE/DÉCOR Classic quai location and décor. Very good food. Diverse, extensive menu. Well executed, attentively served. Expensive seasonal ingredients. Popular with Americans and with fashionistas. Restaurants of this type Read more
Violon d’Ingres (Le)
135, rue Saint Dominique (7)
Tel: 01-45-55-15-05
AMBIANCE/DÉCOR
Violon has changed since we last ate there in 2011. The décor has been freshened. High tables have been added near the open kitchen. Prices have risen – by a lot. A 208€ dinner in 2011 was 235€ in 2014. A la carte menu still a modern take on traditional dishes and the cooking still quite good.
Tante Marguerite
5, rue de Bourgogne (7) Tel: 01-45-51-79-42 AMBIANCE/DÉCOR Like Le Ferme St. Simon, but even cooler/colder. Beautiful Left Bank location adjacent to Assembly National. Upscale, businessman/politician hangout. FOOD Adequate, but unexceptional. SERVICE Attentive, but colorless Read more
Table D’Aki (La)
49, rue Vaneau (7) Tel: 01-45-44-43-48 AMBIANCE/DÉCOR Move over Le Timbre (see 6th). La Table D’Aki makes Le Timbre seem large. Eight tables for two along two facing banquettes, with an open kitchen in the Read more
Restaurant Pottoka
4, rue De L’Exopsition (7) Tel: 01-45-51-88-38 AMBIANCE/DÉCOR This relatively new French-Basque restaurant has received major publicity and uniformly strong reviews. At the 8:00 p.m. seating (there is also 9:30 - 9:45) every seat taken Read more
Restaurant ES
91, rue de Grenelle (7)
Tel: 01-45-51-25-74
AMBIANCE/DÉCOR
By far, the discovery of a month-long stay in Paris in late 2014. I had failed twice before in trying to book ES for dinner. Both times, its 20 places were already full by the time of my call. Yet at a pre- Christmas lunch, we were two guests of only four.
ES is barely recognizable as a restaurant in walking by. No sign. No view inside. Only a small card in the window listing the lunch options, 42€, 55€ or 80€. No menu because there is no menu. Chef’s choice.
Philippe Excoffier
18, rue de L’Exposition (7)
Tel: 01-45-51-78-08
AMBIANCE/DÉCOR
A new discovery. Just off the Rue St. Dominique, an area already heavy with good, smaller restaurants. On a small one block street, the former chef (11 years) of the American Embassy purchased an existing restaurant, at first left the name and changed everything else. Now the name too. Refined without a hint of stuffiness, it offers a tightly edited menu of carefully prepared, cooked to order plates.