Sidewalk seats are easy to come by if you want to sip an apéro. Outdoor dining, however, is a trickier proposition. There are plenty of gorgeous spots where the food is grim, and there are delicious restaurants where the outdoor seating is drab. A handful of restaurants manage to do both – serving excellent food in delightful open-air surroundings. Here are our favorites.
Five Great Places for Outdoor Dining:
- Drouant – a collection of plant-protected outdoor tables, smack in the city center.
- Dans les Landes – café tables crammed into a sprawling sidewalk terrasse near Mouffetard.
- Caffé dei Cioppi – a cobbled terrasse tucked away in a quiet passage just east of Bastille.
- Le Mini Palais – towering columns, palm trees, spacious seating… c’est la classe.
- Le Bal Café – a handful of seats in a quiet, sunny spot facing an outdoor playground.
Runners up: Philou, Le 39V, Chez Michel, Hotel Amour, Le Pavillon du Lac (Parc des Buttes-Chaumont), La Grande Cascade
Rejects: Jaja, Le Saut de Loup
About our process: For each topic, we begin with a little research to identify options. We then ask our readers, by posting a question in the forum, to offer additional suggestions. From that discussion, we compile a list of candidates and ask our panel of contributing advisors to rank their top choices and identify any rejects. Their rankings are weighted, analyzed, and compiled into a new Five Great post every week.
More delicious Five Great lists:
- Five Great for Dinner in Montmartre
- Six Great for Wild Game
- Five Great with Kids
- Five Great for a Box of Chocolates
- Five Great for Groups
- Five Great for Ice Cream
- Five Great for Vegetarians
- Five Great Places for Oysters
- Five Great Places for Sunday Dinner
- Five Great Steak Frites
- Five Great Baguettes
This is will be really useful next time I’m in Paris and want to find a good place to eat at.
le mini palais ! Yes please !