Judging by the listings in our own Guide to Paris, at least half of Paris restaurants are closed on Sunday. Visitors to Paris, including veteran restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila, are continually confounded by the number of closed doors on dimanche. To help our readers find options that are open, we created a widget (in the column at right) that lets you search for restaurants based on the days they are open. Now we’re going one step farther and asking our Contributing Advisors – a group of food-obsessed Paris writers – to name their favorite spots for capping off the weekend.
So where can you get a good dinner on Sunday in Paris? Our overall favorite is (no surprise) Fish – La Boissonnerie. All five of our selections are presented below according to the number of votes each restaurant received.
Five Great Places for Sunday Dinner:
- Fish – La Boissonnerie - a left-bank haven for Anglos, wine lovers, and food writers on their day off (don’t be surprised if you see Ina Garten or Patricia Wells in the corner). The bar area makes Fish ideal for solo diners, too.
- Drouant – a historic restaurant with a poulet-frites special (roast chicken and fries) every Sunday at lunch, and more elegantly updated classics, including great seafood, at dinner.
- Le Verre Volé – a relaxed hole-in-the-wall near the Canal where you can buy a bottle from the shelf and share a cheese plate, some boudin noir, or octopus carpaccio.
- Les Fines Gueules – boasts a central location near the Louvre, natural wine, ingredient-driven fare like burrata/buffula, hand-cut steak tartare and veal carpaccio, and it’s relatively easy to get in.
- Breizh Café – lacy buckwheat galettes, artisanal ciders, briny oysters, and salted butter caramel crêpes, all for under 20€ a person.
Runners up: L’Avant Comptoir, Café des Musées, Yam’Tcha, Le Comptoir du Relais, Café Constant, Christophe, Charbon Rouge, Le Marcab, Shan Goût, La Rotonde, Bar du Passage (Senderens), Tricotin, Likafo, Pulcinella, La Cave de l’Os à Moelle, Chez Georges, Le Reminet, Le Pacifique, & Rimal.
I believe Astier (11th) should be added to this list. It certainly impressed us!
I’m sure every restaurant has an off night. Les Fines Gueules had theirs on the first night of our family vacation. Based on your postings I had great expectations when I brought my daughter there for her first meal in Paris. The burrata lived up to its reputation. The lamb, however, was more like mutton. My wife and I couldn’t even cut it with a steak knife. The waitress said she couldn’t bring it back to the chef and explained that this was what French lamb was. If it had not been my daughter’s first night in Paris (she wisely had the fish) I would have walked away.
Fantastic blog – i live soooo far away from paris in new zealand, but if i have the urge to visit paris i will be heading straight for your blog. thank you for keeping my passion for paris alive and my desire to live there even stronger- merci et bon appetit!!
“The lamb, however, was more like mutton. My wife and I couldn’t even cut it with a steak knife.”
I am wary of lamb here 365 days of the year and even in the spring annoy waiters by pinning them down on the Pascal/Mutton difference.
This is one of the few critiques I have of their treatment of products.