There may not be an abundance of children’s menus in Paris, but this doesn’t mean that families are relegated to McDonald’s. Our contributing advisors have put their heads together and come up with this list of places that please both children and parents alike – restaurants that feature simple food, kind service, proximity to open space, and/or good drink options for mom & dad. Their overall favorite: the Breizh Café.
Five Great Places with Kids:
- Breizh Café – children choose what goes into their crêpe. Parents choose the artisinal cider.
- Jeanne A. – for kids, it’s roasted meats with cheesy potatoes. For mom & dad, it’s wine by the magnum.
- Crêperie Josselin – like Breizh (above), but more homey and less expensive with the benefit of early seating.
- Le Bal Café – a handful of seats in a quiet, sunny spot facing an outdoor playground.
- Pink Flamingo – pizza, free balloons, and delivery to the park or playground of your choice.
Runners up: Drouant, Astier, West Country Girl, Le Relais de l’Entrecôte, Marcel, Les 400 Coups, Le Pavillon du Lac, La Gare, Le Pousette Café.
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:
Argh! Not Breizh café again.
Just a question, who has kids among the twelve contributing advisors?
Also, Les Petites Indécises has enough space to cater to families and their brunch is copious enough to keep the little ones content for a couple of hours =)
Great recommendations for our trip with our grandson next May.
Jo
Hummmm, I have a strange feeling I omitted Le Soufflé, Recamier and Léon de Bruxelles, I know, I know, but my 8-12 year olds loved them.
We know Chrisos – you don’t like Breizh café. And so we must begin the work of preparing you emotionally for the results of Five Great Crêperies, coming soon
By my count, more than half (7/12) of the contributing advisors have kids.
It’s a tricky subject to condense into one list, because the logistics of dining with an infant, a toddler, and a 12 year-old are all very different. This is just a starting point… we’re creating a more detailed guide to family eating in Paris that will address some of these concerns. With your help, I hope.
“Just a question, who has kids among the twelve contributing advisors?”
I do and 6 grandkids who liked the Breizh Cafe & Le Souffle and Léon de Bruxelles.
>John :
Léon de BXL??? Triple argh!
What about la Grande Verrière?
>All :
If Bzh café is #1 ; I am surprised that Quick and Mc D, or even IKEA were not mentioned!
“la Grande Verrière?” I did eat there with the 13 y.o. grandkid of a friend and it was alright.
I should add that I gave 5.2 to La Grande Verriere and said “If you’re looking for a kid-friendly restaurant where they can run around and do everything from miniature golf to pony rides, this is your place.”
I’ve come to the conclusion that kid friendly means space, and if the kids are happy and can move around, then the parents will be more relaxed and enjoy their food more even if it is not the best restaurant in the city. For this reason, I would choose two restaurants – Le Cafe de Commerce (although if you have small kids, you’ll want to be on the ground floor), which has a cheap kid’s menu, and cheap wine for adults, and kitsch Chinese champion, Le President in Belleville. The monumental staircase there is practically a kid’s playground on Sunday lunchtimes!
re: Le Bal: Parents should note that the interior of this art gallery restaurant is not particularly child-friendly – it doesn’t remotely offer the informality of the other listings or even the average Parisian bistro which are usually pretty family-friendly – and there are loads of hard surfaces so the sound reverberates like mad. While there is a small terrace which is operational in good weather it is, of course, loaded up with smokers.
While Le Bal can get a bit frantic on the weekend, I find it a bit surprising that Paris By Mouth would risk the potentially chilled-out and ‘adult-friendly’ experience of Le Bal (a cafe frequented by art lovers dissecting the latest exhibition) by promoting it in a Top 5 listing of restaurants ‘great for kids’. If you find a toddler in your latte, you know who to blame!
In agreement with the concept of child-friendly = space… In summer I’d suggest take-out Cambodian from Le Cambodge and eating it picnic-style along the Canal St Martin; or Rosa Bonheur – it’s not a restaurant in a usual sense (it does drinks/tapas with no table service) but it is in a lovely park so the kids can run around while their parents look on benignly while getting quietly sloshed. Obviously yum cha and relaxed cous cous joints are also pretty child friendly and are operational all-year-round….
Hi Rachael – It’s true that Le Bal is a little tight (and loud), but there are always lots of kids there with their parents, especially on the weekends, in part — we’re guessing — because of the playground that’s just outside the door, where kids can play while grownups sip their lattes (or Pimm’s Cup).