Travel Tips
Tips for finding a good restaurant in Paris
Though Paris is the world's gastronomy capital, ironically, it's not obvious to find good, inexpensive restaurant in the city. Here are some helping tips.
1. The waiters
If a waiter is standing outside the restaurant, trying to persuade customers to enter - it's a bad sign. A good restaurant's staff is usually busy and concerned only with the customer already dinning.
2. The menu
By law a restaurant menu must be displayed outside the restaurant, if it's translated to English it's not a good sign. French are very snobbish when it comes to their language. A restaurant aiming for locals won't translate its menu. If a restaurant aims for tourists and not tuned to frequent costumers it increases the potential risk.
3. The diners
In France it's common to take a long lunch break in neighborhood's restaurants. Group of French colleagues dining together is a very good sign. Restaurants compete for these diners and chefs will do a lot to have those same people return time and time again.
4. Length does matter
A short menu, preferably with the specialty of the day written on a black board, is a good sign. It suggests that the Ingredients are probably fresh and were purchased on the same day according to the season.
5. The websites rank
Check reviews on sites such as thefork.com and yelp.fr. Those are written mostly by locals. Dont panic if you do not know French, what matters is the score the restaurant has received and these are marked graphically.
1. The waiters
If a waiter is standing outside the restaurant, trying to persuade customers to enter - it's a bad sign. A good restaurant's staff is usually busy and concerned only with the customer already dinning.
2. The menu
By law a restaurant menu must be displayed outside the restaurant, if it's translated to English it's not a good sign. French are very snobbish when it comes to their language. A restaurant aiming for locals won't translate its menu. If a restaurant aims for tourists and not tuned to frequent costumers it increases the potential risk.
3. The diners
In France it's common to take a long lunch break in neighborhood's restaurants. Group of French colleagues dining together is a very good sign. Restaurants compete for these diners and chefs will do a lot to have those same people return time and time again.
4. Length does matter
A short menu, preferably with the specialty of the day written on a black board, is a good sign. It suggests that the Ingredients are probably fresh and were purchased on the same day according to the season.
5. The websites rank
Check reviews on sites such as thefork.com and yelp.fr. Those are written mostly by locals. Dont panic if you do not know French, what matters is the score the restaurant has received and these are marked graphically.