Romantic Restaurants in Paris

Place des Vosges, Le Marais · $$

Bernard Pacaud's temple under the arcades of Place des Vosges has held three Michelin stars for over three decades, serving codified classics like sea bass with artichokes and caviar in a tapestry-hung dining room. It is old-school haute cuisine at its absolute apex, with no tasting menu and no shortcuts.

Odéon, Saint-Germain-des-Prés · $$

Yves Camdeborde, godfather of the bistronomy movement, turned this corner bistro at the Carrefour de l'Odéon into a pilgrimage site for pâté en croûte and pitch-perfect classics. Daytime service is walk-in brasserie style, spilling onto one of the Left Bank's best people-watching terraces.

Charonne, 11th arrondissement · $$

Bertrand Grébaut's pared-back dining room on Rue de Charonne is the standard-bearer of new Paris cooking: a single vegetable-forward tasting menu, natural wines, and a Michelin star with zero stuffiness. It perennially ranks among the World's 50 Best Restaurants.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 6th arrondissement · $$

Hemingway wrote of its cervelas rémoulade and beer in A Moveable Feast, and this 1880 brasserie with its painted ceramic parrots and mirrored walls still serves choucroute garnie and millefeuille to publishers and politicians. Waiters in long aprons decide where you sit, and the ground floor is where you want to be.

Parmentier, 11th arrondissement · $$

Iñaki Aizpitarte's avant-garde néo-bistro on Avenue Parmentier rewrote the rules in 2006 with a no-choice tasting menu served in a scuffed 1930s bistro shell. It has ranked among the World's 50 Best Restaurants and still feels like a dinner party run by brilliant anarchists.

Rue des Rosiers, Le Marais · $

The green-fronted king of the Marais' historic Jewish quarter stuffs its pita with crisp falafel, fried eggplant, harissa, and cabbage in a tower Lenny Kravitz once called the best in the world. The takeaway window line moves fast and the sandwich costs less than a museum ticket.