Paris has changed a lot since Eater started rounding up its essential restaurants in 2016. Over the last nine years of writing this map, I’ve watched as the city’s entrenched food pyramid — a top tier of haute-cuisine, followed by dressed-up bourgeois restaurants, and finally a base of bistros and brasseries — has flattened out. Today, you can find outstanding contemporary French cooking at reasonable prices all over Paris.
Traditional French haute cuisine has become exorbitantly expensive, too formal, gastronomically staid, and increasingly irrelevant in a city that’s seeing the emergence of wiry young talents like Youssef Marzouk at Aldehyde. Across the board, modern Parisian menus are trending toward vegetables, with meat playing a supporting role to local produce from sustainable producers. But even as they embrace the new, many Parisians remain rooted in rock-of-ages French comfort food, which is available at a wave of traditional bistros; highlights include the very popular Bistrot des Tournelles in the Marais and thriving stalwarts like Le Petit Vendôme.
We update this list quarterly to make sure it reflects the ever-changing Paris dining scene. Our write-ups include insider tips from our experienced writers and editors, as well as a rough range of pricing for each destination — ranging from $ for quick, inexpensive meals with dishes largely under $10 (or the equivalent in euros), to $$$$ for places where entrees exceed $30.
New to the map in November 2025: Two new restaurants show off the impact of modern American cooking in the French capital — L’Arret by the Grey, the Left Bank outpost of the famous restaurant the Grey in Savannah, Georgia; and American expat chef Carrie Solomon’s new California-Mediterranean style restaurant Chez Carrie in the Sentier. Les Collonges in Montmartre also joins the list, offering a perfect postcard of what Parisians want to eat today, with a short and always changing chalkboard menu of dishes that are vegetable forward, inventive, and sincere.
For even more advice for your next trip, order the Eater Guide to Paris, in which we detail our favorite restaurants and shopping spots, offer tips on dining etiquette, plus feature deep dives into the city’s Southeast Asian cuisines, drinking culture, evolving pastry scene, and much more.
Alexander Lobrano is a well-known Paris restaurant expert, has written Eater’s best restaurants map to Paris since 2016, and is the author of Hungry for Paris, Hungry for France and My Place at the Table: A Recipe for a Delicious Life in Paris. He writes often for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications.
Dining and Cooking