Le Polidor...Where NOT to eat!
Where NOT TO EAT in Paris!
Parler Paris Nouvellettre®
Your taste of life in Paris and France
ParlerParis.com
Monday, June 20, 2010 • Paris, France
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This afternoon the musicians will come out to play for the 29th annual "Fête de la Musique" and the immediate French world will be on the streets to hear them play. The sun will be out the longest of the entire year, but the weather predictions say we won't see much of it for the clouds blocking the rays. Oh well -- you don't come to Paris for the weather.
| (If you want more information about "La Fête," read last Wednesday's Nouvellettre® or visit the official Web site at fetedelamusique.culture.fr. You can also pick up a copy of the sponsoring publication that lists the venues -- "A Nous Paris" available at most all Métro stations. While you're there, pick up one of the special brochures the RATP has printed to provide information about bus and train transportation that will be available all night long.) |
I can remember being a tourist, and never ever venturing into a restaurant of any other cuisine than French for fear of wasting even one single meal during the stay here on anything else. Those days are long over, but there is still no reason to waste one single meal on a bad one.
Last week, one of our faithful readers, Roger Foreman, sent me a message...
Hi,
Having a great time in Paris with two more weeks yet to go. Food is great. Here are a few places we HAVEN'T eaten at.
Roger
...with a long list of photos of restaurants attached. It was a good laugh as he (or someone) had taken photos of each one might be happy to skip.
If you don't like wasting a single meal, then you're sure to avoid all of those Roger listed, too, but I'm going to give you a list of a few of the French restaurants the guidebooks write about that you should also avoid (but most tourists don't):
1) Restaurant Chartier
7, rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 9th
The ambience is oh so Paris, the waiters are oh so surly (just as they are supposed to be), the food is very inexpensive, and rightly so...but it's about the worst meal you might have in the City of Light. Go in and have a look, take few pix and then go elsewhere to spend your money.
2) Le Polidor
41, rue Monsieur Le Prince, 6th
Le Polidor used to be our first stop after depositing our luggage at a nearby hotel, until I got smart. It's up there with Chartier for ambience, but you'll be surrounded by tourists who don't know any better, as it's not that cheap any more and it definitely not any better.
3) Le Grand Colbert
2, rue Vivienne, 2nd
Oh how I used to love this restaurant, long before it was the setting for the movie "Something's Got to Give" with Diane Keaton and Jack Nickelson. That ruined it. Now, what you will find are a lot of American tourists and a lot of badly prepared food. What a shame, as the atmosphere is absolutely lovely.
4) Any restaurant in the Latin Quarter, 5th
The restaurants in the Latin Quarter, bordered by boulevard Saint-Michel, Quai de Montebello, rue Saint-Jacques and boulevard Saint-German are to be avoided like the plague. These are the restaurants that throw plates on the cobblestoned streets to get your attention and bark you inside. Don't be seduced. Get out of the immediate neighborhood as fast as your feet will carry you.
5) Le Procope
13, rue de l'Ancienne Comédie, 6th
It's the oldest café in Paris founded in 1686, and that's what it should have stayed...a café. Now it's a restaurant with a highish price tag that fills its tables with a lot less than its past illustrious clients (such as Voltaire, Danton, Robespierre, and Benjamin Franklin), but doesn't offer more than ambience and an overpriced meal.
Now you want to know WHERE TO eat? That's when I'm supposed to say, "buy the guide" -- the Insider Paris Guide for Good Value Restaurants ...written by yours truly. To get your electronic copy, visit insiderparisguides.com/ or (if the site is down -- which it was a moment ago!), email: info@adrianleeds.com
A la prochaine...
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
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P.S. Several readers asked me to write more about the Bals des Pompiers...have no fear, I will, but it's a few weeks away and there is still much to do in Paris before that!...so stay tuned for more information.
