Damnnnn please let me know! I booked it care to share details?
Would love to hear. Our dinner at Granite was pretty great!
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Ok, sounds like the biggest issue was perhaps being seated downstairs. But ya this dude has cooked at Blue Hill, Llama Inn, etc. He wasn’t impressed by the food, but service sounds like the real issue. This is what he drafted to the restaurant, with some help from me lol.
An exercise in mediocrity: or, dining downstairs at Granite.
Granite had been much recommended and much anticipated. Unfortunately, our experience was mediocre at best. We were seated downstairs, which obviously does not have the energy or appeal of the upstairs dining room. The atmosphere, though, has little to do with my complaints.
Service was pretty poor throughout our meal. Whenever we thought to ask for something, the waiters were pointedly ignoring us, perhaps polishing wine glasses or lingering in the corner. The wine pairing, aside from the meager pours, was poorly timed. In some cases, the wine would be poured ten minutes before the dish was presented—in other cases, the wine was poured after the course was finished. We had a fun predicament. Wait for the wine or eat the food hot. That would be easier if we had water, but our multiple attempts to flag down a waiter meant we were liquid-free.
I assume this was an off night for the kitchen. The duck was so chewy as to be an inedible. More pressing than a bad protein was the fact that each dish seemed to have temperature issues, perhaps owing to the fact that the kitchen is upstairs, and then there’s the downstairs staging area, meaning that by the time the dishes made it to the table, most of what we had—whether it had initially started hot or cold!—was lukewarm. Our bread was taken before the cheese course. Perhaps it’s an American folly to eat bread with cheese, but at least we would have liked to been asked if we wanted to hang onto the bread.
I have no doubt that Granite is a fabulous restaurant. A good restaurant friend of mine insisted I needed to come here—as did multiple reviews and message board posts. Clearly, tonight was an exception, but it was an exception that saddened me and my partner tremendously.
I hope that the downstairs experience is much better calibrated in the future. You are doing a disservice to diners if that is the usual experience.
The French eat bread with the cheese course.
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Yep, apparently no bread served with said cheese course.
That’s unfortunate. Interestingly we had a great dinner downstairs when it was Spring, but last fall I also thought that downstairs felt less appealing than upstairs (which is where we dined). Definitely no service issues for us upstairs.
omg this is the spring space? we went there years ago–and my wife is insisting we sat downstairs, and I also had a good experience there!!!
“It felt like a hallway,” is what she says, haha.
How can we request upstairs?
Also this review is scaring me lol. I don’t want to get stuck with a dud. We are probably going to do alliance another night but we only have four nights in Paris. What else do you guys recommend?
I remember being able to request upstairs, and again our service (esp wine service) was outstanding.
Other options: Pages, Sola, or Montee.
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I’m thinking convenience and things to do, not necessarily destinatino restaurants, but 2 areas come to mind:
- Upper Marais, 3rd, Rue de Bretagne. Easy food walking tour with the kids, plenty for the whole family. Not a “can’t-miss,” but good variety. Not an all-afternoon thing, but rather a solid 2.5 hours or so.
On that one street:
- cheese shop: Barthelemy
- pate en croute: Maison Verot
- macarons: Pierre Herme and Laduree
- market with food stalls: Marche des Enfants Rouges. With children, you won’t be eating at the good yet very busy Les Enfants du Marche, which is kind of the jewel of the market, but that’s ok - there’s plenty around to see, smell, and eat. It’s casual and the semi-open, so you can easily find something. note that it does get very busy at peak lunch time.
- right outside, there’s Caractere de Cochon - get a jambon beurre. it’s about 16eur per, so not a cheap version, but quite satisfying.
- if you need coffee, duck into Kawa Coffee a few steps around the corner
- for afternoon snacks, there’s ice cream shops right there - Amorino Bretagne, Moustache - and a patisserie - Bontemps la Patisserie.
- Poilaine is around the corner, but it’s not at all my favorite bakery for viennoiserie. With that said, its breads are a bit better, in my opinion.
- Chez Omar has good couscous if you want a sit-down restaurant.
- the park Square du Temple Elie-Wiesel is decent - not super pretty, but you can eat there on a bench if needed.
When you say “family friendly,” sorry if I missed it, but I’m kind of assuming you have children who are not older teenagers/adults.
If that’s the case, I think that Rue de Bretagne is generally pretty good for: grabbing some cheese at Barthelemy (Brillat-Savarin, Ossau-Iraty, St. Nectaire, etc.), pate en croute at Maison Verot, something to go at the Marche des Enfants Rouges and/or a jambon beurre or two, then eat it at the park if needed. Grab some macarons at one of the big 2 and then maybe some chocolate at Jean-Paul Hevin. Coffee at Kawa then on to your next destination.
- Rue Cler, 7th.
It’s a market street with a bit of everything. but nearby are Lastre sans Apostrophe (great pate en croute and the like) and Marie-Ann Cantin (fromagerie). Also for pate en croute, Arnaud Nicolas has been recommended to me (but I’ve only had Lastre and Verot, both excellent). Go to Les Grandes Caves (actually on Rue Cler) and get a good bottle of wine, and you have a nice lunch back at your hotel or so. Alternatively, there’s Mariage Freres tea (ok experience for me…not great, but it works well for gifts) and a creperie and charcuterie purveyor along that road. Quiche and some charcuterie at Jeusselin, ice cream at at Lambert, crepes at Ulysse en Gaule. Sure yo ucan get a bit of everything at the market Davoli as well, but hard to beat the combination of Lastre, Cantin, and a good champagne at Les Grandes Caves. I love Fallet-Crouzet/Fallet-Prevostat for a delicious slightly old school champagne, great QPR and hard to come by. But, Clandestin, Dehours etc. and if they have Parmentier again, get that. Perfect set up for a picnic somehwere or back at your hotel, let’s say if you had afternoon tea or something and don’t want to go out for a meal at normal dinner time.
Nearby walking distance is Auberge Bressane if you want some old school French - good morels and chicken in vin jaune sauce and very good souffles. This is solid and heart-warming, not a destination restaurant necessarily, but a quaint restaurant with satisfying food.
Nearby also is Chez L’Ami Jean. Good meal, great riz au lait. I need to go back, it’s been a while, but I’m still hearing pretty solid things.
Not sure I’d recommend Frenchie Bar a Vins for a family. First of all, there’s a big queue that starts about 1/2 hour before opening. I lined up 1/2 hour before opening and was #2, but many people behind me did not get the first seating. Just FYI, you may share a table with strangers if it’s busy and depending on your party size. Lastly, the food to me is a little hit or miss, potential but I expected a bit more given its reputation.
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This is super helpful and appreciated!
Sure thing. 2 other notes:
- Not sure how many times you’ve been to Paris, but if you are planning to visit Opera and don’t mind crowds, then check out Galeries Lafayette Haussmann. It is busy, but the Gourmet section is pretty impressive. None of the restaurants interested me, but the market section has a lot to offer. If you don’t make it to Maison Verot on Rue de Bretagne or Lastre sans Apostrophe in the 7th, then this is a good one-stop shop to grab some pate en croute and smoked meats at Verot or charcuterie at Le Bourdonnec.
Then, walk about 10 minutes to Cedric Grolet Opera. Yes, it’s very Instagrammable and trendy and yes the lines are very long, but the pastry is good. Do a “click and collect” pre-order about a week in advance, and stand in the separate line (I still had to wait about 10 minutes). But, you get your order made in front of you and it’s much more efficient than waiting in the regular line.
- My personal ranking of croissants from my last trip:
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- Boulangerie Utopie
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- Isabelle
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- Des Gateaux et du Pain
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- Carton
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- Conticini
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- Poilane
I did not make it to Du Pain et des Idees and I did not try the croissant at Pierre Herme. I meant to do more of a structured comparison last time, but business got in the way. Also, this was not really scientific because I got them on different days, different times of day, etc. and is part based on convenience. For example, I can see why Carton’s is very well regarded but I don’t like the Gare du Nord train station by which it’s very near. On the other hand, I was around Utopie’s area a fair amount and was grabbing stuff nearby (wine from Delicatessen Cave, charcuterie from Bidoche, morning coffee from Boot, etc.).
Which brings me to another, bigger point: in a big city like Paris, it might be good to plan around convenience (doing multiple things in one stop) instead of trekking across town for one good meal or snack. Yes the metro is efficient, but especially going with family, you may find that even if there’s a lauded destination across town, you may have had a couple of good options much closer by.
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In complete agreement. “La Cave” is a marvel: d’Yquem tastings available.
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@hungryhungryhippos Not sure how much time you have, but if you find yourself around Pigalle (the 9th) then I recommend
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walking Rue des Martyrs. good way to snack around the afternoon like oysters, pastries, or desserts (from cream puffs, waffles, ice cream, etc. yes, the famous Rose Bakery is a good option).
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a meal at
- Le Pantruche is a pretty good bistro
Or - Hotel Amour, if you want all-day hours and especially a quaint small courtyard to dine at
- Buvette, if you want an easy menu like a croque monsieur/madame or a rotisserie chicken salad. (It is indeed from New York as an American take on a French bistro, now come full circle to be in Paris)
- 228 Litres, if you want a wine bar at night. Emphasis on the wine bar, not so much on the food. It’s run by the folks from La Cave Pigalle. Great list, chill spot with all locals, easy for walk-ins.
- Le Bon Georges, if you want an essential bistro that feels, looks, and tastes the part, with a good bar and wine list and a handwritten chalkboard menu. I’ve had a couple of pretty good meals there. I think that others have had higher highs at the special table in the back, but I’ve had a couple of solid meals in the main dining room. Maybe not blew me away, but very much what one would expect from an essential bistro.
- Le Pantruche is a pretty good bistro
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grab a bottle of wine at La Cave Pigalle, one of my very favorite wine stores to shop at in Paris. just steps away from Le Pantruche.
Actually, all 1-4 are very close walking distance to one another, Le Bon Georges maybe an extra 5 minutes’ walk from the rest.
Not a must-do, but a pretty good way to spend an afternoon if you want something not quite as touristic but still has a lot of food options for the family.
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This sounds awesome thanks for the rec!
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For macarons, my outlier favorite is Gregary Renard on outer rue St. Dominique. Two sizes, normal 3cm and omg something like 8cm. Fabulous fillings. IMHO, much more interesting and delicious than Laduree or Herme, while certainly less expensive and more pleasant service.
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And an “only in Paris” patisserie is Aurore-Capucine on rue Rochechouart. Flavors and decoration out of Alice in Wonderland.
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Very late to this thread, so I won’t bother to give very untimely recommendations. Suffice it to say that, when we had drinks at Septime’s Wine Cave (around the corner from Septime/Clamato), no one had anything good to say about Septime. Clamato had more love. We didn’t go to either. There are better choices.
Someone upthread mentioned Fulgurances. We’ve gone a couple of times and it really is hit or miss depending on who the resident chef is that month or two. We still think it worth going, especially if you can get some word of mouth on their current chef. Their wine bar across the street is serving some very nice small plates and good glasses of wine – highly recommended. Additionally, for those of you visiting from NYC, Fulgurances opened Laundromat in Greenpoint, Brooklyn a little over a year ago, and we go regularly. Several staff rotate back and forth from Paris and the resident chefs, while still hit or miss, have been mostly hit (with several home runs). We went this past week and will go again in 2 weeks when the chef changes.
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This seems like a good place to post this - free link
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