We’ve rated La Tour d’Argent as GREAT with three stars * * *
You can find all our rankings in the Restaurant Index
My first visit to La Tour d’Argent was a kind of goodbye.
It was 2016, and I’d been living nearby on the Île de la Cité. A top-floor studio with wooden beams and a sloped roof was my refuge at the end of a long relationship, my room with a view while I figured out what came next. With the windows open, the bells of next-door Nôtre-Dame were almost deafening. Between peals, the sounds of street musicians floated up and provided a daily soundtrack for my writing. The pianist, who was sponsored by a local music shop, was my favorite. I never saw him wheel his piano on or off the bridge, nor did I want to solve the mystery.
I spent a lot of time, while living in that chambre de bonne, hanging out of the windows. They opened like a hatch, allowing me to lean out and look over the city. The steep slant of the mansard roof gave the illusion that the Seine river was directly below me. Early mornings were spent, coffee in hand, watching barges.
There were other things to watch from my window: people picnicking across the water on the Île Saint-Louis, or sunning themselves at the makeshift summer beach called Paris Plages.
Then there was the architecture - so many beautiful buildings to stare at. My view was framed on the left by the stately Hôtel de Ville (behind Sara’s head in the photo above). On my far right, I could see La Tour d’Argent.
I had never been to this famous restaurant, but its wall of windows blinked at me daily. La Tour d’Argent has an incredible history. It opened in 1582 and is often referred to as Paris’ oldest restaurant. King Henry III of France's first encounter with the fork supposedly took place here in the 16th century. The dining room has welcomed everyone from Balzac to Marilyn Monroe, and it inspired the “set” of Ratatouille. But my favorite story about La Tour d’Argent happened during the second World War, when the owner Claude Terrail, who had been amassing a collection of ~350,000 bottles of wine, protected his stash by walling off a portion of the cellar just hours before the Nazis arrived.
Despite this rich history, La Tour d’Argent was not a foodie destination before 2016. Just a few years earlier, I had anonymously reviewed every Michelin three-star restaurant (and most of the two-stars) to create a guide to fine dining in Paris. La Tour d’Argent, which had lost both of its stars and most of its credibility, was not even included in this research.
But in 2016, just as I was preparing to move out of this tiny but beloved apartment, La Tour d’Argent announced a major change. Philippe Labbé, a respected chef who had earned two stars at L’Abeille (and three stars at L’Arnsbourg in Lorraine) was taking over the kitchen in a bid to regain the restaurant’s fallen stars. I decided that I couldn’t leave the neighborhood without first visiting its most famous table.
It was an incredible experience. Philippe Labbé’s cuisine was outstanding, but as far as I was concerned, his only job was to not mess it up. When you have a view like this + the best wine cellar in Paris, it’s not even necessary to have the best food in Paris. I would happily have settled for pretty good.
It was more than just pretty good. The most memorable dish was “duck with licorice foam, served with vegetables are turnips, a crackling cracker and dark red dabs of "sanguette épicée" or spiced blood sauce.
The cheese cart was phenomenal. And we were able to enjoy that cheese with the remains of a 1996 Clos Rougeard that cost less than 100€.
So that was back in 2016 when La Tour d’Argent was starting to try again. It was a time when all of Paris was just starting to try again. Only half a year had passed since the deadly November attacks, and we were just beginning to come out of our shells again. It was a memorable meal for many reasons.
I revisited in late 2019 and enjoyed it even after chef Labbé had moved on. Months later, the pandemic hit, and then La Tour d’Argent closed for a very long renovation. It reopened this summer, giving me the excuse to return and see whether it was still worth recommending (the things I do for you).
There’s really nothing that compares to the feeling of exiting the elevator on the sixth floor and entering this dining room. I find the new metallic ceiling to be wonderful. It mirrors the look of the rooftops across the water. All the other colors in the dining room seem to be reflections of what we see through the windows - blue carpet (water and sky), white tablecloths (clouds), grey seat bottoms (rooftops) and beige seat backs (limestone buildings). My only quibble about the renovation is the new outdoor walkway and railing that impose upon the extraordinary view.
In the photo above, you’ll also notice a small table. It was wheeled over to hold the wine list - an absurdly large tome that couldn’t possibly be paged through in less than an hour. I put my guest Stephanie in charge of choosing the wine - she’s one of our incredible guides and has an advanced certification in wine (WSET level 3).
Stephanie had a lot choose from within my budget and settled on a gorgeous bottle of 1993 Chassagne-Montrachet from Sauzet for 140€. You can spend a lot more at La Tour d’Argent, of course, but it’s also possible to drink something this special for the same amount you’d spend on a bottle of Chablis in Brooklyn. That’s a huge part of the allure of La Tour d’Argent. If you don’t care a whit about wine, this might not be my first choice for you.
That’s not to say the food isn’t great. Here’s what we enjoyed as part of MOF chef Yannick Franques’ 150€ lunch menu:
We declined the cheese trolley this time around, but here’s a photo from the neighboring table:
We were saving our appetite to instead try a supplementary dessert called Crêpes Mademoiselle (a play on Suzette), prepared very seriously at table side.
They were delicious. They were also 58€ and probably skippable.
So is La Tour d’Argent worth it? For me, it absolutely is. But I’ve included a lot of personal detail here to remind us that these experiences are highly subjective. I try to write with some emotional distance, but the truth is that I have a sentimental attachment to La Tour d’Argent because of what was happening in the world and in my life when I first walked into that room. Still, I think the allure is undeniable.
I’m very often asked to recommend restaurants for special occasions, and restaurants with a view. Here, the service is adorable. The wines are incredible, and (more than) fairly priced. The food feels special, and deserves more than one Michelin star. And the view is priceless, the best in Paris.
I’ve included La Tour d’Argent among our 50 Favorite Restaurants for Fall and would definitely recommend it for a special occasion, especially for lunch.
LA TOUR D’ARGENT
15, Quai de la Tournelle, 75005
Open Tuesday-Saturday for lunch & dinner
Closed Sunday & Monday
Reservations online or at +33 1 43 54 10 08
tasting menu (and à la carte options)
incredible view
good for special occasions
hard to book
baller wine selection
in the Latin Quarter near Notre-Dame
STILL SEARCHING?
Our restaurant index organizes the restaurants we’ve anonymously visited since 2021 by location and ranks them all as:
GREAT * * *
GOOD * *
FINE *
NOT RECOMMENDED
Thank you Meg for such a personal review. You described perfectly the “this is why it is special to me” aspect. I feel that way about so many restaurants in Paris and it is so difficult to distill that and convey it to friends who want to know about the restaurant. But how I can separate the food from the memory of where I ate after realizing my dream of closing escrow on my apartment /after the amazing day at louvre when I fell in love/after the horrific day in the marais when I fell out of love/my milestone birthday/etc./etc.? And the anxiety is only heightened when you are discussing a big name/big pocketbook place.
Fantastic review! Thanks for sharing why Tour d’Argent is special for you. This site strikes a perfect balance between the objective (applying standards) and the personal (your voice with no apologies), which is what makes it so helpful.