Finding a good restaurant in Paris has never been harder. Not because there are fewer good ones — there are more than ever — but because the signal-to-noise ratio has collapsed. Everyone has a list. Influencers eat for free and algorithms surface whatever is trending.
This list is different. Every meal on it was paid for in full — funded entirely by your subscriptions — eaten anonymously, and chosen because I’d send a close friend there without hesitation. I update it three times a year — in March, June, and October — which means nothing stays on the list just because it was once great.
I share it only with paid subscribers, for two reasons: it keeps the list from becoming the list everyone has, and your support is what makes the whole enterprise possible. No ads, no press trips, no freebies accepted.
Fifty restaurants. All worth your time and money in Paris.
You can find past editions of this list in our archives, and ratings for more than 300 Paris restaurants in our restaurant index.
WHAT’S NEW
NEW ADDITIONS
Six restaurants join the list this time: Substance, Le Bon Georges, Cypsèle, Fugue, Masaikuta, and Canard Sauvage. My favorite discovery of the bunch is Cypsèle, a new restaurant on the Île Saint-Louis from a former chef at Maison — one of the most exciting meals I've had in recent memory. Substance is also worth singling out: they were on this list years ago before falling off, and the arrival of chefs Flavio Lucarini and Aurora Storari has brought them back where they belong.
AU REVOIR
Six restaurants leave the list. Hémicycle closed at the end of 2025 — its chefs, happily, landed somewhere even better. Le Grand Café was a fun addition but ultimately not essential enough to hold its place. Le Tire-Bouchon Rodier, Double, and La Petite Chaise are places I still like — they’ve moved to our neighborhood guides for Saint-Germain and Montmartre where they’re a better fit. And Vaisseau, which was always hard to get into, has been superseded by stronger tasting menu options on this list.
QUICK PICKS
We've also pulled together top picks for the moments when you need a quick answer — the best options for dining on a Sunday or Monday, celebrating a special occasion, eating well as a vegetarian, feeling like a local, booking last minute, and finding the best restaurants in Saint-Germain, Montmartre, the Marais, near the Louvre, and more. Subscribe to see our picks in each category, plus the full list of fifty below.