Poor Paris. Lately, it’s been getting a lot of bad press (in Europe, anyway) about its perceived dislike of small children. Take, for example, this article in the Telegraph, that pulls no punches with its title: "Paris with Children: A City that is Terrible for Les Enfants."
The author's main complaint is that she couldn't find anywhere to eat with her 16-month old in Paris. She seems completely stumped by the fact that most restaurants here don’t have baby chairs.
“We trail around a number of bistros, where I ask "Vous avez une chaise bébé?" and get a "Non!" six times in a row. No baby chairs anywhere? The waiters' reactions range from blank and irritated, to stunned derision, as though I'd asked for a horse's chair. We quickly become very good friends with Monoprix, which I take by its ubiquity to be the French version of Tesco. But needs must: they have lots of nice bread and small snacks, the kind of thing you can eat on the move.”
She goes on to end the article by writing:
I'm not saying toddlers should be welcome everywhere – god knows, we all need a break from them. But being welcome nowhere came as quite a shock…If you go to Paris with small ones, be ready to eat a lot of baguettes on park benches.
That's just crazy talk.
Look, I totally understand how someone from a country awash in baby chairs and other public baby paraphernalia would be frustrated by Paris's lack. (Whenever I'm in the U.S. I am tempted to cram my 4-year old in restaurant high chairs just because it's so exciting to see one in a public place.) But homegirl is overstating her case to denounce the entire city as awful for kids for she can't figure out how to eat in a restaurant with her child without a high chair.
This is how we parents in Paris handle the lack of high chairs in restaurants: we keep the kid in the stroller, remove a chair from the table, push the stroller up to the table. Voila. No, it’s not ideal. But it works.
My husband and I regularly take our 2 and 4-year old to cafes and restaurants here and have had no problem with waiters with attitudes. (Or rather, I should say, we’ve had no unusual problems with waiters with attitudes since surly waiters are the standard in Paris.) Sure, we’ve gotten the big eye-roll when entering a restaurant with a stroller. But we are almost always accommodated willingly - and even sometimes with a kind word to our little ones.
Of course, we also make sure our children are good patrons. We don’t allow them run around, speak too loudly, or do things that might disturb others. If any meltdowns occur, that kid is taken outside. Immediately. Or we pack up and go. Immediately. We also ask the waiters to bring the kids’ food as quickly as possible. And we always promise them a special dessert if they behave, which encourages them to patient until the end of the meal.
Most of the time, they’re pretty well-behaved (yes, I know I’m begging for a hideous public meltdown).
I write all this to say that you definitely can have a good experience with kids at restaurants in Paris – and it doesn’t always have to be a Starbucks or fast food place. Here’s a list of some of the "normal" restaurants that we like to go with our little ones.
Paris Parents: If you have any favorite restos to add, please write them below in the comments section!
1. Petit Bofinger: There are two Petit Bofinger in Paris, but our favorite is near Chateau de Vincennes/Parc Floral (which has an frighteningly enormous and awesome playground). They’re clearly used to catering to kids there as the first thing they did when we sat down was give the boys a packet of colored pencils and paper to draw on. They also have –gasp – high chairs and baby seats! Though, admittedly, not very many. But if they run out, they’re very nice about moving chairs to accommodate your stroller. I don’t think they have a children’s menu but there’s plenty there that kids love to eats (i.e., fries, mashed potatoes, etc.).
Address: 2 avenue de Paris, 94300 Vincennes (easily accesible by the line 1 metro). Look here for more info.
2. Le Hangar: I’m sure they won’t thank me to put them on this list, but we love taking the kids to Le Hanger in the Marais. We even once held a 25-person party there (including 10 kids) for my son’s baptism. They don’t have high chairs (many years ago I asked and was told -in a joking way - “This is not McDonald’s, madame”) and don’t offer crayons or anything, but they’re friendly enough with kids. The main reason Le Hangar is a good place to be with kids is that it’s located in a small impasse (dead-end street) and is adjacent to the Anne Frank park/playground and Doll House Museum. So, if the kids get restless, it’s easy to take them outside to the park and let them blow off steam until they’re calm enough to be at the restaurant again. We also love it because the food is really, really good.
Address: 12 impasse Berthaud, 75003, Paris. Look here for more info.
3. The Frog at Bercy Village. I had a great time at this bustling pub with my older son last year after spending an afternoon at Bercy Park. This is another colored-pencils-and-paper type place (with funny frog themes). Because it’s a pub, it’s nice and loud and active young children don’t stand out so much. I don’t recall whether they had high chairs, but it’s so large, there’s plenty of room for strollers to be pushed up to the table. Best of all, they speak English…because they are English!
Address: 25 cour St. Émilion, 75012, Paris. Look here for details.
4. L’Atlas. This restaurant near Odeon is a little touristy, but maybe that’s why there’re so good with kids. This is where Dawg and I go to eat fresh oysters, and the kids love seeing the various forms of seafood with so many legs and claws piled high on ice. When with kids, I recommend either sitting upstairs or on the terrace. The downstairs is very tight and has little room for a stroller (but I do recall one time where they cheerfully made room for it.) No kid menu, no high chairs, no crayons and paper – just a nice atmosphere.
Address: 11, rue de Buci, 75006, Paris. Look here for more info.
5. Tokyo Eat: This restaurant in Palais de Tokyo in the 16th arrondissement is set in a huge warehouse-like space that allows plenty of room for strollers and absorbs noise well. Despite the name, it’s not a Japanese restaurant, but serves what I guess you’d call “fusion world cuisine”. Though it’s not a “children’s” restaurant, it’s a fun environment for kids. They’ll like the colorful UFO-like lanterns hovering over every table, the roomy chairs, and the metallic spiral staircase leading to the bathrooms. Oh and if nothing else, they’ll love the milkshakes!
Address: 13 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75116, Paris. Look here for more info (scroll to "pause" for info about the restaurant.)
One last place you might want to check out is the Bonpoint Concept store. I haven't been to the store's chic tea room since my oldest was an infant but I remember that they had high chairs there. I didn't use it since he was too small, and anyway was perfectly comfortable in his stroller. Address: 6, rue Tournon, 75006, Paris. Look here for more info.
