Don't Eat Here

Paris may be a city filled with fine food, but there's also a lot of terrible food out there. We're usually very careful to avoid that food, mainly going to restaurants that are recommended and/or that we've researched. (We rarely pick a restaurant once we're already out, because every time we do, we pick poorly.) Despite all this, we do have bad meals once in a while, and we feel it's our duty to tell you about them.

Polidor is a famous Left Bank establishment with 100-year-old décor and numerous guidebook recommendations attracting Parisians and tourists alike. Founded in 1845, it has served such literary luminaries as André Gide, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and Jack Kerouac, and it remains popular with students, which is no surprise given its relatively low prices and proximity to the Sorbonne. We went on a recommendation from our landlord (who falls into the student category), whom my mom, Cathy, and I met briefly at Berthillon Glace.


The décor was delightfully old-fashioned and the ambiance certainly qualified as "boisterous" as befits a popular bistrot, but we were pretty disappointed in the food. Cathy was excited to try escargot, and they turned out to be mediocre. The reasonable prices turned out to be high relative to the quality of what we ate, and we were especially disappointed in the desserts, which were dry and somewhat tasteless. So if your guidebook claims you have to go to Polidor, go for a drink or something, and get dinner at nearby Fish La Boissonerie, which remains one of our three favorite restaurants in Paris.

Our other culinary misadventure came during Matt's visit. After consulting Jesse's List, which has proven to be one of our most reliable sources of restaurant recommendations, we decided to try a place in the 9th arrondissement called Carpediem. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures for you, but suffice it to say, nothing was really photogenic enough to merit documentation. Things either tasted or looked bland, and the dishes that attempted to combine unexpected flavors mostly failed. Apparently we weren't the only ones to notice - on a Thursday night, the restaurant was mostly empty from 7:30 to around 10. Not a good sign.

So there you go - two restaurants to avoid the next time you're in Paris. We'll keep recommending alternatives, and hopefully you'll manage what we couldn't: all good food, all the time.