In terms of both quality and price, there's nothing to choose between restaurants (auberges or relais, as they sometimes call themselves) and brasseries. The distinction is that brasseries, which often resemble cafés, serve quicker meals and at most hours of the day, while restaurants tend to stick to the traditional mealtimes of noon until 2pm, and 7pm until 9.30pm or 10.30pm.The latest time at which you can walk into a restaurant and order is usually about 9.30pm or 10pm, although once ensconced you can often remain well into the night. After 9pm or so, some restaurants serve only à la carte meals, which invariably work out more expensive than eating the set menu. For the more upmarket places, it's wise to make reservations – easily done on the same day. When hunting, avoid places that are half-empty at peak time, and treat the business of sizing up different menus as an enjoyable appetizer in itself.
Pages in section ‘Restaurants’: Prices, Gourmet, Student, Chain restaurants, Islands, Champs-Élysées, Grands Boulevards and Les Halles, Beaubourg, the Marais and the Bastille, The Left Bank, Trocadéro and the Septième, Montparnasse, Montmartre, Eastern Paris, Western Paris, Ethnic restaurants, Late-night.
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