Dining with Kids in Paris/Reims/Beaune?

In the excitement of planning we booked a bunch of places…
Astrance, Passage 53, Verjus, David Toutain, Crayere, Ma Cusine, etc etc

Now i’m wondering, with a 1.3 year old, is it possible? are kids allowed at those restaurants? Most of these are for lunch so won’t run into sleep conflict.

just having a moment of panic re: oh crap the kid won’t sleep, won’t eat, won’t behave…
normally a very easy baby… We’ve taken her to many restaurants locally and on several trips already…But i’m not sure how the French appreciates babies /toddlers in restaurants, especially Michelin * ones…

Thoughts/experiences?

Have your hotel get you a babysitter.

Ma cusine is likely okay. the rest…see Mr Kaplan.

I have no experience in those restaurants or with that culture. But I can tell you for sure that the way to encourage appreciation of fine dining by your little one is to continue to take her. She will show an aptitude for this pretty early on. Some kids can’t do it, and everyone needs to adjust to that.

But you must be willing to walk out of any reservation you have, should she not add to the experience - for anyone. My kid, at 5, enjoyed French Laundry, had her meal comped by Thomas Keller, and was invited by him for a personal tour of the kitchen. Has all my life with her been that perfect? Hell no! But when it has come to fine dining? Yes. She is a very discriminating diner at just 21, and now can order her own Champagne!

Please please do not bring in a stroller. If she can’t sit in a booster chair, arranged in advance, don’t do that. Very annoying.

Is this safe/widely available? during Lunch?
not sure how realistic it is to go from sightseeing back to hotel to drop off kid, back to restaurant, Back to hotel to pick up kid, back to sightseeing…
Also by this do you mean they’re not welcomed? I mean we’re pretty used to eating with her having taken her to 3-4 restaurant meals a week… but wonder what the restaurant would think… I appreciate the info!

Merrill, I completely agree with you in your view… they are only going to get to the appropriate ways by doing it.
We have a portable high chair that attaches to tables… and we’ve taken her to many restaurants (including fine dining)… i guess it was more ‘France’ specific - not sure if it’s allowed, and if allowed, not sure if we’ll get severely looked down upon…

I mean obviously if the baby is fussing/screaming, we’ll leave. but what’s the perception of it from the onset? will they even let her in?

The other thing is, normally she has about 1.5 hrs of attention span at meals. I know a dinner at a Michelin 3* would take 3-4 hours… but lunch? how long do those take? 2 hours? we can do that. also 3.5 hours? probably not.

No dramas, just ask Jeremy Holmes. Took our children to Carre des Feuillants and The Ledbury and they were very well received, although they probably would have preferred to be at M & M world.
The French are very tolerant of children, but if you suspect that your little one will disturb other diners then I would suggest a babysitter. There is no way I could have taken our eldest to a high end restaurant at 12months, but he is/was rather highly strung.

If you want your four year old to be smacked by Pierre for playing with the cornichons go ahead and book Ma Cuisine. If you want a friendly bistro try les tontons in Rue du Faubourg Madeleine.

lol… the kid is 1 year 3 month…

we booked a few of the same places…please make sure we’re not there on the same nights!

What’s funny is Tyler Rico and I actually have almost identical dates in Reims/Beaune
I’m pretty sure we’re booked for lunch at Les Crayere on the same day in fact.

The French are way more kid-friendly than we are here. We took our 8 month old to Paris during Christmas 2012 and had no problems at all in restaurants. He was still napping a lot, but even when he was wide awake, he’d just hang out, taste his first baguette, and check out the surroundings. We didn’t try him in any 3 stars, mostly because those are such long meals, even at lunch, especially when you’re into wine. Bistros and casual restaurants will be very welcoming to your family. So would fancy places. And if there’s enough room, a stroller wouldn’t be out of the question. More likely though, you’ll be in close quarters and they’ll gladly fold up your stroller and find a place to hide it during the meal.

Maybe I’ve lived in San Francisco too long, and I’ve been given the “get out of here with your little heathen” roll of the eyes in restaurants locally too many times. I saw none of that at all in Paris, quite the opposite. Servers seemed to enjoy having children at their tables.

We took that trip in 1988 when our son was 18 months old. (And, again and again…with him and his brother who arrived in 1993. They speak of their experiences as “child abuse.”)

But…our older son was then a “problem” and made noise and cried if he didn’t want to be in a place. He wasn’t bashful and still isn’t. So, though I don’t remember even trying to hit any really swanky Paris restaurants, I do remember carrying him on my shoulders from a restaurant in Chambolle, to give the rest of the occupants a break. And, ditto at the Restaurant de la Tour in Nuits for the same reasons: we felt that it was unfair to the other patrons to have a noisy, unhappy child in the room with them. (And, finally, friends who were visiting the region at the same time and didn’t have kids yet…told us that it was unfair–to us and to the patrons== to bring our son to the restaurant in Bouilland…and they would be delighted to take him so we could go; it was a lifesaver. And, they had their first not long thereafter, so it wasn’t a repellant.

Of course, it mainly depends on the kid and his personality. Like Ed says…I don’t think it’s a problem…unless the kid disturbs others…Then, I think, it’s a huge problem.

Oh, and 11 years later when the older son was 12, we took him to L’Auberge de l’Ill in Alsace with us and winemaker couple. He was blown away that food could be so special. And, they made him a dinner that was every bit the equal of ours…at half price.

Ok thanks gang… Sounds like it’s generally allowed… so that’s good to know.

We’ll just roll with it then… if she’s fussy we’ll leave. certainly don’t wanna be disturbing other folks…

reso’s made so if she’s up for it, we’ll eat. if she’s not, we’ll chill with a picnic, or at a cafe somewhere.

It’s France, it’s a vacay… still beats work any day! Thanks again!

You might want to call the restaurants and ask. I’ve been to all of the restaurants you’ve mentioned for dinner except Astrance and have never seen an infant or toddler.

Good call, will do that… Although when i reserve i’ve always said 3 adult, 1 child etc… so far it’s ok… oh ok… but i’ll call the * places at least just to confirm. Thanks!

Also we are going for lunch to most of these places… Dinner would be impossible so i’m not surprised an infant isn’t sitting through a 4 hr dinner at 7pm

I do not have kids so please take this with a large grain of salt. Astrance is a very long meal and expensive. Not sure you will get the full enjoyment out of it with a small child. Why not go to places that are close to the same food quality that have less courses and are less formal. Septime and Yam’Tcha would be two recommendations (not easy reservations to get on short notice).