Anima — Restaurant in Paris

Well, this is a very disappointing review to write, despite the five starts because I am unsure what to prioritise.

Let’s start with the good first: most of the staff are amazingly friendly, the place is incredible, the food is fantastic, and it’s great to nearly always have our two seats on the bar next to the window and the door available to my colleague(s) and I when we come. The food is of great quality, and justifies the slightly expensive end of the restaurant. The portions are well sized and it is justified that people come here as the food is sublime!

This restaurant makes some of the best pizzas in the entirety of Paris, and the menu, despite being small, always delivers and food-wise. I have never had a bad experience, be it coming as a younger child in 2016-17, or now, as a grown individual, in 2025.

However, the past two visits that I had have been nothing short of disappointing.

My penultimate visit to this institution seemed relatively normal at first, we were greeted by the same people, ordered our food, but it did take an astonishingly long time to arrive. We waited over 20 minutes for the bursts which usually takes 10 minutes or less. We thought, fair enough, it happens to the best of us. We also didn’t get the complimentary oils and bread that usually always gets given out. After finishing the bursts, nobody came to take the plates away and we sat for nearly three quarters of an hour before we finally asked if our pizza was coming. It was in fact already ready, but nobody just came to give it to us. When we received the pizza, it was already lukewarm as if it was sitting and waiting on the counter for a while. Mind you, this isn’t a big restaurant. Everyone can see each other, and this’ll be important for later.

My colleague and I weren’t too happy but seeing our previous experiences in Anima we thought it was just a new server and a bad day so we didn’t think too much of it. That visit was mid-May 2025.

Our next visit was in early June of 2025, and we were seated. The same waiter as our last visit was serving us, so we had hope that it was an off day and that the service would be back to its usual, rather impeccable, self. However, that was unfortunately the case. Already, we waited for over ten minutes for the waiter to bring us the menus. We had a look at them and waited for him to come back to take the order. We waited for about twenty minutes before getting slightly impatient and asked him to come over. He was standing at the reception desk, saw us, and then did nothing. After a short while, he went to serve another table. We waited another ten minutes before ultimately leaving the restaurant as we did not deem waiting 45 minutes just to order in a relatively empty restaurant two visits in a row was an appropriate service attitude and speed. It was a very disappointing experience.

We then had food at another restaurant next door, ordered, went back to get into the car, and noticed a very important detail: there was a lady sitting next to us at the bar that said, when we left: « they don’t seem as active as usual today ». She appeared to also be a long time customer. We’d been gone for 45 minutes eating at another restaurant and she was already there, ready to order BEFORE WE CAME IN. She’d only received her pizza, about one and a half hours after walking into the restaurant.

I am so glad I went there with someone that also knows the place very well.

I’d have been appalled to hype this restaurant up so much and then come in and treat a friend with such a disappointing experience. I truly hope that the service is back to normal as it’d be a shame to have such an amazing little restaurant in the heart of Paris called mediocre due to poor service from certain staff.

I will definitely come back in the future as I trust, and hope, these were two off-days unfortunately coinciding with our arrivals; and I will update this review next time I am here.

Those last two times, I cannot give this restaurant much higher than a 2/10. The other experiences apart from these two, however,...

J’appelle un jeudi pour réserver pour 6 pax pour le dimanche soir à 20h30, on me dit ok. Je rappelle 2h plus tard pour avancer à 20h, on me dit pas de problème. Le soir même mes amies arrivent 5 min en avance, se présentent et un serveur, absolument désagréable, leur dit « j’ai pas de résa à ce nom », il essaie pas de chercher, il continue son travail. Mes amies insistent et un autre serveur beaucoup plus gentil, finit par trouver une table pour 6 (car apparemment il n’y avait vraiment pas de résa pour nous) par chance car ils avaient eu une annulation de dernière minute. Je le remercie d’ailleurs car s’il n’avait pas été là avec son extrême gentillesse, on serait clairement parties. Au passage quand je suis arrivée j’ai été voir le premier serveur, pour essayer de comprendre ce qui s’était passé, il ne me regardait même pas et m’écoutait à peine, me disant « bon on vous a trouvé une table là », clairement je le dérangeais. Je travaille avec la clientèle et ce genre de personnes ne devraient pas travailler au public. D’autant plus que c’est le restaurant qui a fait une erreur car j’avais bien réservé. Après on a mangé très très bien (et je suis italienne), les carbonaras et la pizza à la mortadelle sont délicieuses, et l’endroit est agréable et joliment décoré, mais les prix sont un peu trop élevés d’autant plus que le service ne suit pas. Le plat d’une de mes amies est arrivé à la fin (car apparemment ils l’ont servi à la mauvaise table donc ils ont dû en préparer un autre) alors que nous autres on avait pratiquement terminé nos plats, elle a donc pratiquement mangé seule. Dans la table à côté on a assisté à un couple choqué car on leur a servi les entrées et les plats en même temps… Et j’en passe. Bref avec tous les restaurants italiens bons (et avec un service agréable) sur Paris, je ne recommande pas celui-ci. Je venais pour fêter mon anniversaire et la soirée a été gâchée. Ah et zéro geste, mise à part nous avoir offert le plat qui était arrivé à la toute fin (et...

This is such an in incredible place. My friends took me to Anima for my birthday and they couldnt have chosen a better place. Lovely, lively atmosphere with fabulously attentive service. The team is super friendly and they went out of their way to make it special. Amazing wine list and the pizzas are divine - thin base; salivatingly savoury tomato sauce and a richesse of topping. Oh and the chilli oil - OUT OF THIS WORLD.

You can visit as many former restaurants you want to in Paris but end your...