Bouillon République — Restaurant in Paris

Bouillon République is a place of stark contrasts—a blend of affordability, some culinary highlights, and enough chaos to make the experience feel both frustrating and peculiar. Let’s start with what worked: the French onion soup. Deeply flavorful and excellent for its price, it was the kind of dish you expect from a bouillon. Unfortunately, even its success was marred by a stray piece of onion skin. Still, the soup shone far brighter than the escargot, which was, without exaggeration, the worst I’ve ever had. Saving a couple of euros on snails is hardly worth enduring such poor quality. If escargot is what you’re craving, do yourself a favor and visit Batistou instead.

The truffle tarama was tolerable, but it leaned more on the appeal of truffle alone and lacked the complexity one expects from proper tarama. However, the wine was the lowest point—a by-the-glass option so watery it left us questioning if it had been diluted. For a restaurant priding itself on French tradition, this was an insult to the name of Côtes du Rhône.

These disappointing starters led us to skip the main courses altogether—a decision we didn’t make lightly but felt was necessary after the lackluster beginning to our meal. We turned instead to desserts, and thankfully, this is where Bouillon République finally delivered. The fondant au chocolat was the star of the evening, gooey and indulgent, a perfect conclusion to an otherwise disappointing experience. The baba au rhum was pleasant, though it didn’t hold a candle to the fondant.

The chaotic service compounded our frustration. It took an eternity to be seated, and while the food arrived quickly once ordered, the overall experience felt disorganized. The table beside us went uncleaned for over 20 minutes, leaving us to dine amid the remnants of someone else’s meal. The noise level was not the lively buzz of a spirited gathering but an incoherent and unpleasant din.

To add to the chaos, paying the bill was a garbage challenge. It took more than 20 minutes from asking for the check to finally settling it—a frustrating end to an already uneven experience.

Rating: 3/5

Desserts saved the experience from complete failure, and the French onion soup is worth trying. But with chaotic service, disappointing starters, and an unremarkable ambiance, Bouillon République falls far short of its potential. While the bouillon concept is noble, execution matters—and here, it left much...

We went to Bouillon République, last week on a Saturday for lunch, with 6 people, the maitre d’hôte was really nice and professional and found us a table really quickly.

We were « greeted » by a waitress not really happy to see customers but anyway, we sat and started looking at the menu; We received a call from one of our friend brother saying he was closed by and we invited him to join us because there were lot’s of place and table free in the room so I wouldn’t see any problem; just to be sure and to be polite we ask the maitre d’hôte and he told us that there would be no issue at all. The same waitress at the beginning come back and ask if we are really to order, we explain her the situation and she start being really rude, angry and mad saying that she gets to choose if we can sit with another people when actually the definition of a maître d’hôte is to to the seating arrangement; we explain to her that the maître d’hôte said yes, she keeps being rude, she says no she won’t serve us, she start being horrible and start getting angry on my friend, we are all in chock and confusion that someone can speak to us like that, it’s not fair and she doesn’t want us to move- rudeness you can’t imagine; So she doesn’t want us to move, than thanks To the maitre d’hôte arrive and snapped her off to tell her that HE said yes and HE agreed and that is HIS job. I get that being a waitress is a hard job because I have done it myself but there is no right to be extremely rude to people who have done nothing to you, I hope she realised that, she didn’t even apologise for making a scene, that was litterally not worth it!

Thanks to our next waiter that was way more chilled and nicer, we order our food and drinks, the ambiance was really nice, festive and young-ish.

The food was really nice for the low price, but you know we were scared that the previous waitress would have been unprofessional with our food, if you know what I am saying. Anyway at some point we wanted to add a side of fries but they told us we only get to order once, that was a bit weird ? I don’t know if it works like that.

Anyway we had a great experience overall except the waitress throwing a tantrum at us like what???? It was so unprofessional and rude, I have never ever seen that In my life or career in hospitality.

Thank you to the maître d’hôte and our second waiter that save us from a...

The weight of this review is that I am not new to Paris nor the Boullion experience. There are several in Paris and all have the same basic setup - feed the masses in a quick, friendly and experiencially happy way.

For the most part, you get what you pay for, and it IS a bargain if you are experiencing Paris for the first time. Since Paris is a toursits dream the places Boullion have locations all are in places you can explore before or after you dine there.

If you know ahead of time, getting a reservation is a good idea since the lines, especially around 'dinner' time can be long. Basically, 'dinner' should be meal time at Boullion since its menu is the same, and you can get a meal any hour when its open. This point is made because a normal Paris lunch and dinner hours are different, meaning that inbetween they do not offer food service. Usually, in well trodden tourists areas you can get a meal any time you visit; it's just the other places you will have to find out about if you want a meal.

Lastly, keep in mind that because it is the kind of place that it is, there could be a chance of a miss. Unfortunately, my main dish took too long to come out. This was quite noticable since a couple of tables that sat after me were served their meals. When my meal arrived (Echine de cochon panee, sauce gribiche & pomme tapees - Breaded pork with a kinda mayonaisse sauce and fingerling roasted potatoes) it was cold and the meat dry, and the taters while tasty were far from hot. I think the server forgot my plate because when she noticed that I was sitting there after I caught her attention, she hurried away and quickly returned with the dish. in a busy place like this, this can happen, so be aware. Oh, for the entree (appetizer) I ordered the terrine de canard au poivre vert (basically, a kinda duck pate). You can't go wrong with preprepped cold food. :)

As a footnote, I did not send the dish back because I was already running out of time for a film and I didn't want to cause a scene. And, the serveuse was super busy, and having been in the business, I could see she was doing her best, and that was good enough for me.

By all means, check Boullion out on your visit. I like the Republique location because it's close to Republique Square and the Saint Martin Canal, and oodles of places I like to go to...