Brasserie des Prés — Restaurant in Paris

Mixed Experience – Wonderful First Visit, Disappointing Second One

I visited Brasserie des Prés twice during my recent trip to Paris in late May and early June 2025.

The first visit on May 30 was fantastic. We were actually recommended this spot by a friendly server at a nearby restaurant that was full. Our server, Munna, was warm, attentive, and genuinely pleasant. The service was excellent, the food arrived hot and delicious, and the entire experience left a really great impression.

Unfortunately, our second visit on June 3—the last day of our trip—was the opposite. When we arrived, the female host (possibly Latina or of South Asian descent) was telling tourists that the wait was two hours, while almost immediately seating those who appeared to be locals or fluent French speakers. There were clearly empty tables, and this felt discriminatory. When I said we were willing to wait, she seemed surprised—and suddenly, a table for four became available in under two minutes. In hindsight, we probably should have left then.

We ordered the same dishes we had enjoyed the first time, but they came out lukewarm or cold. My soup was barely warm, the beef tartare was oddly portioned and looked reshaped—as though someone had scooped out a bit and re-plated it. Meanwhile, the woman next to me was served a larger, fresher-looking tartare like the one I had on my first visit.

The steak and fries were a letdown. The steak was incredibly tough, overcooked, and hard to swallow despite cutting it into tiny pieces. The steak was closer to a rock than a piece of meat cooked to medium.The fries were cold, dark, and stale, like scraps from the bottom of the fryer. We couldn't help but notice the table beside us had hot, golden, fresh-looking fries—very different from ours. Oh and they also got the sauce wrong for our steak and fries, however, we didn't say anything because it was difficult to get the attention of servers and I had a timed reservation for the river cruise.

I’m honestly not sure what to make of this place. I would have recommended it wholeheartedly after my first visit, but the second experience was so off-putting. My second visit was the only bad meal and experience I had during my entire 9-day stay in Paris. It's a shame, because I know the restaurant is capable of excellent food...

What a perfect first dinner on our visit to Paris! From the warm and cozy decor to the superb food overall to the excellent service, it was a fantastic meal from start to finish.

We sampled the following dishes:

GARLIC BUTTER ESCARGOTS (French Auvergne escargots, bred by Michaël Vial at the foot of the Bourbonnaise mountains) - first foray into escargot and I was pleased. They are bathed in garlic butter and pesto, and were tasty.

CROMESQUIS (Deep-fried pork meatballs with fine stuffing and sour cream) - deliciously savory meatballs, and paired interestingly with the sour cream.

ONION SOUP (Buttered onions soaked in veal stock and deglazed with port wine, gratinated with comté cheese) - Excellent, especially with a dash of salt.

FRENCH DEVILED EGG (Free-range eggs, celery remoulade) - strong mustard flavor at the base, and the eggs themselves were whipped to perfection, creamy and tasty flavor.

LEEKS IN VINAIGRETTE (The house favorite with homemade dressing, buttery croutons and roasted hazelnuts) - another strong mustard flavor, and the tender grilled leeks were delicious.

FOIE GRAS TERRINE (Fresh French foie gras marinated in cognac, porto and four spices) - a generous block of superlative and complex terrine, and the bread was simple but perfect to lather it on top of.

VIN JAUNE AND MOREL MUSHROOM CHICKEN for 2 people (Braised chicken with vin jaune, an oxydatif wine from Jura region, morels, creamy sauce. Served with rice pilaf) - Quite a table side preparation, and loved both that preparation as well as the dish itself. The chicken was perfectly tender and flavorful, but the standout is the creamy sauce with morels, just absolutely decadent. Loved the sauce with the delicate rice pilaf. Yum.

Cocktails were excellent as well. Really inventive and creative concoctions.

Service was warm and friendly, professional and engaged. They made kind accommodations for our daughter, from sweetening the tart lemonade to offering up some frites since she didn't quite take to the meatballs like I did.

This gorgeous two-story restaurant was filled to the brim on this Saturday evening. The queue was about 40 people long, so I was really glad I had made a reservation a couple of...

We visited Brasserie Des Prés in Paris on May 29th, 2025, as a couple without a reservation, and were pleasantly surprised to be seated fairly quickly. The service started off well — attentive and professional — until a group of 6 to 8 American girls were seated next to us. From that moment on, the waiter's attention shifted entirely to their table.

That would’ve been fine, had it not started to affect our own experience. First, our coffees were forgotten. We had to signal the waiter twice, and only received them about 30 minutes later, after we had already finished our dessert.

But the real issue came with the bill.

We're familiar with their wine-per-glass system — this wasn’t our first time at this brasserie. The waiter even re-explained it to us: the bottle has markings, and you pay per line. A full bottle costs €30. We explicitly ordered two glasses, which the waiter poured at the start of our meal. The bottle was never touched again — not by the waiter, not by us.

To our shock, we were charged €25 for two glasses — as if we drank almost the entire bottle. After expressing our disbelief, the waiter offered to "adjust" the bill and came back with a new one: €20 for the same two glasses. He insisted there was "just a bit left in the bottle", which was simply not true. At this point, the bottle had already been taken away — wrapped in a towel — leaving us with no proof.

We were left feeling scammed and deeply disappointed. There are cameras, and it would be easy to confirm that only two glasses were poured and served — once, at the beginning of our meal.

So this is our warning to future guests: Be very careful when ordering wine by the glass. You may end up being charged as if you drank the whole bottle. And once the bottle is taken away, you have no evidence. We never touched it ourselves, so we had nothing to document — nor should guests be expected to take photos of wine bottles just in case.

Obviously, we left with such a bad feeling that we will never dine here again. The same goes for any other brasseries from the Dubillot group, since they use the same bottle-based wine-by-the-glass system — and apparently, the same lack of...