Terminus Nord — Restaurant in Paris

Once upon a time you had ARRIVED when eating at the Terminus Nord whether coming or going. This place was it, the end point. A destination, terminus.

Still great to eat here but the wonderful 1920s railway posters have been purged, the decor cleansed, scrubbed out, stripped of character and the dining room shrunk. Where's the history and tradition? "That's all finished, " said a waiter. Yes, I asked him. He didn't seem proud. What a pity.

Having said all this, the Breton oysters (the best) are as beautifully shucked as ever, and only 21 bucks for nine - I got ten somehow. Soupes des poissons was excellent, at just €13. 'Rockfish', with good splash of sardines and a hint of pastis. Not at all a bisque. This is important because the two are too often confused. All washed down with a good bottle of white Côtes du Rhône. So. Pas mal tout de même.

But please bring back the cheese. D'antan the old Terminus had a great selection. I often went for a Livarot (a colonel like the classic cocktail dessert which still survives), because one could choose. Or just a simple chunk of Camembert with some nicely dressed mesclun. Now: it is brie with truffled mascarpone. Only that. Quel bordel.

With the desecration of the dining room and cheese board so has the wine list withered. Why?

Hey ho. The service remains a high point*. Thank god for that but please try and recover some of the glory. I have eaten here all my life - man and boy - and the new TN is much diminished. I miss it.

With an important caveat: if people want to speak English then, by all means, give them an English menu. If people talk to you in French, albeit with a foreign accent, give them a French menu. Have some respect, for your language and people who want to use it. The English menu is badly translated...

A very busy and popular Parisien bistrot that's right opposite the Gare du Nord. They even have a TV screen showing the trains departures board - nice touch.

It's a classically designed and furnished restaurant with customers tightly packed into its traditionally decorated interior. There's a constant flow of customers and the waiting staff, who appeared to be all men, being kept busy in their smartly dressed black suits.

We opted for the menu of the day. Onion soup and ravioli; small pasta parcels in a lovely rich creamie. The soup, decidedly average. For our mains we both opted for the belly pork, with a rich gravy/sauce and a large portion of fries. No vegetables, as is standard. The pork was nice & tender, though again I'd say that it was average. I've certainly had better.

My wife had a crème brûlée for her desert. It looked very good, and tasted very well too. We had a fruity carafe of the Cotes du Rhone. Our meal, just over €80.

The restaurant whilst of good size is made to feel quite small due to the tables being so tightly packed in, many diners, many travellers, with little or no space for suitcases or travel bags, compounding the feeling of being squeezed in like peas in a pod. The gentleman dining next to us sadly ended up wearing his espresso, as the waiter tripped as he brought it to the table, just missing me in the process. The following apology and interaction was rather humorous and didn't detract from our experience.

The service was busy and the restaurant had a real buzz about it, a busy buzz. I'd describe the restaurant as traditional and functional.

Level 9 Google reviewer; 900 plus reviews, 1.4 million views and over 12,000 photos with around 45 million views and still going strong 💪.

Check out my other reviews 🌟...

We came for dinner prior to catching the train back to London across the street. Wish we kept our reservation across town... (To level set, "we" includes 2 sisters and our mom).

The French onion soup is mostly bread (tastes like a wheat variety?) and bland. Macaroni is a generous portion with moderate mushroom flavor. Fish and chips is better tasting than it looks, although it was 2 small filets and double the chips desirable. Bass tartare could use some zest. Overall, portions seem inconsistent and nothing was remarkable, which may just be a preference for this establishment.

What really impacted the experience was service and atmosphere. From the front door, we felt unwelcome. Upon approach, the door man seemed reluctant to open the door. Confronting the awkward pause, we grabbed the door ourselves, stated we had a reservation, and moved on. From there our reservation could not be found, which we challenged with our email confirmation. (The restaurant was pretty dead so this seemed like an unnecessary effort, but other reviews mention similar occurrences). Eventually, we were escorted past every table and seated in the back corner of the restaurant. Interestingly enough, so did seemingly every other visually diverse group. I wondered if perhaps we all just happened to be the only people entering the restaurant for 30 minutes during peak dinner time... Upon a trek to the paper challenged toilets, I noticed that most of the restaurant had filled in that 30 minutes. Perhaps the staff resigned to our section requested their tables? 🤷🏽‍♀️

Based on location they will stay busy, but there are plenty of better options nearby - and that's...