Clamato

The Verdict

If you're deciding between Clamato and one of the 11th arrondissement's many casual bistros for a seafood-focused dinner, Clamato is the clearer choice. Bertrand Grébaut's compact, no-reservations-style seafood spot on Rue de Charonne holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand for 2025 and appears on the Opinionated About Dining Casual Europe list for the third consecutive year, most recently ranked #123 in 2025. At the €€ price point, that's a measurable return on an evening out. If you want a full-service white-tablecloth seafood experience with advance booking, look at Dessirier or Brasserie Lutetia instead. But for precise, ingredient-led seafood cooking in a casual room without a three-figure bill, Clamato is among the most credentialled options in Paris right now.

Portrait

Clamato occupies a narrow, unfussy room on Rue de Charonne in the 11th, the visual experience reflects exactly what the kitchen is doing: clean, spare, focused. The plates arriving at the counter and tables carry the aesthetic logic of a kitchen that has edited its ambitions down to what it does leading; shellfish, raw preparations, simply treated seafood handled with technical care. This is not a room designed to impress with grandeur. It is designed to get out of the way of the food.

The cuisine type is listed simply as seafood, but that undersells the precision at work. Grébaut's approach at Clamato sits at the intersection of French product discipline and a lighter, more acidic cooking register that draws on natural wine culture and the kind of produce-first thinking that has defined Paris's better casual kitchens since the early 2010s. Where restaurants like La Cagouille and La Méditerranée anchor themselves more firmly in classical French seafood traditions, Clamato operates with a looser, more contemporary hand. The results have been consistent enough to earn back-to-back-to-back OAD recognition across 2023, 2024, 2025, which is not a coincidence. That kind of repeat ranking reflects a kitchen maintaining standards rather than riding an opening wave.

For a special occasion dinner where the experience needs to feel considered without being stiff, Clamato works well for two. The room is intimate, the food is precise enough to merit genuine attention, the price point means you're not spending energy justifying the bill. It's better suited to a date or a dinner with someone whose food preferences you know well than to a corporate meal or a large group celebration. The energy in the room is relaxed but engaged. Expect fellow diners who are there specifically for the food rather than the occasion.

Booking is rated easy. Clamato operates lunch and dinner daily, opening at 12pm for lunch (last orders 2:30pm) and 7pm for dinner (last orders 10:30pm), seven days a week. That consistency makes it more accessible than many Paris restaurants of comparable credential, which often close Sundays or Mondays. If you are planning around a Paris weekend, that Sunday availability is a practical advantage over competitors. For seafood at a similar quality level on the Left Bank, Le Jour du Poisson is worth comparing on availability and format. For those visiting from outside Paris and exploring the broader French fine dining register, destinations like Mirazur in Menton or Flocons de Sel in Megève offer a different scale of ambition, but Clamato remains the most practical credentialled seafood option within the city at this price tier.

For context, many Paris restaurants with similar award profiles show lower public ratings due to inconsistency between visits. Clamato's floor appears reliably high.

For a wider view of Paris's seafood options and the city's full dining range, see our full Paris restaurants guide. If you're building a trip itinerary, our Paris hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide are useful starting points. For France's broader seafood tradition in a more formal register, the kitchens at Auberge de l'Ill in Illhaeusern and Troisgros in Ouches represent the classical benchmark against which Clamato's more casual contemporaneity becomes legible. If you are comparing European seafood-focused kitchens more broadly, Gambero Rosso in Marina di Gioiosa Ionica and Alici on the Amalfi Coast occupy different but related territory worth knowing.

Ratings and Recognition

• Michelin Bib Gourmand; 2024 and 2025
• Opinionated About Dining Casual Europe, #128 (2023), #97 (2024), #123 (2025)

Booking and Practical Details

Clamato is at 80 Rue de Charonne, 75011 Paris. It is open every day of the week for both lunch (12–2:30pm) and dinner (7–10:30pm). Booking difficulty is rated easy, which makes this one of the more accessible credentialled seafood addresses in Paris. Given the OAD ranking and Bib Gourmand status, that accessibility is worth acting on: visit during shoulder hours (early lunch, weeknight dinner) if you want the quietest room. The €€ price range positions this well below the cost of comparable-quality formal seafood dining in Paris. No dress code data is available; the casual format and neighbourhood setting suggest smart-casual is appropriate. For further Paris planning context, see our Paris wineries guide for natural wine pairings in the same neighbourhood register.