Restaurant in Paris, France
Serious French cooking, no blowout bill.
La Régalade Saint-Honoré is one of the more reliable value calls in central Paris: Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025, an OAD Casual Europe recommendation, and a 4.5 Google rating from over 1,000 reviews at the €€ price point. Book it for a weekday lunch when you want properly structured traditional French cooking without the commitment of a palace-restaurant evening.
If you have already done one big Parisian blowout this trip and want a second dinner that is genuinely good without the four-figure bill, La Régalade Saint-Honoré is the right call. It is also the answer when a well-informed friend asks where to eat near the Louvre without feeling like a tourist. At the €€ price point, with a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025 and an Opinionated About Dining Casual Europe recommendation in 2023, this is a restaurant that has been checked and checked again by people who take French cooking seriously.
The setting is a compact, warmly lit bistro on Rue Saint-Honoré, close enough to the 1st arrondissement's luxury axis to feel central without feeling precious. Tables are close together, the light is low without being moody, and the room reads as a working French restaurant rather than a designed one. That visual register matters: it tells you immediately that the kitchen is the point, not the decor. If you have been once and sat near the window, try requesting the interior section where the pace of service tends to be more attentive.
La Régalade Saint-Honoré operates in a format familiar to anyone who knows the original La Régalade on the south side of Paris: a set-price menu structure built around traditional French cuisine that progresses with the logic of a properly sequenced meal rather than a parade of disparate dishes. The editorial angle here is progression. The kitchen works in a register that respects the architecture of French dining — there is a beginning, a middle, and an end, and each course earns its position. That is less common at this price tier than it should be.
The cuisine type is listed as Traditional Cuisine, which at this address means technique-led French cooking without the molecular detours or fusion pivots that have become default at comparable price points. For a returning diner, the structure of the menu is the thing to pay attention to: how the richness builds, where acidity cuts through, and how the kitchen manages the transition from the starter register into the main. These are the markers of a kitchen that understands pacing, and they are worth noticing on a second visit when the novelty has worn off and you can assess the fundamentals.
The optimal window for La Régalade Saint-Honoré is a weekday lunch, particularly in autumn and winter when the menu format suits the weather and the room is not competing with the summer tourist density of the 1st arrondissement. At this price range, lunch here represents one of the more sensible value propositions in central Paris — you get the full weight of a traditional French meal at a fraction of what dinner at a comparable-quality kitchen would cost a few streets away. Weekend evenings work, but the room fills faster and the pace can be more compressed.
Reservations: Booking difficulty is rated Easy , the restaurant is bookable without the multi-week lead time required by Paris's more competed-for addresses, though a few days ahead is sensible for weekend slots. Budget: €€, making it one of the more accessible Michelin-recognised options in the 1st arrondissement. Dress: No formal dress code is listed; smart casual is the right read for this room , neither the full-formal required by the city's palace restaurants nor the hyper-casual of a neighbourhood wine bar. Address: 106 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris. Solo dining: The close-set tables and counter options at similar bistros in this format make solo dining comfortable here; you are unlikely to feel marooned the way you might at a larger formal room.
La Régalade Saint-Honoré holds a Google rating of 4.5 from 1,064 reviews , a meaningful sample at a score that reflects consistent execution rather than occasional brilliance. Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025 confirms the kitchen is cooking at a standard Michelin considers worth flagging, and the OAD Casual Europe recommendation adds a second independent data point from a source that specifically evaluates the casual end of serious dining. Together, these signals indicate a restaurant that over-delivers for its price tier.
For a fuller picture of where La Régalade Saint-Honoré sits in the Paris dining map, it is worth comparing it against other traditional-leaning addresses. Allard operates in a similar classic-bistro register with a longer history but a more tourist-facing room. Le Violon d'Ingres pitches slightly higher in ambition and price. Anecdote is another option worth considering if the neighbourhood suits you better. For something more contemporary in format, 19.20 by Norbert Tarayre and 20 Eiffel offer a different angle on modern Paris dining.
If you are planning a broader Paris stay, our full Paris restaurants guide covers the full range, and our Paris hotels guide, Paris bars guide, Paris wineries guide, and Paris experiences guide will round out the trip.
For context on what serious French regional cooking looks like at higher price tiers, Mirazur in Menton, Flocons de Sel in Megève, Troisgros in Ouches, Bras in Laguiole, Auberge de l'Ill in Illhaeusern, and Paul Bocuse in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or each represent a different expression of the French culinary tradition at the highest level. For traditional cuisine at the accessible end in other French regions, Cave à Vin & à Manger in Narbonne and Coto de Quevedo Evolución in Torre de Juan Abad offer comparison points for value-focused traditional cooking outside the capital.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Régalade Saint-Honoré | Traditional Cuisine | €€ | Easy |
| Plénitude | Contemporary French | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Pierre Gagnaire | French, Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen | Creative | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Kei | Contemporary French, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Unknown |
| Le Cinq - Four Seasons Hôtel George V | French, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Unknown |
Comparing your options in Paris for this tier.
Yes, it works well solo. The bistro format and compact room at 106 Rue Saint-Honoré make counter or small-table solo seating natural rather than awkward. At €€ pricing with a Michelin Plate, it is one of the more comfortable solo options in the 1st arrondissement — you get a full set-menu experience without the commitment of a multi-course tasting counter.
The menu follows a set-price format, so ordering is largely decided for you — commit to the menu rather than trying to pick around it. The kitchen works within traditional French cuisine, so expect classic bistro structure: starter, main, cheese or dessert. The format is the point; if you want à la carte flexibility, this is not the right address.
Dress neatly but there is no formal requirement implied by the €€ price point and bistro classification. Think put-together casual — jeans are fine if they are clean and the rest of your outfit is considered. This is not a jacket-required room; arriving overdressed would feel out of place with the neighbourhood-bistro tone.
The set-menu format here is where the value case sits. At €€ pricing with a Michelin Plate in 2024 and 2025 and an OAD Casual Europe recommendation, the price-to-quality ratio is the clearest reason to book. If you want a tasting menu with ambitious progression and wine pairings, look at Kei or Plénitude instead — La Régalade's format is about honest bistro cooking at an honest price, not a tasting-menu experience.
It works for a low-key celebration — a birthday dinner where the priority is good food and a relaxed atmosphere rather than ceremony. For a milestone occasion where the room, service theatre, and wine list need to match the moment, Le Cinq or Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen are more appropriate. La Régalade's strength is consistent, well-priced French cooking, not occasion dining.
For the same value-bistro lane, the original La Régalade on the south side of Paris is the closest comparison. If you want to spend more for a step up in ambition, Kei (French-Japanese, central Paris) or Plénitude are logical next moves. For the full-budget Paris experience on a special trip, Le Cinq or Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen sit at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
