Le Meurice Alain Ducasse

Dinner at one of the most beautiful restaurants in Paris.

Le Meurice is but one of world famous chef-restauranteur Alain Ducasse’s 31 restaurants, and accounts for two of his 18 Michelin stars. As our splurge meal in Paris, this restaurant had big shoes to fill.

It is impossible to talk about Le Meurice without discussing the decor. It must be one of the most beautiful, lavish dining rooms in Paris, if not the world; it is adorned with Renaissance-style murals and glittering crystal chandeliers. I felt like I was eating in Versailles. For some, this atmosphere of Parisian opulence might alone be worth the hefty price tag. (I confess to not being above a highly Instagrammable moment myself.) Want to feel like royalty for an evening? You’ve come to the right place.

The meal began with some unique amuses bouches — a caviar tartelette, a tomato jelly tartelette, fried chicken feet, and an oyster that arrived enrobed in a dramatic gale of herbaceous steam. These were enjoyable and quite different than the average amuse bouche.

We decided on the smaller of the two set menu options, the Menu Découverte, which involves a choice of three courses, cheeses, and dessert. My fiancé opted for the vegetarian version of the menu. Unfortunately, it seemed that the chef had not put much thought into this; the vegetarian dishes were simply the meat and fish dishes but with the protein removed. The result was a few vegetable-forward dishes that were tasty and interesting but notably lacking.

I chose lightly cooked sea bream, crispy lobster, and roast chicken for my three courses. The sea bream was almost raw, just the way it should be, and balanced by fresh, tart flavors. The crispy lobster was fried in tapioca and was indeed satisfyingly crispy, but overall not particularly interesting. The chicken was served with eggplant and aioli, which added a necessary additional acidity and savoriness to the perfectly moist chicken breast. These dishes were all good, but I don’t think I’ll remember any of them a couple weeks from now, which I find to be the mark of a truly exceptional meal.

The cheese course may have been the highlight of the meal. Before the steel and glass cheese trolley rolled around to our table, we were each given a slice of a mild sheep’s milk cheese that might have been the best cheese I’ve ever tasted — it was certainly my favorite over what I chose from the trolley, a sharp Roquefort and a funky Camembert that were both delicious but nothing new flavor-wise. The cheese was a perfect addition to a meal that was generally light and not very rich; had the savory courses been heavy and indulgent, gooey hunks of Brie would have been pretty difficult to choke down.

For dessert, I opted for a raspberry tart with vanilla gelato while my fiancé ordered the “Madagascar vanilla bean”, which involves vanilla pastry cream and wafers atop the eponymous bean. Both were very good; famous pastry chef Cédric Grolet seems to have free reign, and his work shines.

While this meal was technically excellent and we don’t have many actual complaints beyond the half-assed vegetarian options, it didn’t blow us away — and with that price tag, it should have.

I have yet to try many comparably high-end restaurants in Paris, so I can’t confidently recommend an alternative. I did have a wonderful meal at Le Cinq some years ago, and I would venture to suggest that your Euros would be better put toward something like that.

TL;DR: WHAT WE ATE

Loved: cheeses

Liked: sea bream, crispy lobster, chicken, raspberry tart, vanilla bean dessert

Should have skipped: vegetarian menu