How to Avoid Tourist Food in Paris: What Chefs, Locals, and Professional Eaters Wish You Knew

No beret, Gauloise or moody frown needed to eat like a Parisian—but you do need sharper instincts. We asked chefs, locals, and professional eaters for their bluntest advice on how to avoid tourist food in Paris. Because trust us—it’s not just about overpaying. It’s about missing out on what makes Paris taste like Paris.

The Harsh Reality of Tourist Paris

Paris is delicious. But not every croque monsieur or carafe de vin is created equal. Behind the postcard-perfect facades and fairy-lit terraces, too many visitors get suckered into tired menus, overpriced mediocrity, and food that has more to do with TikTok trends than terroir.

This isn’t a new thing in Paris. In the early 19th century, Francis Hervé, in his 1842 guide “How to Enjoy Paris,” cautioned travelers about the allure of certain establishments:

The stranger should be cautious of those splendidly furnished shops, whose magnificence is too often a snare for the unwary.

Francis Hervé – “How to Enjoy Paris” 1842

This early observation highlights a timeless challenge for visitors: distinguishing authentic Parisian experiences from those designed merely to captivate tourists.

So I asked the people who know best—chefs from Michelin-starred kitchens and no-nonsense journalists who eat for a living—how to avoid tourist food in Paris and taste the real city.

Their answers? Honest, opinionated, and exactly what you need before your next reservation.

Voices From the Industry: What to Look Out For

“Fake flowers = fake French food.”

Sous Chef at a Parisian palace wishing to remain anonymous

In six words, that quote says it all. Parisian restaurants with more effort in the decor than the damn food? Avoid. If the flowers adorning the outside of the restaurant (or on the table) are plastic, odds are the boeuf bourguignon came from a microwave. Even the Mairie de Paris has started cracking down on the epidemic of fake flowers suffocating the city’s façades—proof that too much faux is never a good sign. Read more.

Léo Pajon, food journalist at Le Monde, encourages diners to be just a bit more observant before sitting down and ordering.

He pinged me this gem on Instagram:

“Take a look at the bread on the table… standardized bread (a soft industrial navette, shaped like a smooth dinner roll) is a clear red flag.”

Léo Pajon, Journalist

Every Parisian knows—when even the bread is joyless, the rest of the meal rarely redeems itself.

While some of my friends at the upper echelons of French gastronomy were understandably lying low post-Michelin mayhem—burnt out, hungover, or just wisely avoiding another press mention—one of them slid into my DMs with a quote too good not to share (still anonymous, of course)

“The more effort you put into looking for the best places by reading reviews, the better you will eat.”

This isn’t just about scrolling Tripadvisor. It means digging a little, reading between the lines, trusting the low-lit bistro without a flashy sign if it smells like garlic and butter from the street. For extra help, we’ve rounded up our favourite chef-approved guides and critic’s to follow here.

Journalist and Author, of a rather delicious billet-doux to “Le Bœuf Bourguignon” Matthieu Aussudre took seconds to respond to me when I asked him if he had any tips for visitors on how to avoid tourist food in Paris. Despite the falsely advertised grumpy disposition of the Parisian, trust the locals he told me.

“Il faut faire confiance aux Parisiens et ne pas hésiter à leur demander conseil. Ils ne sont pas si terribles 😉”

Matthieu Aussudre, Journalist

And when asked, well how can a tourist do that?

He just responded with:

“Bonjour Monsieur (ou Madame), quel est le meilleur restaurant du quartier s’il vous plaît ?”

Be brave visitors to the town of lights.

Ask the locals.

The real ones. The old lady at the market. The waiter who looks like he hasn’t smiled since 1997.

They’ll tell you where to go—and more importantly, where not to.

And for the more introverted or Reddit-inclined, the r/ParisTravelGuide subreddit is a goldmine of brutally honest advice and local tips.

I caught up with Cedric, Walking Tour Guide at ParisBsides—arguably the best off-the-beaten-track walking tours Paris has to offer.

His business was born out of a genuine passion for the city and his stellar contributions to the Reddit thread mentioned above. The first thing that came to his mind?

“The label ‘fait maison’ doesn’t necessarily mean it’s prepared in an artisanal way—only that it was made from non-processed produce.”

Even I was surprised to hear that unscrupulous restaurant owners can legally slap this on their menu while at the same time using processed food. But as Cedric explained, the law allows establishments to self-award this label based on criteria far looser than what most tourists would imagine.

“I can imagine in the mind of tourists, they picture old-fashioned, slow-cooked meals when they see ‘fait maison’.”

[Editor’s note: the ‘fait maison’ label has been controversial since its introduction in 2024. While it’s meant to promote transparency, the legal definition allows significant shortcuts that might disappoint purists.]

Cedric also reminded me that eating like a Parisian is about far more than just the plate.

“For many people, it’s a ritual to go to the bistro. The local bistro offers more than a meal—it’s a social experience: watching people’s behavior, seeing their daily food habits, listening to neighborhood conversations. The joy of Paris is often found in simplicity, not gastronomy.”

How to Avoid Tourist Food in Paris

Forget guidebook fluff—here’s how to actually avoid tourist food in Paris, straight from people who live and eat here daily:

• If the menu is laminated, bilingual, and has pictures—run. It screams bulk-frozen and reheated.
• Avoid anywhere that lists more than 25 dishes. You’re not at a buffet. You’re at a trap.
• Bread baskets shouldn’t be cold and chewy. If they are, so is the kitchen’s soul.
• Ignore the word “authentic” on signs. Real places don’t advertise their Frenchness—they live it.
• If the waiter’s trying to upsell anything, you’re in a tourist trap. French waiters aren’t trained to sell—they’re trained to serve. In a good restaurant, the food speaks for itself.
• Terraces on main tourist drags = overpriced, indifferent, tired plates. If the view’s better than the smell, it’s a warning.
• If you’re being waved in or barked at from the street, turn around. No Parisian has ever been lured into a good restaurant this way.
• Look around—are there locals? Office workers? Families? No? Move on.
• Menus with ‘truffle’ everything? It’s not something I’ve personally noticed en masse—but worth approaching with caution. When it’s overused, especially on cheap menus, it’s usually synthetic oil rather than shaved truffle. If it smells more like perfume than fungus, you’re being played. Want to go deeper? Learn to spot the tells. Trust your nose. Trust your gut. And maybe—just maybe—trust a chef when they say, “If it smells like Instagram, it tastes like disappointment.”

And here’s a dead simple trick locals swear by: walk two blocks. Just two -sometimes three – blocks away from any major tourist attraction—Notre-Dame, Sacré-Cœur, the Louvre—and suddenly the menus get shorter, the prices get lower, and the food gets real. Find the side street where the lunch crowd isn’t holding maps—they’re holding conversations.

For even more tips on sidestepping the tourist traps and eating well, explore these in-depth guides:

• How to Find Great Restaurants in Paris
• How to Find Real Local Food in Paris

They break down what to look for, what to avoid, and how to eat like someone who actually lives here.

Final Bite: Where the Real Food Hides (and Why It’s Worth the Effort)

Don’t come to Paris for a checklist. Come to get lost—in side streets, in smells, in conversations over a glass of something local. The best bites aren’t on maps.

Head away from the centre. Look for places closed on weekends or always full on Tuesdays. Trust your instincts. Or trust mine.

The magic of eating in Paris isn’t found in Instagrammable plates or five-star ratings. It’s in the unexpected: the crust of a perfect baguette still warm, the waiter’s raised eyebrow when you order your third carafe (not the wrong bottle), the tart you didn’t mean to buy but couldn’t resist.

Real food is intimate. Emotional. A little chaotic. Just like this city.

If you want specific suggestions to dig deeper, check out these:

• Self-Guided Food Tours in Paris
• Eating Out With Kids in Paris
• Chef’s Picks: Most Delicious Things to Do in Paris in 2025

Got a Paris food myth you’d love to bust? Drop it in the comments or send it my way. And if you’re ready to taste the real deal, check out one of our food tours at eatlikethefrench.com.

Chef Tris

Food Tour Guide

From the bustling streets of Paris to the heat of a professional kitchen, my life has always revolved around food. A Brit who moved to France at 16, I trained as a chef in a Parisian palace kitchen at 18 and have spent decades cooking, eating, and living like the French.

By day, I run kitchens and events, but Eat Like The French is my side hustle—a way to share my passion for French food through writing and food tours. After a detour into tech recruitment, I returned to what I love most: cooking and storytelling—one dish, one tour, and one bite at a time.