What It’s Like to Eat at Septime in Paris

Getting a reservation at Septime in Paris is a challenge that requires an equal combination of good timing and good luck. But is dining at Bertrand Grébaut’s popular neo-bistro worth the extra effort?

We’re not far from the mark when we jokingly refer to Septime as the hottest ticket in town. Despite the neo-bistro’s compact size and streamlined Nordic decor, an enormous number of diners vie for the relatively small number of lunch and dinner reservations available for Septime’s weekday meals.

We understand the competition from personal experience – it took us three days of trying to get a reservation. You see, Septime may open tables 21 days in advance, but you can’t just wait until midnight to snag a table…

Instead, you have to jump on the website at just the right time of day to be ‘privileged enough’ to score a resy. After fortuitously visiting the website at the exact right moment, we scored a 1pm lunch reservation exactly three weeks before the last day of our Paris trip. Just five minutes later, there was nary a reservation to be found.

Brief History of Septime in Paris

After more than a decade, Septime has transitioned from rebellious upstart to become a major player in the Paris restaurant scene. But, to be honest, despite its originally edgy location in the 11th arrondissement, Septime had culinary chops before both the restaurant and its neighborhood became trendy.

Chef Grébaut brought all of those experiences to the table at Septime, a restaurant that seems to get more inspiration from Noma and other Copenhagen restaurants than it does from its Paris brethren. Beyond its simple decor, Septime sources more than 90% of its ingredients from within France with a focus on vegetables, whole animals and natural wine.

Our Lunch at Septime

Promptly seated when we arrived, our meal flowed at a rapid pace that was more New York than Paris. Throughout the lunch, we barely put down our utensils before the next course arrived at our table. The speed was most apparent when it came to our wine pairing.

We don’t usually opt for wine pairings but we went for this one based on its mix of unique natural wines produced both within France and as far away as Georgia. However, considering the lightning speed of the meal’s pace, we would have been happier savoring a full bottle. Plus, a bottle would have been less expensive.

Granted, we’re not fast drinkers but we would have liked to have finished our pricey glasses of wine before the next course arrived. And the way our final two glasses of dessert wine (Mémoire from the Jura) were whisked away before we could finish them was inexcusable. Yes. There were plenty of diners still in the dining room and after committing 90€ between the two of us for the wine pairings, we would have preferred to enjoy every last sip.

To be clear, we can’t fault any of the food we ate during our meal. While no dish was magnificent, a couple dishes reached great status, specifically the previously mentioned beetroot as well as cuttlefish served with dan dan sauce and crispy onion bits.

The service issues weren’t related to language since Septime’s servers all spoke better English than we speak French. We couldn’t help but hear more than a few American accents in the dining room as well as among the servers and in the kitchen.

The servers just weren’t interested in taking the time to explain the dishes or even tell us what they were without us asking multiple times. Perhaps they should have given us a list of dishes either before or after our meal since none of the food was listed or described in the menu.

Beyond the Food and Wine at Septime

Dining at Septime is a score for food travelers who want to experience an affordable meal at a Michelin starred restaurant in Paris. But, frankly, we’ve had better neo-bistro food at Le Chateaubriand and Pierre Sang without having to watch their reservation pages like we were waiting for a release of Hamilton tickets in 2015.

We understand why Americans want to eat at Septime. The neo-bistro has star power. Plus, speaking French is far from mandatory since the staff all speak English. But, considering the allure of wanting to eat someplace truly ‘Parisian’, we can’t quite embrace the attraction ourselves.

Original Publication Date: March 14, 2022