The 5 Bistro Montmartre You Can’t Miss in Paris
Montmartre has a bistro problem, and everyone who lives in the 18th knows exactly what it is: the closer you
get to Place du Tertre, the more likely the menu in the window is a laminated four-language card aimed at people
who will eat there once and never return. The good rooms are a street or two off that line — down the north
slope towards Rue Ordener, along the quieter end of Rue Lepic past the windmill, or tucked behind the tourist
current on Rue Poulbot itself. We went through 60 bistros and bistro-style restaurants with a Google Business
listing across Montmartre and the streets feeding it, and weighted each rating against how many people actually
left one, because 4.8 from a few dozen diners and 4.7 from eight thousand are not the same claim. Five came
out clearly ahead, and between them they cover the range of what “bistro” still means in Paris: a Mediterranean-leaning
neighbourhood gem at the foot of the butte, a bistro built as a shrine to the painter its street is named for,
a plain montmartrois bistro that has never needed to explain itself, a beef specialist that cooks on hot stone,
and — the one outlier here, and we’ll say so plainly — an all-day Art Deco bistro across town in Beaubourg.
Bistro L’Olivier, Rue Ordener
The highest-rated name on this list, and the one furthest from the postcard: Bistro
L’Olivier sits at 88 Rue Ordener, on the northern slope below the butte, well past the point where coach
tours turn around. 4.8★ from 2,774 Google reviews. It takes its name and its whole character from an olive
tree on the terrace, and the kitchen leans the way the tree does — French bistro technique with a Mediterranean
accent, hand-cut beef tartare, grilled Black Angus, escargots, a scallop risotto, and a truffled linguine that
exists so the vegetarian at the table isn’t handed a side salad and an apology. The room is small and softly lit,
and the restaurant describes itself, accurately, as a local gem rather than a destination. Open every day,
11:00 AM to midnight — the longest daily window of the four Montmartre entries here, and the only one that will
still seat you after a late show.
Le Poulbot, Rue Poulbot
Eight thousand two hundred and fifty-seven reviews at 4.7★ makes Le Poulbot
by far the most-visited room on this list, which is what happens when you are a genuinely good bistro a few
metres from Place du Tertre rather than on it. The name is not decoration: Francisque Poulbot (1879-1946) was the
illustrator who drew Montmartre’s poor children so memorably that “poulbot” became the word for them, and the
restaurant hangs his work on its walls and cooks escargots “façon Poulbot” underneath it. Twin brothers Thomas and
Mathieu Bellair, born in Venezuela, took the place over and rebuilt it in 2017 — the result calls itself a
“bistrot gourmand,” chic and bohemian at the same time, with a short menu that changes with what came in that
morning: duck confit with house fries, roasted sea bass with herb pesto, crème brûlée with tonka bean, natural
wines and a house pale ale. It is the priciest of the Montmartre four, and open daily, noon to 10:00 PM.
La Boîte aux Lettres, Rue Lepic
La Boîte aux Lettres is at 108 Rue Lepic, up at the top of the street where the
tourist flow has thinned to nothing and the Moulin de la Galette is essentially next door. Its website is
almost defiantly sparse — a menu PDF, a booking link, a phone number, and three words about itself: “bistrot
montmartrois.” That is the entire pitch, and 4.7★ from 2,590 reviews suggests it has never needed a longer
one. This is the entry on the list with the least story attached and the most straightforward proposition: a
neighbourhood bistro on the best-known street in Montmartre, at moderate prices, that locals kept rating highly
long after the crowds moved on to somewhere with better signage. One caution worth knowing before you walk up
the hill: Google currently lists it as open daily 11:00 AM to 10:30 PM, while the restaurant’s own site
advertises a considerably longer 9:00 AM to 2:00 AM day. Ring 01 42 51 76 84 before a very early or very late
visit rather than trusting either.
Sacrée Fleur Montmartre, Rue de Clignancourt
The specialist. Sacrée Fleur has been at 50 Rue de Clignancourt, at the foot of
the butte by Château Rouge, since 2010, and it does one thing with real conviction: beef, served on a hot stone
at the table, alongside a long list of French wines. 4.8★ from 3,689 reviews — the joint-highest rating
here, on a much larger base than L’Olivier’s. It is small enough that it says so on its own site, takes no group
over six, and opens dinner only, Monday to Saturday, 6:00 to 10:00 PM, closed Sunday. That is the tightest window
on this list by a wide margin, so it is the one to book around rather than fit in. The concept travelled better
than most: since 2017 the name has opened in Tokyo twice and in Karuizawa, all run from a partnership out of
this one small Paris dining room.
Chez Loulou, Beaubourg — the one that isn’t in Montmartre
Worth stating up front: Chez Loulou is at 63 Rue Rambuteau in the 4th, by the
Centre Pompidou — a good half-hour and a metro ride from the Sacré-Cœur steps. It earns its place here on the
strength of the bistro itself: 4.6★ from 4,366 reviews, and the only room on this list serving from
8:00 AM to midnight, every day of the week, which makes it the one you can walk into at any hour without a plan.
The building is a listed Art Deco monument, and the owner — Franck W. Felifel, “Loulou,” eldest of a family of
restaurateurs well known in central Paris — took it on explicitly to give the place its old brilliance back,
with Swiss designer Jérôme Liniger reworking the interior. The cooking crosses French bistro classics with what
the house calls Oriental generosity, drawing on Felifel’s Egyptian background, and the room bills itself as
“Le Bistrot des Arts,” running art shows and jazz nights alongside dinner. If Montmartre is where you’re spending
the day, treat this one as an evening on the other side of town rather than part of the same walk.
All five, on the map
The interactive map has all 60 qualifying bistros we found across Montmartre and
the surrounding streets, these five marked and numbered, and a button that hands the walking-and-metro route
between them straight to Google Maps on your phone.
Making a Montmartre bistro evening actually work
Two practical things decide whether this goes well. The first is booking: the four Montmartre rooms here are
small, Sacrée Fleur opens only for dinner and caps tables at six, and phone reservations in the 18th are often
handled in French and nothing else. If your French stops at bonjour, a handful of lessons on
Preply or italki aimed specifically at booking
a table and reading a chalkboard menu pays for itself within a week of a trip. The second is arriving with a
working phone — Montmartre is a hill of near-identical stairways and half these addresses are found by map, not
by memory — so a local eSIM from Airalo is worth arranging before you fly,
and a pre-booked transfer from Welcome Pickups removes the CDG-to-18th
question entirely. Paying is the quiet cost: card fees on every dinner, coffee and glass of wine add up fast over
a few days, and a Wise or Revolut card at the
real exchange rate is the simplest fix. And if dinner is the end of a full day out, Tiqets covers timed entry for the museums and monuments between here and the
Marais, so the daylight hours aren’t spent in a queue.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the best bistro in Montmartre?
By rating weighted against how many people left one, Bistro L’Olivier on Rue Ordener and Sacrée Fleur on Rue
de Clignancourt tie at the top with 4.8★ — L’Olivier from 2,774 reviews, Sacrée Fleur from 3,689. They
are answers to different questions, though: L’Olivier is an all-day Mediterranean-leaning bistro, Sacrée Fleur is
a dinner-only beef specialist. Le Poulbot’s 4.7★ comes off a far bigger base again, 8,257 reviews.
How do I avoid the tourist restaurants around Place du Tertre?
Walk two streets. Every Montmartre entry on this list is deliberately off the Tertre-to-Sacré-Cœur corridor —
Le Poulbot is closest and still tucked onto its own quiet side street, while L’Olivier and Sacrée Fleur are both
down at the foot of the butte on the northern side, where the clientele is largely local.
Do I need to book?
For Sacrée Fleur, yes — it is a small room, dinner only, Monday to Saturday, 6:00 to 10:00 PM, closed Sunday,
and it will not seat groups over six. The others are more forgiving, but all four Montmartre rooms are small
enough that a walk-in at 8:00 PM on a Saturday is a gamble rather than a plan.
Which of these is open latest?
Chez Loulou in Beaubourg, at 8:00 AM to midnight daily, though it is not in Montmartre. Of the Montmartre
four, Bistro L’Olivier runs 11:00 AM to midnight every day; Le Poulbot closes at 10:00 PM and Sacrée Fleur at
10:00 PM.
Is Montmartre expensive for dinner?
It splits. Google places Bistro L’Olivier, La Boîte aux Lettres and Chez Loulou in the moderate band, and
Le Poulbot and Sacrée Fleur in the expensive one — so on this list the two priciest rooms are the sit-down
dinner destinations, and the everyday bistros genuinely are everyday bistros.
- 1. Bistro L’Olivier — 88 Rue Ordener, 75018 Paris
- 2. Le Poulbot — 3 Rue Poulbot, 75018 Paris
- 3. La Boîte aux Lettres — 108 Rue Lepic, 75018 Paris
- 4. Sacrée Fleur Montmartre — 50 Rue de Clignancourt, 75018 Paris
- 5. Chez Loulou — 63 Rue Rambuteau, 75004 Paris