Are These Classic Paris Spots Worth The Hype? - Paris - The Infatuation

"Verdict: This postcard café is a Disneyfied version of Parisian café life, complete with a solid cup of hot chocolate. But there are far better places serving chocolats chauds, with warmer service, fewer tourists, and way more soul. ​​Generations before Emily in Paris gave an extra boost to this iconic all-day café, it was a gathering place for legendary existentialists, surrealists, novelists, and resistance activists like Sartre, Picasso, and Camus. Today, their offering is deliberately simple: coffee and hot chocolate served with a wine glass overflowing with whipped cream, plus caesar and niçoise salads, club sandwiches, and omelets that come with a hefty price tag. Real Paris, this is not. On any given day, you’ll find a handful of Parisians scattered throughout the Art Deco dining room (and almost exclusively there, not on the terrace) with a pot of tea or wine, but it’s the tourists who keep it in business. Servers exchange knowing smirks and whisper whenever a doe-eyed foreigner walks in with inflated expectations and cash to drop, pleading for a terrace table to live out their fantasy. As long as you know you’re paying for the legend more than the quality, or the welcome, go and live it up." - lindsey tramuta