Leinani S.
Yelp
First off, this restaurant is right on the Champs-Elysées within sight of the Arc d'Triomphe, so it is extremely popular, busy and slammed with tourists. It's also expensive, although comparatively speaking, it's in the same price range as other restaurants along the Champs-Elysées. Still, I'm talking $$$-$$$$ prices here. You have been warned.
The restaurant is lovely with an Art Deco feel and a large outdoor seating area as well as a large dining area indoors. It's attached to a Drugstore concept shop, and this is where you enter. Just take the first left after you come in. We were greeted immediately and, because it was the middle of lunchtime and we didn't have a reservation, we were offered a choice of seats either at the counter in front of the kitchen or at a table in the bar area. We chose the bar area so that we could have an actual table. Plus the banquette sofa looked super comfy (and it was!).
The menu is uniquely arranged. There's a small bites section, a full lunch section, an afternoon tea section and a "drugstore" section with ice creams and other fountain type items. The ice creams sounded great since it was pretty hot out, so we opted for a couple of items from the small bites menu and went for the sundaes. The sandwiches were plain ham and butter and it was an entire baguette! Huge! The sundaes seemed pricey but when they arrived we realized why... they're enormous! Seriously, they came in enormous bowls that could hold their own as centerpieces on most tables. I chose the fresh berries sundae and it was heaped with flavorful fresh raspberries, blueberries and strawberries, most of which were covered by mounds of fresh whipped cream. The ice creams were strawberry, raspberry and another berry and they were incredible creamy and delicious. The chocolate sundae however, was the clear winner, it was every chocolate thing you can imagine. Brownies on the bottom, layers of ice cream, thick fudgy syrup, heaps of whipped cream and lots of decorative and delicious chocolate pieces.
Luckily we were hungry. It was a whole lot of deliciousness.
The only downside - sitting in the bar area we didn't get much service past the initial delivery of the food and drinks. Our food came out very quickly, and then we were ignored. We had to flag down waiters for more water (which came quickly) and an extra spoon (which never came). It seemed like there weren't any waiters attached to the bar area and everything fell to the bartender, who was busy making drinks (as he should be). The rest of the dining area seemed to be receiving very attentive service, so I'm not going to detract a star, since we chose to sit in the bar area.
Best advice, and this applies to every restaurant in Paris, make a reservation. Then you will have a table waiting in your choice of location within the restaurant and great service.