Paris Insights - The Restaurant Review

Le Procope

posted March 24, 2025

13, rue de l’Ancienne Comédie

75006 Paris

Phone: 01.40.46.79.00

Metro Station: Odéon (Lines 4 and 10)

Type of cuisine: French

Days & hours of operation: Continuous service Monday to Sunday from noon until 12:00 a.m.

Credit card: Visa, Mastercard, American Express

We have not eaten at Le Procope in several years and were delighted to return for lunch recently.  After we checked our coats at the reception desk, we were escorted upstairs to a dining room called Salon Denis Diderot, where we were seated at a table for two.

The menu
The lunchtime menu gives a choice of three starters, three main courses, and three desserts for 32.50€.  However, we chose to order à la carte.  The carte offers ten starters ranging in price from 9.00€ to 22.20€, seventeen main courses from 23.50€ to 41.50€, and twenty-three desserts (of which one is a cheese plate) from 8.50€ to 15.50€.

The starter
For the starter, I ordered Soupe à l’oignon gratinée à la Parisienne and received a ceramic soup crock chock full of caramelized onions, bread, melted cheese, and broth.  The cheese formed a thick crust at the top.  Underneath the crust were bread and caramelized onions densely packed in onion broth.  It was a flavorful, hearty dish.

My partner requested Ravioles du Dauphiné Label Rouge, crème de Parmesan AOP, ciboulette.  She received a shallow dish roughly 5” in diameter filled with tiny ravioli covered with parmesan-laced bechamel sauce that had been lightly flamed to produce a light crust.  Sprinkled with chopped flat parsley, the ravioli were not served piping hot as she had hoped for, but she found it satisfying just the same.

The main course
For the main course I opted for the Traditionnel coq au vin “Ivre de Juliénas,” a chicken stew consisting of two generous morsels of chicken cooked in red wine and served piping-hot out of a large copper casserole.  Flavored with smoked pork belly and garnished with baby potato, pearl onion, flat parsley, sliced button mushrooms, and carrot, the dish was a delicious and hearty hunter’s meal. 

My partner selected Joue de bœuf braisé, lard fumé, champignons de Paris, oignons grelots, purée de pomme de terre au beurre.  The generous chunks of braised beef were served in a cast iron casserole in a rich, dark-brown gravy with pearl onions, chopped green onions, and smoked pork.  A rich purée of white potatoes was served in a small copper casserole alongside.  This dish was also delicious and hearty, and it was so copious that my partner took half of it home for consumption at a later time.

The bread
Slices of a loaf of fresh country bread were served alongside in a breadbasket.

The beverage
For the beverage accompaniment, I ordered a 33cl bottle of locally-brewed Paname IPA Barge du Canal beer.  This brew had a deep amber color and expressed notes of cereal and citrus.  It went well with the tasty and filling dishes that I ordered.

My partner opted for a glass of Château Ollieux Romanis Grand Vin du Languedoc 2022.  With a red-violet robe, it had aromas of ripe red fruit and complex flavors that began with pepper, followed by red fruit, and finished with candied fruit.  It worked well with her starter and her main course. 

The dessert
For dessert, I sprang for the Limoncello, sorbets citron et mandarine de Sicile, mini baba au limoncello, zestes de citron, crème fouette, tuile croustillante.  This turned out to be an elaborate dish consisting of one scoop each of lemon and mandarin sorbet, a limoncello-soaked mini-baba, and copious amounts of whipped cream.  I particularly enjoyed the sharp flavors of the lemon sorbet and the limoncello-soaked mini-baba.

My partner opted for Fior di Latte and received a large ice cream dish containing a generous scoop of the rich milk-based ice cream.  In her opinion, fior di latte is the purest flavor of ice cream available, and she reveled in every spoonful of this dessert.

The bill
The bill for two, including one glass of wine, one bottle of beer, two starters, two main courses, and two desserts, came to 135.00€.

The service
The service, which was delivered by multiple staff members, was friendly and efficient.

The ambiance
The restaurant is an elegant place that evokes the 18^th-century establishment it must have been when it was frequented by French Enlightenment intellectuals such as Diderot, Rousseau, and American polymath Benjamin Franklin.

The head waiter looked dapper in his suit, and the waiters looked handsome in their black vests and starched white aprons.

No music played while we dined.  The level of conversation in the dining room was moderate.

The menu is in French.  English is spoken.

The restaurant can accommodate diners in wheelchairs on the ground floor.  There is a gentle slope at the entrance and a WC on the ground floor that can accommodate wheelchairs.

It was fun dining in what I imagined to be the pre-Revolutionary ambiance of this historic restaurant.  Travelers to Paris who enjoy seeking out historic places to visit will enjoy dining here, too.