Looking for recs in the 8th, although we are willing to travel. Ideally, modern French that won’t break the bank. We’ll mostly be 2-6 peeps, but there may be a dinner that requires room for as many as 10 – so any recs for a larger group at a place that won’t feel like a canteen would be wonderful.
TIA!
The 8th is not my favorite for food, bu I can recommend Pertinence and La Table d’Aki in the 7th, and Condesa and Restaurant Louis in the 9th.
It would help if we knew Linguafood’s definition of reasonable dinner tab. Your (bcc’s) list is excellent, at dinner will run around 100€ pp but roughly half at lunch at Condesa and Louis but with no discount at Aki. Also caveats on the ability these small rooms to handle a large group.
What part of the 8th ? It has several different quartiers and some are better for restaurants than others. Some neighbourhoods in adjacent arrondissements could also be more fertile and more convenient restaurant territory.
And “doesn’t break the bank” depends on how large or small your bank is. Please give us a budget ceiling.
Finding a place for a group meal is often a very fraught process of navigating various preferences and budgets. Usually, he lowest common denominator in the group prevails. Does the type and quality of the cuisine really matter for your group ?
Yes, the type and quality of cuisine matters to our group, which is why I posted here – if we were all okay with ending up just anywhere, we’d probably wing it 
As for our exact location, we are staying at citizenM hotel, just off of Champs-Élysées, but as I mentioned in my OP, we are willing to walk/metro it if other areas are better for dining. It’s a pretty small city after all.
Budget I would say maybe €100/person tops? Thank you again!
CitizenM, a good choice. I love the incongruity of such a modern and reputedly hip hotel planted in the remarkably un-cool Champs-Elysées area. But good luck on learning how to correctly pronounce “rue la Boétie”.
A warning. The Champs-Elysées area is often called “un désert gastronomique”. The reputation for over-priced mediocrity is well deserved, but there are exceptions. Unfortunately, the few restaurants that don’t cater to the masses of not very discriminating tourists tend to be closed on Sat + Sun. If you are in Paris for just a long weekend, oops.
My office is at the top of the Champs-Elysées and so my recs are the largely the result of expense-account lunches, and dinner may be different. Indeed, the Champs-Elysées is an area at the bottom of my list of where to go for a dinner to enjoy a less artificial version of “la vie parisienne”.
In order of the quality of the cuisine:
Le Gabriel in La Réserve hotel on avenue Gabriel… Michelin 2-stars, genuinely stylish, 88€ “bargain" lunch (dinner is 3 or 4 times the lunch price), about a 600-metre walk from your hotel;
Origines on rue Ponthieu… exceptionally good modern French star-less but star-worthy cuisine, 5-course tasting menu for 85€ for dinner or somewhat pricey à la carte menu but easy enough to get a meal at your price point if you are careful, clientele is a mix of politicos (Macron’s residence is just around the corner)/ PR types (of which I am one)/ fashionistas/the occasional celebrity chef, most conversations here sound like a conspiracy or a seduction and so not a place for a raucous group meal, and one of the few restos in this area that I enjoy for dinner as well as lunch, a 5- to 7-min walk from your hotel, and, like most good restaurants in this area, closed Sat + Sun.
Le Mermoz on rue Jean-Mermoz… very adventurous French-trained American chef, a relative bargain for this area, not sure of the current format for dinner but last time I was there it was wine-bar French tapas style, lunch is more conventional sit-down and usually fab, closed on Sat+ Sun, 500-metre walk.
Le Boudoir on rue Colisée… a resto/ wine-bar, 3 or 4 different spaces (including a cigar lounge), a sort of bistro with very good “cuisine bistronomique” as well as a wine-bar with platters of excellent charcuterie and cheese in the evening, my favourite venue for after-work get togethers for an apéro, 300 metres from CitizenM.
Bistrot Marloe, rue du Commandant Rivière/ rue d’Artois… maybe the most « fun » place on my short list, very good bistronomique cuisine, excellent value for such an over-priced area, a rather diverse menu which includes an totally awesome updated version of the traditional croque monsieur, could be suitable for a group meal during the week but closed on the weekend, 300-metre walk.
BTW, when will you be in Paris ? There are some weeks/ events that will seriously affect restaurant choices.
Oops. I just noticed you will be in Paris late May. A warning because Paris will be bursting at the seams on the last weekend of May when there will be a perfect storm of a huge influx of French provincial/ German/ Dutch/ Belgian/ etc tourists taking advantage of a public holiday/ long weekend, the French Open, and, most of all, the UEFA Cup finals at the Stade de France. The occupation rate for hotels in Paris that weekend seems to be nudging 100%. Be prepared for lots of drunk English football fans, especially on the Champs-Elysées and in Montmartre, les Grands Boulevards and Les Halles.
And resto reservations will be very difficult everywhere in Paris… it could turn out that it’s not a matter of what’s good and what’s not so good but of simply getting a table wherever.
I think the short answer is not to limit yourself geographically. There are so many great places to eat that and it’s such an easy city to traverse, you should widen the field. The only really interesting restaurant I’ve tried in the 8th that’s currently open is 110 de Taillevent, 110 being the number of wines available by the glass, with recommendations for each menu offering at various price points. It should run under100 euros unless someone starts ordering really pricey wines. I reviewed it on my blog.
Oh, my. I had no idea. Friends of mine are attending a conference that weekend, so I was just going to tag along for the fun part.
From the sounds of it we are likely better off trying to dine far, far away from hooligans & tennis tourists 
It’s always a good idea to spend as little time as possible in the Champs Elysées overpriced and very un-cool tourist bubble. Some much better and hip/ trendy neighbourhoods for restaurants/ hanging out = the Haut Marais in the upper 3rd, almost all of the 11th, the Aligre quartier straddling the 11th and 12th, Sud Pigalle/ SoPi centered on the rue Martyrs in the 9th, and Les Batignolles in the upper 17th. All less touristy and and less likely to be overwhelmed by drunk football fans and other tourists on the last weekend of May.
Here’s a copy and paste of some recs in Les Batignolles for another poster who was staying in another part of the 8th close to Parc Monceau and will be convenient (short taxi ride) for you as well:
"A challenge. It’s a very bon-bourgeois, worthy, high-rent neighbourhood that tends to favour trad restos serving safe old-fashioned “cuisine bourgeoise” to a clientele that is mostly middle-aged and older, and does not attract hot young chefs in search of trendy, hip, and/or foodie customers. I love the Parc Monceau and the ornate “grilles”/ wrought iron gates of some of its access streets as well as the two very good market streets (rues Poncelet and Lévis) in easy walking distance, but I usually go elsewhere for a meal.
Only Cèna on rue Treilhard (a 700 to 800 metre walk from rue Courcelles @ boulevard Courcelles) seems to qualify as the sort of restaurant you are looking for even if more elegant, polished and expensive than the usual “hot young chef” resto.
For the type of restaurant I cited in my previous post, you will probably have to commute by bus or taxi (or walk 20 to 25 minutes) to the much more lively and nearby Les Batignolles quartier: Le Truffaut on, surprise, rue Truffaut and Mova on rue des Dames. If you eliminate the hot young chef criteria for your chefs, the more established Coretta on rue Cardinet and Rooster on the same street are both excellent options for starless restaurants often serving star-worthy cuisine. Although I haven’t been since pre-Covid, Gare au Gorille and Bordeluche, both on rue des Dames, are also candidates.
*BTW, Les Batignolles is a great neighbourhood for a coffee, apéro, or cocktail before and after dinner/ lunch. especially around the Square des Batignolles (park) and the Eglise Sainte-Marie des Batignolles (church)"
Send a list of chosen restaurants to the concierge at CitizenM and let him/ her do the calling around for rezzies as soon as possible.
Thank you again! You’ve been incredibly helpful!
Re Champs-Elysées, I concur that there’s little to nothing of gastronomic (or much other) interest there, but don’t miss looking at the Dior building up near the Arc de Triomphe.
Or the art nouveau Feliz Potin building on rue de Rennes. We probably need a thread on architectural oddities and masterpieces one only has to glance up to see.
Alas, it is looking more and more like the trip isn’t happening. It seems damn near impossible to even get to Paris on the dates I’d planned.
Bummer, but at least both the train tix back from Paris as well as the hotel rez are refundable 
