Unrated: This is a restaurant we want to re-visit before rating, or it’s a coffee shop, bar, or dessert shop. We only rate spots where you can eat a full meal.

Supérette is a vintage-inspired, Paris-meets-Passyunk wine bar, bottle shop, and all-day café from the team behind Good King Tavern and Superfolié. Alongside a deep lineup of French and natural wines, the menu features snackable, shareable plates, with buttery comté ravioli, octopus and merguez in a drinkable parsley sauce, and of course, cheese. Snag a sunshine yellow booth and a glass of the house rosé, scoop luxuriously buttery brie onto Metropolitan Bakery's baguette, and pretend you’re hanging at your friend’s pied-à-terre (just be sure to pick up Amora Dijon and Orangina on your way out).

If you're into meals that are as surprising as they are delicious, Provenance is well worth the price tag. The new Society Hill spot serves a $225 tasting menu that shows off 25-ish pristine French-Korean dishes. This is food in HD—you can taste every element of the lineup, which includes velvety uni with buttercup squash, ruby red bluefin tuna topped with foie gras and black truffle, and duck confit and unforgettable fresh corn polenta with pops of trout roe mixed in. It's definitely one to save for a special occasion, but dinner won't be boring. Provenance gets loud and lively thanks to Motown music, an open kitchen, and couples polishing off their wine pairings with fermented satsuma plums.

Parc is iconic. The long-running bistro has essentially fused with Rittenhouse Square itself, and it’s the city’s go-to restaurant for brunch, date night, or watching a Jack Nicholson lookalike order a grapefruit martini. You can’t go wrong with the roast chicken or the warm shrimp salad, but it’s their gruyere-topped French onion soup that's a non-negotiable. Plop down at the bar for a solo steak frites, or if it’s nice out, try to get a seat on 18th Street. Just don't settle for one of those dinky wooden tables across from the bathrooms where servers will forget you exist. What are you, a tourist?

This fun Rittenhouse restaurant comes from the same team as Her Place Supper Club, but it’s easier to snag a table at this louder, boozier spot. This is great news, since we can’t get enough of the stunning seafood towers, modern French mains (like the juicy lamb shoulder with stuffed morels), and caviar-topped everything. It works just as well for a martini-fueled group dinner as it does for a romantic night. No matter why you’re here, an order of the tangy pickled shrimp with ramps and saltines must be on the table.  

Just thinking of Café Lutécia gets French accordion music playing in our heads. The Fitler Square spot has been a neighborhood staple for decades, serving daytime classics like an airy quiche lorraine and a toasty croque madame. They have a number of good vegetarian options as well—we love the vegetarian chili made with French lentils, and the Parisi sandwich layered with eggplant, creamy mozzarella, olives, and basil. The room is usually busy with regulars enjoying a leisurely brunch, but the cafe au lait and warm chocolate croissant are worth waiting for (snag a seat on the sidewalk if you can). 

T-Pain. The Golden Bachelor. Beyonce’s "Jolene." No matter the category, we love a creative renaissance, and the same goes for Laurel on East Passyunk, an intimate French restaurant that went from a high-end tasting menu to a la carte. They still have the same elements: stellar (but never stiff) service, a chic interior, and inventive French dishes we can’t get enough of. The mirror-lined space is appropriate for a big deal date, but it’s still casual enough to sit at the bar by yourself and blend in. We’re always impressed by the originality of the ever-changing menu, but some of our all-time favorites include the boquerones on sourdough brioche, mussels with a paprika aioli, and scallops in an oyster cream sauce you’ll want to bottle.

At June, there’s a vintage rolling cart and porcelain tea set in the entry, and crystal chandeliers hang in every corner of the room. The Collingswood BYOB reminds us a bit of a Disney adaptation of a French restaurant, but instead of a candlestick serenading you, a server will joke about taking a swig of Grand Marnier and call you hun. It’s all of the charm and decadence you want from an upscale French restaurant without the pretension you don’t. They make done-up versions of classic dishes—like a rich foie gras with hints of cocoa, apple, and shiso—along with a few non-French cameos, like housemade spaghetti chitarra with crab.

East Passyunk’s Townsend is full of candlelight, white tablecloths, and the general feeling that someone might propose at any minute. The a la carte menu includes takes on French food, like roasted bone marrow with a crisp celery salad, escargot with buttery garlic risotto, and a perfectly cooked cote d’boeuf for two. Despite the formal dining room and excellent service, it’s totally laid back, making it one of our favorite spots for a special occasion. Bonus: the bar closes at 2am, so it’s a great place to seek out after dinner, or the three times a year you stay out past 1am.

Between the maps on the walls and the handwritten specials on the chalkboard, this casual Bella Vista restaurant feels like a Parisian antique shop that happens to serve good food. The neighborhood spot works great for casual Friday night dinner with friends or first dates on a weeknight. You’ll find bistro hits like steak frites, escargot, and all kinds of duck. Plus, they have an extensive wine list—after all, they own the wine bar upstairs, and a fantastic snacky wine bar in Rittenhouse (see below).

This is that aforementioned fantastic snacky wine bar. The thing about Superfolie in Rittenhouse is that you can be in and out within an hour and not look like a classless monster. The whole point is to enjoy a few drinks, some French-leaning small plates, and get the hell out (or hang around for several hours over steak tartare and tartines, but a full dinner is not on the docket). They carry over 70 bottles of wine, have a tight by-the-glass list, and the knowledgeable servers can help you out if tannins and terroir are not in your vocabulary.

Lacroix is an international—but heavily French—restaurant on the second floor of The Rittenhouse Hotel, and it is fancy with a capital F. Sommeliers whisper-talk about vine temperatures, dishes are adorned with French mother sauces, and chandeliers glow with both candles and bulbs. The room is admittedly stiff, but the food often makes up for the snooze. You’re going to have things like risotto of new potatoes with Kaluga caviar and chive that disintegrate in your mouth, perfect Parisian gnocchi with foie gras and trumpet mushrooms, and tender, nicely gamey quail with brussels sprouts. If you need a safe, luxurious place, this is it.