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Empty Tables After Paris and Brussels Terror Attacks

Yannick Alléno at his restaurant in Paris, Pavillon Ledoyen, before opening for the day. To attract diners at lunchtime, he has introduced a slimmed-down menu.Credit...Ed Alcock for The New York Times

PARIS — Les Bouquinistes has long been a favorite luxury restaurant of Paris visitors. Set on a quay along the Left Bank, founded by Guy Savoy, a three-Michelin-star chef, it offers a warm welcome, a contemporary setting, a creative menu, prices that are not stratospheric and drop-dead views of the Seine and Notre-Dame.

But on a recent Thursday evening, this 50-seat food emporium was empty except for one couple at a table in front and a small group celebrating a birthday in a back room.

“It is fear of terrorism,” said Cédric Jossot, Les Bouquinistes’s manager. “We rely on tourists — Americans, Japanese — and they are not coming.”

Paris has been on edge for more than a year. First there were attacks against the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a kosher supermarket in January 2015 that left 17 victims and three jihadist gunmen dead. Then came much more deadly and extensive attacks in November that targeted a stadium, a concert hall and neighborhood bistros and bars, claiming the lives of 130. President François Hollande declared that France was at war and imposed a nationwide state of emergency that is still in effect.

Brussels was attacked in March; reports that those responsible had links to the November Paris attacks and had first wanted to attack Paris have left the impression that the city is not safe.

All of that, on top of broader economic trends that have depressed business in many luxury-oriented industries, has resulted in empty tables at some of the city’s finest and best-known restaurants. Lively bistros that cater to local French diners seem to be full; formal, expensive restaurants much less so.

“It’s a catastrophe,” said Yannick Alléno, another three-Michelin-star chef and one of the most innovative in Paris at Pavillon Ledoyen. “We try to stay positive and spread the message that Paris is a magical destination like always. Yes, we are at war against terrorists, but the entire world is at war against terrorists.”

To attract clients at lunchtime, Mr. Alléno has introduced a slimmed-down menu of no starter but a perfect main course: for example, a poached fillet of turbot in its juice; pearls of potatoes seasoned with dry fish skin; and cucumber ravioli with smoked cottage cheese. A spiced seaweed tea, bottled water and coffee are included but wine is extra. Yet at 72 euros, it is hardly a bargain for everyday diners.

And so the Paris restaurant universe has become more complicated. Luxury hotels are suffering from a downturn because of both fear of terrorism and an increase in short-term apartment rentals, which means fewer concierge restaurant referrals, according to Philippe Faure, the French foreign ministry’s diplomat in charge of promoting tourism. The state of emergency means that many foreign insurance policies will not cover business travelers to France, he said.

More foreign visitors who stay in rented apartments rather than hotels are following the lead of some Parisians who are using new high-quality meal delivery services or even hiring private chefs.

Michelin-starred restaurants, particularly those in luxury hotels, are suffering the most. “People walk in, see that the dining room is empty, and walk to the bistro across the street,” Mr. Faure said.

Alain Ducasse’s signature restaurant at the Plaza Athénée hotel, and Le Cinq, the luxury restaurant at the George V hotel run by the Four Seasons, both with three Michelin stars, are sometimes nearly empty. At 1:30 one recent lunch hour, the Plaza restaurant was serving only two tables of two people each; at the dinner hour one recent evening at Le Cinq, there were only two sets of diners.

“It’s creating an atmosphere of anxiety and stress for everyone — the chefs, the owners, the diners,” said François-Régis Gaudry, the dining critic for the weekly L’Express, who eats at Paris restaurants daily.

Mr. Gaudry said that during a recent lunch at Le Gabriel, the Michelin two-star restaurant of the luxury hotel La Réserve, he was stunned to see that only about a third of the tables were occupied; at Chez L’Ami Jean, a well-known bistro specializing in Basque cuisine that is featured in many American guidebooks and blogs, it was even worse. “I was there with an American food critic, and there was no one except us,” he said.

Restaurants that once had monthslong waiting lists, like Mr. Ducasse’s Le Jules Verne at the top of the Eiffel Tower, can now be reserved much more quickly, especially for lunch. Mr. Ducasse can partly cover his losses because he has several restaurants that cater to different budgets and different kinds of customers. Champeaux, his new brasserie at Les Halles, for example, has been full since it opened last month, he said. But he is distressed by the government’s repeated extension of a state of emergency.

“I was in New York after Sept. 11, and your mayor was perfect — he assured all of us with businesses there that life must and would go on,” he said. “This message of fear here in France is terrible for restaurants and for the whole economy.”

Other chefs are fighting back by slashing prices. Gilles Epié at the unstarred Citrus Étoile near the Arc de Triomphe has started an Internet campaign and is offering online advance reservations with a 30 percent discount off meals (but not wine) to keep customers coming. He had just visited Las Vegas and was struck that the restaurants built in the artificial city of Paris there were full. “So I’m telling everyone it’s time to come to Paris,” he said. “The real Paris.”

But for Mr. Faure, there is no choice except to wait it out. “It’s frustrating because it’s Paris, only Paris, that is suffering,” he said. “The rest of France — the mountains, the sea — are packed. But we can’t mount an argument that contradicts the official line that we are in a state of emergency because of the terrorist threat.

“There’s nothing to do — except to have a lot of patience.”

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section D, Page 7 of the New York edition with the headline: In Paris, Expensive Tables Sit Empty. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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