Pink Mamma

Pink Mamma is the flagship restaurant of the Big Mamma group and one of the most visually dramatic dining spaces in Paris. Located on Rue de Douai in the 9th arrondissement (South Pigalle), the restaurant spans five floors of a Haussmann building — each floor decorated differently, all of them spectacularly over-the-top, with plants, neon signs, painted murals and a top-floor greenhouse that floods the space with light.

For families, the visual theater of Pink Mamma does a lot of the work before the food arrives. Kids who are usually hard to corral at the table spend the first 10 minutes looking around open-mouthed. The food then has to live up to the setting, and mostly it does — the pastas are genuinely excellent, the pizzas are Neapolitan-style and good, and the desserts are worth saving room for.

Note that the building is multi-floor with stairs — not stroller-friendly in the traditional sense. A carrier for a baby or toddler is more practical here. For children who can walk independently (4+), it works fine.

Reservations are practically mandatory. Pink Mamma is one of the most reservation-sought restaurants in Paris. The Big Mamma website takes bookings — use it. Turning up without a booking for dinner means waiting an hour or more outside, which is hard with small kids.

The SoPi neighborhood has a lot going for it for families — good parks nearby, the 9th is walkable from Opéra and Montmartre.