What should I eat first, as a newcomer?

Cassoulet, once, in winter, at Le Colombier or Chez Emile. Then L'Entrecôte, once, for the ritual rather than the food. After that the interesting eating in Toulouse is everything that is not southwestern: Algerian, Alsatian, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, all of it above.

For dinner at the small places, yes, a day or two ahead. Lunch is usually easier. L'Entrecôte takes no reservations at all, which is why the 7pm trick matters, and Le Colombier, Pizza Léo and several others close two days a week, so check before crossing the city.

How do I keep the bill down?

Eat at lunch and take the formule, ask for a carafe d'eau rather than bottled water, and use the places that let you bring your own wine. Wine and bottled water are where a modest bill becomes an immodest one, and the free carafe is a legal obligation rather than a favour: the rules are in How a French table works above. For feeding yourself the rest of the week, see Everyday Food .

Coming. This page opens with the eating, and the drinking list is being put together by our members the same way. Until it lands, Biodivin above is the wine answer, and the WhatsApp group is where people say where they are tonight.

What about concerts and gigs?

Different page. Bars, cafés and restaurants are here; concert halls, theatres, cinemas, museums and festivals are on Leisure & Culture , together with the cards and free days that make them affordable.

Survival Guide

Restaurants & Bars

Name: AEGEE Toulouse
Address: 17 rue Sainte Catherine, Toulouse, 31400, FR

This is not a scraped list. Every address below is one our members go back to, with what makes it worth the trip. Eating out in Toulouse is cheaper than you fear if you go at lunch and know where to point yourself.

Before you book

Addresses chosen by AEGEE Toulouse members and last reviewed in August 2026. Opening hours change; the restaurant's own page is always the authority.

LunchThe same kitchen costs far less at midday than at night

IncludedService is in the price, so a tip is optional

7pmGo this early at L'Entrecôte and you skip the queue

2Places below are AEGEE partners, marked as such

How to eat out without overpaying

Take the lunchtime formuleWeekday lunch is priced far below dinner, as a formule pairing a starter with a main or a main with a dessert. Same kitchen, same plate, a fraction of the bill. Eat your big meal at midday like everyone here does, and keep evenings for the places where the room is the point.

Book, or arrive earlySmall Toulouse restaurants fill up and many close two days a week. Reserve where you can. Where you cannot, at L'Entrecôte for instance, arriving at opening time is the whole trick: at 7pm you walk in, at 8pm you stand on the boulevard.

Use what students getSome places run a student menu, others let you bring your own bottle, which removes the biggest markup on the bill. Chez Carmen keeps a permanent student menu for AEGEE members, and Toutateam, another of our partners, opens discounts across a range of local venues.

How a French table works

Ask for a carafe d'eauTap water is free, and restaurants and bars have to tell you so visibly, on the menu or on a sign. Say une carafe d'eau, s'il vous plaît and it arrives with glasses. Bottled water is a paid extra you never have to accept.

The price is the priceDisplayed prices are what you actually pay, because taxes and service are included in them and the usual dishes and drinks have to be priced legibly from outside the door. You can decide before you sit down. A tip is optional and never expected; rounding up for good service is the local habit, not fifteen percent.

Eat at French hoursKitchens serve lunch from around midday to 2pm and dinner from about 7.30pm, and between those windows most places genuinely stop cooking. Turning up at 3pm hungry is the classic newcomer mistake. Brasseries are the usual exception, which is exactly why Le Pyrénéen is on the list below.

Bread, and the order of thingsBread comes with the meal, free, and sits on the tablecloth rather than a plate. Cheese arrives before dessert, not after. Coffee comes at the end, alone, never alongside the food, and asking for it with the meal will get you a look.

What Toulouse eatsCassoulet, the slow bean and duck stew the city argues about with Castelnaudary and Carcassonne, saucisse de Toulouse coiled in every butcher's window, duck in all its forms, and the violet, which turns up in sweets and liqueur. Try the cassoulet in winter, when it makes sense.

Where our members eat

Chez CarmenAEGEE Toulouse partner, with a permanent student menu for our members. The restaurant of the old abattoirs quarter, in the same family since 1956, serving generous southwestern cooking of the kind that has almost disappeared elsewhere.14 avenue Maurice Hauriou, 31000 Toulouse
L'EntrecôteA Toulouse institution to do at least once. One formula, no choice and no reservations: walnut salad, sliced beef in the sauce, and as many chips as you can eat. Go at 7pm sharp, or queue on the pavement with everyone who did not.15 boulevard de Strasbourg, 31000 Toulouse
Le ColombierOne of the best cassoulets in Toulouse, in a dining room that looks the part. The house has been serving since the 1870s and the recipe has not moved in over a century. Closed Sunday, and dinner only on Monday and Saturday.14 rue Bayard, 31000 Toulouse
Chez EmileAnother cassoulet institution, on the prettiest square in the city. This is also the place to try frogs' legs and snails if you are going to try them anywhere.13 place Saint-Georges, 31000 Toulouse
Le PyrénéenThe classic Toulouse brasserie, open since 1925, art deco room and a central bar, serving seafood, grills and brasserie standards all day. Useful precisely because it does not close between services.14 allées du Président Franklin Roosevelt, 31000 Toulouse
MazzolinaThe Italian address that Italians here validate, which is the only review that counts. Pizzeria and restaurant sit almost next door to each other on rue de la Colombette.16 rue de la Colombette, 31000 Toulouse
La KasbahAlgerian, couscous and tajines, in a room decorated to match, in the Arnaud Bernard quarter. Generous plates and a complete change of scene from the southwestern places above.30 rue de la Chaîne, 31000 Toulouse
Vents d'EstAlsatian cooking in the southwest, and the place to try a flammekueche, the thin wood-fired tart with cream, onion and bacon. Choucroute and baeckeoffe too, for a winter evening.17 rue de la Colombette, 31000 Toulouse
Crêperie Le MenhirAmong the best Breton galettes in the city, buckwheat, cider and Celtic music included. Metro B to François Verdier.14 rue du Pont Guilheméry, 31000 Toulouse
Pizza LéoExcellent pizza with student prices at lunchtime, near Saint-Sernin. Weekday lunch and dinner only, closed at weekends, so plan around it.16 rue Émile Cartailhac, 31000 Toulouse
Cœur d'AmandeCheap, Tunisian, and it lets you bring your own wine, which takes the single biggest markup off the bill. The cellar next door solves that problem. Book, it is small and the neighbourhood knows.49 rue Pierre-Paul Riquet, 31000 Toulouse
JiaoZiGuanChinese dumplings done properly, a few streets from the Capitole. Order more than you think you need.13 rue du Rempart Villeneuve, 31000 Toulouse
OKAERIA proper ramen-ya with noodles made in house and broths worth the wait. Small room, so book at the weekend.35 rue Nicolas Bachelier, 31000 Toulouse

Bread, cake, chocolate and a glass of wine

Boulangerie Pâtisserie Saint AubinThe bread address, a few doors from Cœur d'Amande on the same street. Traditional baking, speciality loaves and pastries made on site, and open every day of the week including Sunday morning, which is when you will need it.38 rue Pierre-Paul Riquet, 31000 Toulouse
Pâtisserie ContéPastry and chocolate since 1938, on one of the finest streets in the centre, with a tearoom to sit in.37 rue Croix-Baragnon, 31000 Toulouse
Péché MignonBakery and pâtisserie for cakes and good bread. Closed Sunday.37 rue du Languedoc, 31000 Toulouse
Au Poussin RoseGo for the baba au rhum, which is what this house is known for, and eat it on the small terrace.22 rue Bayard, 31000 Toulouse
Criollo ChocolatierThe chocolate address in Toulouse, artisan made. Two shops in the centre, on place Victor Hugo by the covered market and on place Saint-Étienne.23 place Victor Hugo and 2 place Saint-Étienne, 31000 Toulouse
BiodivinAEGEE Toulouse partner, which hosts our tasting evenings. A wine bar and cellar for organic, biodynamic and natural wines, by the glass or by the bottle to take away.2 rue du Rempart Saint-Étienne, 31000 Toulouse

Frequently asked questions

By AEGEE Toulouse members, from places they go back to. It is a short, opinionated list rather than a directory, and it carries the date it was last reviewed so you can tell how fresh it is. Two entries are partners of the association and say so in their own description, because a recommendation you are not told about is not a recommendation.

Going out this week?

Ask the community on WhatsApp

This list came from members, and it grows the same way. This page is written and kept current by AEGEE Toulouse, the volunteer association that's welcomed international students to Toulouse since 2025. Tell us where you ate, ask where to go tonight, and come along to the next AEGEE dinner in the AEGEE Toulouse WhatsApp group.

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