Big Love -- Restaurant Review

 

For address, reservations, menu refer to their website: https://www.bigmammagroup.com/italian-restaurants/biglove

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor € = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-80); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-90); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (90+)

3.5 - stars ...................€................................. BOMB-🔔 

I first heard about this restaurant online. It's the new hip happening place for the "in-crowd" to go for an inexpensive and good lunch. Et voila I made reservations for 6 people. It's located in the upper "Le Marais". 

As we approached the entrance, even though I had reservations, I was convinced it would be packed and we’d be stuck waiting for a table. So it was a very pleasant surprise when they had ours ready, tucked near the kitchen. It’s a long, narrow space and they really make the most of it, tables packed in tightly, with a very young, vibrant crowd.

Big Love is a vegetarian restaurant, but they also offer plenty of vegan and gluten-free options. If you’re lacto-ovo vegetarian, you’re covered too, eggs and cheese are definitely on the menu. In other words, exactly the kind of place my cardiologist would love me to embrace.

The owner, waitstaff, and chefs are all Italian, and they bring a fresh, creative vegetarian twist to classic dishes. And for brunch, a starter, dessert, mocktail, and a specialty coffee of your choice for just €27, which, for Paris, feels like an absolute steal. 

I'll only review the dishes that I tasted. I opted not to have the mocktail nor did I have a specialty coffee. NOTE: you can have the mocktails turned into real cocktails. 

EGGS AND TRUFFLES. 

It was technically still brunch time, around 1:30, and I chose this as my main dish. The scrambled eggs were tossed with pasta, the salad had a pleasantly tart bite, and the grilled sandwich was thick, filled with rich Italian cheese. You could taste the truffle, but it was more of a subtle hint than those bold, shaved slices you sometimes get.

I liked the dish, it was well balanced and satisfying. That said, aside from being vegetarian, or more precisely lacto-ovo, it didn’t feel particularly memorable. Good, enjoyable, but nothing especially out of the ordinary.

Now I was able to taste each dessert:

POWER BOWL — This is pretty much what I usually have for breakfast, so it immediately felt like a win. Creamy yogurt topped with fresh berries and that satisfying crunch from the granola, familiar, simple, and comforting.

FRUTTI ROSSI PANCAKES — Thick, fluffy, and almost unusually tall. At first glance, I expected them to be dense, but they were surprisingly light. Topped with berries, then generously drizzled with maple syrup, it’s a solid, indulgent dish.

TIRAMISU FRENCH TOAST — This one looked incredibly rich, but it didn’t eat that way at all. It had just the right level of sweetness and was unexpectedly light. A clever take on tiramisu, reimagined through French toast, and it works.

Overall, the desserts were enjoyable, though they leaned more toward what you’d expect from an American-style breakfast or dessert. The tiramisu version felt a bit more elevated, but still very much in that indulgent, brunch-friendly lane.

NOTE: We were given a shot of limoncello as a parting treat. 

SUMMARY 

This is their brunch menu, a lighter, healthier take on the usual offerings, with plenty of flexibility, vegan, vegetarian, including lacto-ovo, and even gluten-free options. You can also order from the main menu, and one of our friends tried the gnocchi and enjoyed it.

What I did find odd was that when our main dishes arrived, all of our drinks showed up at once, wine, mocktails, and even coffee. A bit unusual.

The place has a distinctly young, hip vibe, likely tied to the approachable price point. It’s also extremely loud, with tightly packed tables and constant traffic through narrow aisles. Service was uneven and notably slow. There also seems to be a growing trend among younger, more “in” restaurants in Paris to pipe in music, which wasn’t traditionally the case, and this spot leans into that as well; am I showing my age?

While the food was good overall, the atmosphere just isn’t for me. I tend to prefer somewhere quieter, especially as more of these trendy spots lean into louder music and high-energy settings.

Net-net, would I return? Probably not. Good food, just not my kind of vibe.

Our bill came to 186€, 31€ each. Normally it would've been €27 each, but we ordered an additional 2-glasses of wine, made a mocktail into a cocktail and had a diet coke. Regardless, this was an excellent deal for brunch/lunch.