Abstinence can be hired for company dinners, afterworks, cocktail receptions and full-venue events, with up to 80 guests seated or 100 at a standing cocktail. It is a bistronomic restaurant and wine bar at 47 avenue de la Motte-Picquet in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, run by the Fitz Group, a Paris hospitality group that also operates as an event agency.
Seminars and company events
The booking request on the official site offers three formats: a cocktail dinner, a seated dinner or a complete privatization of the venue, with a fourth option for anything else. Typical uses for a company are a team dinner, a client evening, a business dinner for a small board, a year-end party or an afterwork. The Fitz Group lists seminars and team building, business dinners, cocktails and afterworks among the events it organizes in its houses, and states that it welcomes between 12 and 1,500 guests across its venues. Abstinence sits at the smaller end of that range, which suits groups that want a restaurant atmosphere rather than a hall.
A project manager calls back within 30 minutes on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. after a request, and a detailed quote follows within 24 hours of that conversation. A visit can be arranged afterwards. The restaurant states that group and corporate requests receive an answer within 24 working hours.
Rooms and capacities
The venue is booked as a whole or in part. The Fitz Group gives the following capacities for Abstinence: 100 guests at a cocktail and 80 guests for a seated meal. The restaurant has a sunny terrace, used at lunch on weekdays and in the evening until 2 a.m., which can extend a reception outdoors in good weather. The official site does not describe separate rooms, so layout questions are best settled with the team when you request a date.
Catering
Catering is in-house. The kitchen is bistronomic and built around dishes to share, with seasonal, short-supply-chain products: line-caught fish, vegetables from the garden and carefully raised meat, according to the restaurant. The bar serves a list of mostly French wines and a selection of fine wines by the glass, which makes a wine-led evening easy to organize. The group says its menus are made in house by its chefs and adapted to guests' dietary constraints, and that its restaurants carry the Ecotable label.
Setting and neighborhood
Abstinence is described as a short walk from the Champ de Mars. The surrounding streets of the 15th arrondissement are residential and quiet in the evening, which suits a dinner that does not need a showpiece address. The restaurant is open for lunch from Monday to Friday and on Sunday, and for dinner every day until 2 a.m. (from 6 p.m. on Saturday).
Getting there
The address is 47 avenue de la Motte-Picquet, 75015 Paris. The avenue is served by the La Motte-Picquet–Grenelle metro station, and the Eiffel Tower area is within walking distance. Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports are both reached by public transport or taxi through the city.
