La Merenda Restaurant
Chef Driven Stripped Back Institution
La Merenda
Vieux Nice
$$$
Two-Michelin-star chef Dominique Le Stanc's bare-essentials Niçoise counter
Best Restaurants in Nice
From fine dining to local tables, explore our restaurant selection for Nice. Compare cuisine, atmosphere and practical details before booking.
47
Restaurants
0
Michelin Starred
0
Fine Dining
By Mes Prestiges Editorial Team
Casual Dining
Delicious food in relaxed settings
Chez Acchiardo Restaurant
Institution Family Run Old School
Chez Acchiardo
Vieux Nice
$$
Four generations of Cuisine Nissarde on rue Droite since 1927
Le Bistrot d'Antoine Restaurant
Bistrot Convivial Market Driven
Le Bistrot d'Antoine
Vieux Nice
$$
Michelin Bib Gourmand bistrot on the prettiest lane in the old town
Olive & Artichaut Restaurant
Open Kitchen Market Driven Intimate
Olive & Artichaut
Vieux Nice
$$
Open-kitchen market bistro off Place Rossetti, Bib Gourmand
Le Comptoir du Marché Restaurant
Bistro Retro Market Driven
Le Comptoir du Marché
Vieux Nice
$$
Retro bistro de marché between Porte Fausse and the Palais de Justice
La Petite Maison Restaurant
See & Be Seen Institution Provençal
Le Bar des Oiseaux Restaurant
Local Favourite Homemade Pasta Characterful
La Rossettisserie Restaurant
Rotisserie Family Run Rustic
La Rossettisserie
Vieux Nice
$$
Family rotisserie of spit-roasted meats near Place Rossetti
Le Bistrot du Fromager Restaurant
Cheese Led Natural Wine Vaulted Cellar
Le Bistrot du Fromager
Vieux Nice
$$
Cheese, natural wine and fondue in a 16th-century vaulted cave
Peixes Restaurant
Raw Fish Ceviche Modern
Lavomatique Restaurant
Natural Wine Small Plates Open Kitchen
Lavomatique
Vieux Nice
$$$
Brothers' laundromat-turned-natural-wine kitchen in the old town
Le Canon Restaurant
Natural Wine Hyper Local Chalkboard
Le Canon
Carré d'Or
$$$
Hyper-local cooking and a cult natural-wine cellar near the Negresco
Le Chantecler Restaurant
Haute Cuisine Michelin Star Grand Room
Le Chantecler
Promenade des Anglais
$$$$
Virginie Basselot's one-star Mediterranean haute cuisine at the Negresco
La Réserve de Nice Restaurant
Fine Dining Art Deco Seaside
La Réserve de Nice
Cap de Nice / Mont Boron
$$$$
Art-deco fine dining over the sea at the foot of Mont Boron
Le Plongeoir Restaurant
Iconic Setting Over Water Mediterranean
Le Plongeoir
Cap de Nice / Mont Boron
$$$
Mediterranean dining on a rock-pillar former diving platform
Restaurant JAN Restaurant
Chef Driven Intimate Set Menu
Restaurant JAN
Le Port / Lympia
$$$$
South African chef Jan Hendrik's intimate one-star room on the old port
Épicentre Restaurant
Chef Driven Spice Forward Creative
Épicentre
Le Port / Lympia
$$$$
Sélim M'Nasri's spice-route one-star table behind Port Lympia
Onice Restaurant
Chef Driven Seasonal Intimate
Onice
Le Port / Lympia
$$$$
Italo-Argentine couple's one-star room in the antiques quarter
Tina Trattoria Restaurant
Chef Driven Italian Convivial
Tina Trattoria
Le Port / Lympia
$$
The Onice chefs' generous Italian trattoria on rue Lascaris
Le Bistrot du Port Restaurant
Chef Owned Seafood Market Driven
Le Bistrot du Port
Le Port / Lympia
$$$
Chef-owner José Orsini's 25-year bistronomic seafood room on Quai Lunel
La Vigna Restaurant
Chef Owned Mediterranean Value
La Vigna
Le Port / Lympia
$$
Chef-owner Alexandre Belais's Mediterranean reference on the port
Côté Sud... Cimiez Restaurant
Market Driven Seasonal Organic Wine
Côté Sud... Cimiez
Cimiez
$$
Market-driven slate cooking between the Matisse and Chagall museums
Chez Cane Restaurant
Family Run Niçois Institution
Brasserie Le Magnan Restaurant
Family Run Neighbourhood Niçois Italian
Brasserie Le Magnan
Magnan
$$
A 1987 family neighbourhood brasserie in the western Magnan district
Le Bistrot des Docks Restaurant
Chef Driven Market Cuisine Neighbourhood
Le Bistrot des Docks
Libération
$$
Market-driven bistro by Nicolas Mendjisky, opposite the hall
La Gauloise Restaurant
Institution Seafood Oysters
Da Andrea Restaurant
Family Run Italian Trattoria
Le Bonjour Restaurant
Local Traditional No Frills
Cibo Trattoria Restaurant
Italian Handmade Pasta Convivial
Flaveur Restaurant
Two Star Chef Driven Creative
Les Agitateurs Restaurant
One Star Chef Driven Local Sourcing
L'Aromate Restaurant
Chef Driven Creative Mediterranean
Le Bistrot de Gillou Restaurant
Bistro Seasonal Convivial
Le Séjour Café Restaurant
Market Driven Intimate Characterful
Le Bistrot Gourmand Restaurant
Chef Driven Market Cuisine Value
Le Bistrot Gourmand
Carré d'Or
$$$
David Vaqué's market bistronomie, trained under Guérard
Maison Joia (Pure & V) Restaurant
Chef Driven Seasonal Organic
Maison Joia (Pure & V)
Carré d'Or
$$$
Julien Pilati's seasonal, organic kitchen in the former Pure & V
Influence Restaurant
Chef Driven Creative Intimate
Influence
Le Petit Marais / Riquier
$$$
Aurèle Gasperoni's solo tasting kitchen in the Petit Marais
Le Millésime Restaurant
Chef Driven Seasonal Truffle
Le Millésime
Le Petit Marais / Riquier
$$$
Aurélien Nourry's solo bistronomie near Riquier
Babel Babel Restaurant
Chef Driven All Day Mediterranean
Babel Babel
Le Petit Marais / Riquier
$$
Meilleur Apprenti de France cooking, brunch to dinner by the port
Lou Balico Restaurant
Niçoise Family Run Institution
Lou Balico
Le Petit Marais / Riquier
$$
Three generations of true Niçoise home cooking since 1979
Onakaya Restaurant
Chef Led Counter Seating Sake
Maïdo Restaurant
Izakaya Natural Wine Sharing
Ma Yucca Restaurant
Chef Led Refined Intimate
Keisuke Matsushima Restaurant
Chef Led Design Led Seasonal
L'Ybane Restaurant
Levantine Mezze Convivial
Yose Restaurant
Peruvian Ceviche Cocktails
Chez Pipo Restaurant
Institution Socca Wood Fired
Where to Eat in Nice?
Nice eats in two registers that rarely overlap. There is the genuine Niçoise canon — pissaladière, stockfish, stuffed vegetables, pistou — kept alive in cash-only rooms in the old town, and there is the Riviera fine-dining tier strung along the seafront and up the hill. The two coexist without pretending to be each other, which is what makes the city honest. The defining address, La Merenda, has no telephone and takes no cards: chef Dominique Le Stanc left a two-star kitchen at the Negresco to cook the regional repertoire on a handful of stools, and you book by walking in.
The map reads by district. Vieux Nice is the heart of the regional cooking — La Merenda, Chez Acchiardo, Le Bistrot d'Antoine and the market-bistro Le Comptoir du Marché — with Peixes for seafood and ceviche and Lavomatique for natural wine. La Petite Maison flies the Provençal-Niçoise flag for the see-and-be-seen crowd. The Promenade des Anglais carries the grand-hotel tier at Le Chantecler inside the Negresco; Le Port / Lympia is where Restaurant JAN sits; and Cap de Nice / Mont Boron holds the seaside addresses, La Réserve de Nice and Le Plongeoir out on its rock.
Stars and the Old Town
Nice carries Michelin attention at both ends. Le Chantecler, the Negresco dining room under MOF chef Virginie Basselot, and Restaurant JAN in the port — chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen's French-South African kitchen, starred since 2016 — anchor the formal tier; tasting menus there run well into three figures per head. The old-town bistrots sit in a different economy entirely, plats around the €18-26 mark, and they reward you for showing up rather than for booking ahead.
Reservation Tips
For the starred rooms — Le Chantecler, Restaurant JAN — book two to three weeks out, longer across July and August when the coast fills. The Vieux Nice institutions take far fewer reservations: La Merenda is in-person only, and the small bistrots turn over fast, so go at opening or accept a wait. Shoulder season, May and September, is the smart window — the terraces are open, the seafront breathes, and tables loosen up.
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