10 Best Restaurants in Nice
Nice rewards diners who want the Riviera in more than one register. Around the port, Vieux Nice and the central streets, you can move from intimate modern tasting menus to old-town bistros and classic local counters. The city’s kitchens cover Mediterranean seafood, Provençal produce, and deeply Niçois specialities such as socca, pissaladière, daube and chard-filled dishes, while several chefs also fold in Japanese, Caribbean, Italian, Argentine or spice-led influences. Expect a mix of polished hotel dining, small neighbourhood rooms, convivial bistros and casual addresses that still take local cooking seriously. Together, these restaurants show Nice as a place where tradition, seasonality and creative ambition sit side by side, often only a few streets apart.
Flaveur
Nice, France; 25 rue Gubernatis, 06000 Nice, France
Flaveur gives local ingredients an unusually wide field of reference. Brothers Gaël and Mickaël Tourteaux draw on their Nice roots, a childhood in Guadeloupe and a lasting interest in travel, building menus in which Mediterranean fish and regional produce meet spices from further afield. The approach is adventurous, but the restaurant’s identity remains grounded in the Riviera. The published menu illustrates that balance with the day’s catch accompanied by vadouvan and lovage, or Piedmontese veal considered alongside green curry. Other courses look towards the Caribbean through pineapple and aged rum. These combinations are not simply decorative additions: they provide the framework through which the brothers explore familiar ingredients. The dining room is bright and furnished with contemporary art, a fitting setting for food that values colour and unexpected associations. Two Michelin stars in the 2026 France selection support Flaveur’s position at the top of this Nice guide. It is particularly rewarding for diners seeking a restaurant with an individual point of view rather than a conventional luxury repertoire. Book the tasting-menu experience that suits your appetite and allow time for the sequence to develop; the attraction is the cumulative journey through the brothers’ ideas.
Nice’s strongest combination of culinary originality and current two-star recognition, with a clear local foundation and distinctive use of spice.
Le Chantecler
Nice, France; Le Negresco, 37 Promenade des Anglais, 06000 Nice, France
Le Chantecler makes a formal dinner feel closely connected to the character of Le Negresco. Within the celebrated Promenade des Anglais hotel, historic panelling, artworks and carefully preserved decorative details create a room with more substance than a generic luxury setting. The surroundings are elaborate, but chef Virginie Basselot’s cooking gives the table a contemporary focus. Basselot, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France, places regional ingredients and the work of local producers at the centre of her menu. Michelin’s documented examples include Mediterranean fish supported by carefully judged citrus and sauces, illustrating a style in which classical technique provides structure without overwhelming the main ingredient. The hotel describes seasonality and collaboration with regional artisans as continuing priorities. Menus change, making the current selection worth reviewing when reserving. Le Chantecler holds one Michelin star in the 2026 France selection. It earns a high position here for bringing a distinctive dining room and a serious kitchen into balance. Choose it when the occasion calls for a composed, extended evening and a tangible connection to the Riviera’s grand-hotel tradition. The experience rewards attention to the room as well as the plate.
Combines a singular historic setting with accomplished Mediterranean cooking and current Michelin recognition, making it the leading grand-hotel choice.
Les Agitateurs
Nice, France; 24 rue Bonaparte, 06300 Nice, France
Les Agitateurs occupies a corner near Nice’s port, its façade softened by jasmine and climbing plants. The setting suggests an intimate neighbourhood restaurant, while the kitchen’s ambition reaches further. Samuel Victori and Juliette Busetto have built an address where seasonal Mediterranean ingredients are considered through a broader set of culinary influences. The food can bring French technique into conversation with Japanese ideas. Michelin has described sea bass accompanied by rice and turnip, with dashi informing a beurre blanc, an example of how the kitchen introduces new depth without abandoning the principal ingredient. The tasting-menu format allows those connections to unfold across several courses. The current restaurant group includes other concepts, but this listing concerns the original fine-dining address on rue Bonaparte. One Michelin star in the 2026 France selection recognises the cooking. Its wider appeal lies in the combination of a small, lively room and food that remains responsive to the surrounding region while looking beyond it. For travellers spending time around the port, Les Agitateurs offers a particularly persuasive evening destination: ambitious enough to justify advance planning, yet closely connected to the neighbourhood outside its door.
A compelling port-area restaurant with one Michelin star and a distinct balance of Mediterranean produce, invention and approachable atmosphere.
ONICE
Nice, France; 5 rue Antoine Gautier, 06300 Nice, France
ONICE is shaped by the partnership of Florencia Montes and Lorenzo Ragni, whose backgrounds bring Argentina and Italy into a kitchen rooted in Provence. Near Nice’s port, the restaurant offers a compact, personal setting for a tasting menu concerned with ingredient quality, clear flavours and the depth of sauces. Its scale helps keep the cooking closely connected to the people behind it. Michelin’s documented dishes show the range of that approach: cuttlefish cut into tagliatelle-like ribbons with citrus, sea bass with cockles and a Champagne sauce, or a rice dessert involving koji, blood orange and cardamom. These examples indicate technique and perspective rather than a fixed menu. The official restaurant description emphasises that the sequence changes with the season and the chefs’ inspiration. ONICE holds one star in the 2026 Michelin France selection. It earns inclusion for the coherence of its culinary identity and the opportunity to experience a relatively intimate expression of contemporary Riviera dining. Reserve ahead, discuss dietary requirements with sufficient notice and let the menu set the direction. The reward is a meal that interprets the region through two distinct but complementary culinary backgrounds.
A distinctive chef-led restaurant whose cross-cultural perspective, precise cooking and current Michelin star strengthen Nice’s contemporary dining scene.
Épicentre
Nice, France; 8 rue Fodéré, 06300 Nice, France
Épicentre makes spice a structuring idea rather than a final flourish. Chef Sélim M’Nasri, whose experience includes years alongside Marcel Ravin, brings a personal collection of influences to Mediterranean ingredients. At the rue Fodéré restaurant, the room is arranged so that guests can see the open kitchen, giving the work behind the meal a visible presence. Menus named around seven or nine spices suggest the direction of travel. Michelin describes ingredients such as sansho, timut pepper, green cardamom and black lime within a repertoire that draws on the sea and local produce. The interest lies in how these aromatic elements alter perception: acidity, warmth, fragrance and bitterness can each bring a familiar ingredient into a different register. The tasting format allows the kitchen to develop those ideas in sequence. Épicentre received its first Michelin star in the 2026 France selection. It belongs here as a distinctive addition to Nice’s contemporary restaurant landscape, with a clear culinary point of view and an intimate setting. Choose it for an evening centred on the chef’s interpretation, and confirm the current menu and reservation arrangements directly. Its appeal is the concentration of the experience rather than an extensive à la carte choice.
A significant new Michelin-starred addition whose spice-led cooking and intimate format add a distinct perspective to the Nice selection.
Restaurant La Mérenda
Old Town, Nice, France — 4 rue Raoul Bosio, 06000 Nice
La Merenda asks diners to take the cooking of Nice seriously on its own terms. In a tiny old-town room, Dominique Le Stanc focuses on regional dishes whose appeal depends on judgement, ingredients and repetition rather than elaborate presentation. The close-set tables make the experience intimate, with little separation between the food and the life of the restaurant. Pissaladière, stockfish preparations, tripe and chard-based dishes appear in documented descriptions of the repertoire. These are foods with a strong local identity, and the menu offers a useful opportunity to look beyond the better-known Riviera shorthand of seafood and rosé. The chef’s skill is expressed through the treatment of tradition, giving familiar recipes enough attention to make them feel particular to this kitchen. La Merenda appears in Michelin’s current Bib Gourmand selection. Its place in Nice’s ten best rests equally on cultural importance: a visit helps explain what the city’s own cuisine tastes like. Booking is now available through the restaurant’s official online link, so older advice about having to reserve in person should not be followed automatically. Confirm payment arrangements and come prepared for the pleasures and practical limits of a very small dining room.
A culturally essential Niçois restaurant, combining a highly individual chef, regional dishes and current recognition for quality and value.
Chez Davia
Nice, France; 11 bis rue Grimaldi, 06000 Nice, France
Chez Davia offers continuity without treating tradition as something static. Founded in 1953 and passed through three generations of the same family, the restaurant is now associated with chef Pierre Altobelli, who returned to regional cooking after experience in ambitious kitchens elsewhere. The address on rue Grimaldi remains a place to explore the food of Nice in a recognisably local setting. The house identifies daube niçoise, barbajuans and lemon tart among its characteristic dishes. Michelin also describes sardines stuffed with chard and linguine with pistou, giving a sense of the kitchen’s interest in greens, herbs and carefully handled everyday ingredients. The menu follows the season, so these examples are best understood as a culinary vocabulary rather than a guaranteed order. A traditional bistro interior reinforces the feeling of a restaurant that has developed with its city. Chez Davia holds a place in Michelin’s current Bib Gourmand selection, supporting its reputation for quality at a moderate price level. It earns inclusion for the combination of family history and active culinary judgement. For visitors who want a meal that helps explain Nice beyond its seafront, this is a particularly useful table to reserve.
A strong family-run expression of Niçois cooking, selected for continuity, regional relevance and current Bib Gourmand recognition.
Bistrot d’Antoine
Nice, France; 27 rue de la Préfecture, 06300 Nice, France
Bistrot d’Antoine is the sort of old-town restaurant whose popularity becomes part of its atmosphere. On rue de la Préfecture, the closely occupied dining room encourages a convivial rather than contemplative meal. The food follows the same direct approach: substantial French bistro dishes, prepared with enough care to justify planning a visit around them. Michelin’s documented examples include pork casserole with creamy polenta, knife-cut beef tartare and grilled veal kidney with mustard and potatoes. They describe a kitchen comfortable with rich sauces, texture and recognisable ingredients, rather than one dependent on elaborate presentation. The appeal is especially clear after a day of walking: a proper seated meal, with dishes that reward appetite and a willingness to explore beyond the safest holiday orders. The restaurant appears in Michelin’s current Bib Gourmand selection. It earns its place in this guide for the combination of value, atmosphere and a strong bistro identity within central Nice. No independently verified standalone official website was found, so confirm reservations directly using the contact supplied by the guide. Expect a busy room and choose it when conviviality is part of the desired experience.
A lively, good-value bistro with a clear culinary repertoire and current Michelin recognition, balancing the city’s tasting-menu restaurants.
Olive & Artichaut
Nice, France; 6 rue Sainte-Réparate, 06300 Nice, France
Olive & Artichaut is built on the scale of a small neighbourhood restaurant. In a narrow street of Vieux Nice, two compact dining rooms lead the eye towards Thomas Hubert’s open kitchen, while Aurélie Marion looks after the welcome. The arrangement makes the preparation feel part of the room rather than something happening at a distance. The restaurant’s stated philosophy centres on regional ingredients and relationships with local producers. Michelin’s examples range from a thin pissaladière-inspired tart with black pudding to braised veal with chickpeas, showing how the kitchen moves between Mediterranean references and broader French technique. Seasonal changes are part of the offer, so it is more useful to expect this approach than to arrive attached to one particular dish. Olive & Artichaut appears in Michelin’s current Bib Gourmand selection. It earns inclusion for an individual, modestly scaled interpretation of Nice’s contemporary dining culture, with enough culinary ambition to make the meal memorable. Use the verified rue Sainte-Réparate address when planning the visit: the official website contains an unrelated template map link that should be disregarded. The restaurant’s small size makes advance booking a sensible part of the plan.
A small, producer-focused old-town restaurant with a distinctive host-and-chef partnership and current recognition for quality and value.
Chez Pipo
Nice, France; 13 rue Bavastro, 06300 Nice, France
Chez Pipo gives socca the attention it deserves in a guide to Nice. The chickpea pancake is one of the city’s defining foods, and this rue Bavastro address near the port provides a straightforward place to make it the centre of a meal. The format is casual, encouraging a shared table and an order built around a few local specialities. The official menu also features pissaladière, spreads and other simple dishes, allowing the crispness and warmth of the socca to sit alongside different savoury textures. This is a useful culinary stop for travellers who want to understand the city through its everyday food, rather than only through restaurant tasting menus. The pleasure lies in a limited repertoire treated as worth returning to, without the need for elaborate ceremony. Official tourism coverage supports Chez Pipo’s place among the city’s recognisable local addresses. Its ranking here reflects cultural relevance, accessibility and the distinct experience it adds to the selection, rather than a claimed fine-dining award. The restaurant does not operate like a formal reservation-led dining room, so check current opening arrangements and allow flexibility. It is particularly easy to combine with time spent exploring the port neighbourhood.
An essential inexpensive regional speciality stop, selected for its clear Niçois identity and practical appeal within the port neighbourhood.