I am looking for a restaurant recommendation for dinner in Nice in late May.

It is difficult to search for these on this forum because, well, I keep coming up with "nice restaurants" all over France or Europe.

We will only be in Nice for an afternoon/evening, so we would like to try a place with local flavor. Moderate price point.

Thanks.

My wife & I spend 2 months in France most years - so that's 40 or so restaurant meals per year. We're big foodies - that's why we spend so much time in France.

The worst resturants I've ever tried in France were all in Nice - in the old section of town. Stinky mussels, soggy fries, thin Soupe du Poisson, overcooked fish, etc. If you want to spend top dollars, I suppose you can get some good food - but when I'm in Nice, I always want to dine outside & most of the better restaurant are inside.

The only exception is Safari. We've dined there three times over the years & had decent meals every time. It's on the Cours. Make reservations - last time we were there in early July this year, they were turning people away at 9:00.

Safari - 1 Cours Saleya 04 93 80 18 44

I thought the Alziari restaurant was very poor. I've eaten better food from the pre-cooked section of supermarkets in France.

Stu Dudley

For a good budget-priced choice, we liked La Tapenade in the old city.

Thanks Stu Dudley. I will check out Safari. I have read other recommendations for that restaurant.

I didn't realize that Nice had such poor restaurants. Maybe we should eat somewhere else in the area but outside of Nice.

We are arriving in Nice in the afternoon via train and will pick up our rental car. The plan was to spend the rest of the afternoon in Nice and then have dinner there before driving to our accomodations in St-Paul-de-Vence.

Is there something else in a nearby town that you would recommend?

Thanks again.

Les Terraillers in Biot.
But I would stay in Nice and enjoy that city. Old Nice is quite alive at night. If you like people watching, they have one of everything strolling along the Cours in the evening. Dine at Safari for a unique experience. I enjoy dining at Safari as much as any other place in Provence. Food is about a B-, but the "scene" is an A. It seems to get a little more upscale crowd than most of the dozens of othr restaurants on the Cours. The other restaurants have cute young girls luring customers into their restaurants, Safari does not do this - most diners seemed to have dined there before.

Stu Dudley

We had a very nice (if not great, but I wouldn't describe us as foodies) dinner at a restaurant called La Maison de Marie at 5, Rue Massena in Nice. It's a very pretty place and if you're going to be there in May, I'd specifically reserve a table outdoors on the bougainvillea-covered patio. It was quite lovely.

Here's the website:

www.lamaisondemarie.com

Good, it sounds like it's worth sticking around for a while for the "A" scene!

I did have one of the most fun nights from my post-graduate backpacking trip in Nice. There was a place with live music and you ordered something called a camel, which was basically a keg of beer for each table. Ah, not sure if I remember the evening or the next morning's hangover more!