6 Best Restaurants in The French Riviera, France

You won't find any "concept" cooking here, just pure French bistro fare at its finest—beef salad with anchovy dressing, butter risotto with truffles, sliced leg of lamb, and traditional pork casserole. Save room for the day's dessert, perhaps the wonderfully warm peach-and-frangipane tart. The prices here are as appealing as the menu. If you can't score a reservation, try one of the two Peixes restaurants (4 rue de l'Opéra and 5 rue Bonaparte), where chef Antoine Crespo serves delightful seafood tapas.

The owners of this St-Paul-de-Vence institution have magically created a contemporary bistro, where a few seats on a second-story terrace (book in advance) overlook the street below. Choose the plat du jour, or order from an à la carte menu with everything from an organic egg to a chicken burger to a Jerusalem artichoke and shimeji-mushroom confit with smoked duck breast. Half bottles of wine are available, so sit on the terrace with une verre, and breathe in the views of the fountain square—an experience that more than compensates for occasions when service is slow or the kitchen runs out of certain dishes.

This restaurant, steps from the Hotel Beau Rivage and with an outdoor terrace, focuses on the preservation of French cuisine. The sommelier amazingly seems to know your order before you do; a decent bottle of red will set you back around €50. The service is friendly enough, and the food is elegantly presented. 

Under the shade of a plane tree, in the heart of the vieille ville, this cute bistro is known for it's three-course "menu of the week" featuring classic duck dishes and other traditional fare like veal pot-au-feu or chestnut crème brûlée. The menu changes according to the rhythm of the seasons and showcases local produce. 

The busy terrace here often doubles as a stadium for different factions cheering on local pétanque players in Place des Lices. Service can be slow, but the setting, the food (say, black truffle and foie gras macaroni with Parmesan or seven-hour lamb confit with spices), and the piano bar with throwbacks to Piaf and Aznavour make this place memorable. It's open daily 8 am–3 am (with a well-priced €21 lunch menu) and always seems packed, so reservations are a good idea.

Before you plunge into the dense tangle of streets in old St-Paul-de-Vence, stop on the ramparts under the century-old lime tree for a meal or snack at this atmospheric café, where the breezy terrace looks onto the valley and the Alps. The kitchen turns out colorful salads (crispy goat cheese salad with figs) and pastas at lunch and more serious fare in the evening. Pop by for the Salon de Thé (daily 3–6 pm), which offers much more than Mariage Frères tea: red berry tiramisu, crêpes, and coffee on a separate menu. Across the street, Le Tilleul sells freshly made, sorbet and ice cream for takeout in flavors like wild peach and almond milk with sour cherry.