Provence & the French Riviera Guidebook
Best and worst restaurants:
Best: L'Artegal in Gordes
Why: There were no restaurant recommendations in Gordes but lunch here was one of the best we had in France. The "lasagne" was a fresh pasta sheet filled with provencial veggies and topped with a pesto chive sauce. Magnifique! Plus a great steak for my husband.
Sara in Philadelphia, PA USA 07/28/2011
Best: Hotel les Florets
Why: Outstanding food, wine, and service.
Robin in Menlo Park, CA USA 06/17/2011
Best: Restaurant de France in Lacoste
Why: good food, inexpensive, lovely views
Neil Phillips in Cherry Hill, NJ USA 06/06/2011
Best: La Brocherie in Aix & Le Bistrot de Roussillon
Why: It's in the Mazarin Quarter in Aix near Hotel Cardinal. Great food and service. In Rick's book. It's the third time we've eaten at the Bistrot in Roussillon and delicious every time. Also in Rick's book.
Worst: Bonnieux
Why: Bonnieux is suppose to have nice restaurants, but we were there on Sunday and Monday nights the end of March. Had pizza one night at the only place open and granola bars, bananas, and wine in our room the Monday night!!
Judy Johnson in Alexandria, MN USA 04/25/2011
Best: Voyageur Nissart Nice
Why: Reasonable price, good food, convenience to Hotel Belle Meuniere. Did not encounter another restaurant during our trip with a similar menu.
On the same street Mme. Arnaud suggested Le Saetone (I think 6 or 8 rue Alsace-Lorraine) and La Petite Biche 9 rue Alsace-Lorraine. Both were reasonably priced with well prepared and presented meals.
Warren Lo in Columbus, OH USA 04/03/2011
Best: L'Ousteau de l'Isle in L'Isle sur la Sorgue
Why: I ate the best meal of my vacation here. I had salmon rolled up with mashed carmelized onions and it tasted divine. The restaurant is undergoing a change in mgmt and was a bit disorganized but hopefully the cuisine will not suffer.
Brenda in San Diego, CA USA 10/19/2010
Best: Restaurant Clerissy in Moustiers-Ste-Marie
Why: I was impressed with the high quality of the ingredients of my meal.
Brenda in San Diego, CA USA 10/19/2010
Best: Le Criquet in Arles near arena
Why: Food, ambiance, service, price everything came together.
Lev in Gainesville, Fl USA 07/24/2010
Best: Auberge des Seguins, Buoux; Cafe de la Place, St-Paul-de-Vence
Why: Auberge des SEguins had good food, nice atmosphere. The French eat too much and too late in the evening for us, though, leading to indigestion. We usually just ordered a one-course meal. Cafe de la Place had decent food on tiny tables; seemed local rather than touristy; fun to watch people in the "place." Le Cosmo Restaurant/Cafe had good food near the boats in Villefranche.
Jinny Danzer in St. Louis, MO USA 07/02/2010
Best: La Grignotiere in Villefranche-sur-mer
Why: Excellent service was provided and the recommended spaghetti and gambas main dish was indeed wonderful. The portion was generous to the point of being excessively so. It could easily have fed 2 smaller eaters. I would suggest ordering a starter and a main and sharing each, especially if you are there for lunch. Having had a poor experience with seafood in Spain, the mussels and shrimp used in this dish were plentiful and very fresh.
Diane in Singapore, Singapore 06/20/2010
Worst: La Ferme de la Huppe
Why: Is now under new management. We had stayed here in 2005. This time we came for dinner which was not up to their old standards. Food was OK overall, but the fish special was slightly overcooked. Worse was the service: very hectic possibly because of the manager who was simply trying too hard and directing traffic in the dining room rather than from he kitchen. She and the staff needed to relax and not give everyone the impression that they were overwhelmed. In time, staff teamwork should improve.
Terry Lapierre in Mableton, GA USA 06/08/2010
Best: La Cambuse, Nice
Why: Great service--attentive and fun servers who did not treat us any differently because we were American tourists. Great English spoken by everyone encountered. GREAT food.
Julie Stewart in Arlington, VA USA 05/24/2010
Best: Les Viviers in Nice
Why: Very attentive, friendly service. Great food.
Worst: Il Vina Ino
Why: Not bad food, just nothing to write home about. Tiramisu was awesome, however.
Kerrie Giesen in Webster, NY USA 05/18/2010
Best: Le Pili in Avignon
Why: As the guidebook says, good pizzas and friendly service.
S.W. in London, UK 05/16/2010
Best: Vaison la-Romaine: Fete de Provence
Why: I don't know whether this is recommended or not but in Vaison la-Romaine the Fete de Provence in the Medieval town is the best restaurant we went to in three weeks in southern France (and there are many good restaurants there).
Robert Consoli in Sunnyvale, CA USA 04/27/2010
Best: Arle: Le Criquet, Le 16, Le Grillon; Isle Sur la Sorgue: Les Terrasses du Bassin; Cassis: L'Oustau de la Mar; Nice: Fenocchio for ice cream, L'Authentic, La Festival de la Moule (FUN), L'Acchiardo.
Why: Good service, great food
jill in durall, CT USA 04/18/2010
Best: Arle: Le Criquet, Le 16, Le Grillon
Why: Good service, great food
jill in durall, CT USA 04/18/2010
Best: Le Roxy in Villefranche-sur-Mer
Why: Monique at Le Roxy waited on us and spoke perfect English (and 5 other languages). She was friendly and delightful and the big lunch was excellent. We also enjoyed Le Peyle in Vence and L'Authentic in Nice Etoile.
G. Sellers in Melbourne Beach, FL USA 02/09/2010
Best: Les Florets, Gigondas
Why: While my wife and I traveled around Provence and the French Riviera this summer (June-July, 2009), we stayed at several hotels and had dinner at several restaurants by following Rick's suggestions. We realized that Rick's suggestions are always right and among them Les Florets is the best hotel and restaurant. We did have a memorable stay and dinner. Thank you very much, Thierry of Les Florets, and, of course, Rick!
Ryoji Matsumoto in Funabashi, Chiba, Japan 12/20/2009
Best: La Pailotte in Arles
Why: Best dinner in Arles although all dinners in Arles were very good (also had dinner at Le 16 and Au Bryn du Thym).
Art / Karyn Lougheed in Markham, ON Candada 11/01/2009
Best: le thyme? in arles, the no. 7 restaurants in vaison, uzes
Why: as i mentioned, i left the book in france so... we loved the restaurant on the rue with the doctor's name in arles that included the word "thyme". the woman you said to put in charge of us was really great as was the staff. great food. great night. in vaison, we ate at the "number 7" locations on the map. across the street from each other, very accomodating!
s. elizabeth in philadelphia, pa USA 10/05/2009
Worst: La Mere Germaine, Chateauneuf-du-Pape
Why: This was the most expensive restaurant we ate at in our entire two weeks in the French Riviera and Provence, and it was by far the worst. It was billed as having a "happy loyal clientele", but there was not a single local person in the restaurant, and certainly nobody was happy. It really felt like a tourist trap. The only possibilities for dinner were to order from one of two or three fixed menus, each quite expensive. Our meal for two people with modest wine was around 100 euros. We would have been willing to have a little splurge after a wonderful day of touring the Cotes du Rhone wine area (and enjoying all of the other Rick Steves recommendations that we took that day), but the food itself was horrible. The meal started with cauliflower ice cream, which tasted even more horrible than it sounds. Not having the French vocabulary for "cauliflower", we didn't know what the dish would be and actually guessed by the bitter, fishy taste that it was salt cod ice cream. After taking one bite, I caught the eye of a lady sitting at the next table who had been watching to see my reaction, trying not to laugh. She said, "I can eat anything, but there is no way that I could eat THAT!" We took her cue, and our only pleasure in this meal became to watch the other diners get their cauliflower surprise and see their horrified looks after one bite. Our main courses were truly terrible and seemed not only to be prepared badly but to be made with inferior ingredients. We were both hungry still and disappointed and looking forward to our desserts, but they were also amazingly bad. When I broke the crust on my lemon tart, the filling ran all over the plate, completely uncooked. I would recommend that the guidebook reconsider including this restaurant before the next edition is published.
Robin in Palm Desert, CA USA 09/30/2009
Best: La Paillotte & Brin de Thym , Arles; l'Ovale in Nice
Why: Great food, very nice people, very affordable. the planche de charcuterie at l'Ovale was outstanding
Louis in Lorraine, PQ Canada 09/27/2009
Best: Eze Chateau
Why: We followed Rick's directions to get to the Salon de The on the "cliff overlooking the jagged Riviera and sea." He was correct in that it was the most scenic wine break we could ask for. In fact, we were the only ones there (doesn't anyone else read this guide book?) -- enjoying the beautiful view.
Pattie Laun in Ellicott City, MD USA 08/03/2009
Best: La Lyriste, Vaison la Romaine
Why: This was a wonderful place that I shall remember always. 3 courses for the sum of 18 Euro ($26). Presentation of food was, as the business card quotes, "an expression of poetry."
Worst: Festival Cafe, Vaison la Romaine
Why: While not recommended in the Provence book we did stop in for lunch upon arrival in Vaison. This restaurant has a red canopy and is about 3 doors to the right of Hotel Burrhus. The wait for our salads was about 45 minutes, when all other tables seemed to receive food much more quickly. Try instead L'Annexe Cafe, yellow awning immediately to the right of Hotel Burrhus. Attentive, friendly service, great iced coffee.
Sharron Stevens in Oberstaufenbach, Germany 07/25/2009
Best: La Terrasse
Why: Dear Rick,
Thank you. While in Nice for the Monaco Grand Prix, my friends and I found our way to La Turbie for lunch at La Terrasse with Helen and Jacques as you recommend in your book.
La Terrasse was all that you promised, and more. The food and view were spectacular, as were Helen and Jacques. Jacques showed us a photo of one of the Formula One drivers who was there that morning for coffee. (Fernando Alonso) He must have read your book and figured it was a refuge from the tourists. Helen and Jacques were very thankful to you and mentioned you called recently.
Of course, we also had socca in Old Nice from the same woman that appeared in your PBS show.
I am a loyal fan of your PBS series and love your books. I promise to keep on traveling. You just need to keep on writing and doing your shows on PBS.
Thank you again.
Vincent Carlesimo
P.S. Restaurant le Pre Sale in Brussels was another great recommendation that I enjoyed on a previous trip.
Vincent Carlesimo in Sea Girt, NJ USA 05/28/2009
Best: L'ovale on rue Pastorelli in Nice
Why: Food was very good! Our guide arranged our last trip meal for 20 people here on our experience and your recommendation. We were all pleased and were told you had been in the week before. Friendly owners.
Pauline Tarantino in Greendale, WI USA 05/10/2009
Best: Restaurant Les Artistes, Avignon
Why: It was the only recommended restaurant I ate at, and its 16 euro menu was a lot of food. It was completely empty at 7:00 pm, though!
Kyla Gurganus in Ypsilanti, MI USA 01/02/2009