10 Best Restaurants in Provence, France

This laid-back gourmet bistro set on a pedestrian street a stone’s throw from the beach is your best choice in town (and beyond) for a reliably delicious meal. Every effort is made to source high-quality local ingredients for dishes like zucchini gazpacho with mint and zucchini flowers, roasted catch of the day with vegetable risotto, and strawberry soup for dessert (in season, of course). Your wine-enthusiast chef also sources more than 200 southern wines from biodynamic and responsible vineyards, and the staff is delighted to help you discover local gems. Whether seated in the pleasant dining room or out on the terrace, this is the ideal place to linger over lunch or dinner.

Open since 1830, this chic bistro perched on a stony outcrop at the heights of Les Baux‘s old town has had lots of time to perfect its game. You’ll dine on French stalwarts, featuring grilled aged beef and seafood, accompanied by breathtaking panoramas of the Baux valley through wraparound windows.

This ultrapopular eatery on the edge of Old Town consistently serves fresh, locally sourced cuisine with a price-to-quality ratio that keeps the locals coming back. Imaginative dishes like pot au feu de coquilles St-Jacques (stewed scallops and vegetables) and mussels in saffron broth are ample and served with flair. The set menus at lunch (€24, three courses) and dinner (€38 or €48 for four courses) are a bargain. Choose between a table on the umbrella-shaded terrace or one in the pleasantly unpretentious dining room.

Like many restaurants in Provence, this one has a pleasantly shaded terrace with a view, but it also offers truly warm and welcoming service and consistently good food. Alongside hearty dishes like cod with aïoli and grilled vegetables, Iberian pork with chestnuts and whipped potatoes, or classic roasted duck breast, the menu features plenty of fresh, inventive salads—not always easy to find—like wild salmon with shrimp, melon, and tomato confit. At €18, the two-course lunch is just the thing.

A popular place for lunch or dinner, this modern bistro and terrace in the heart of the old town draws a lively mix of locals, expats, and tourists looking for authentic market-driven meals. A small but satisfying menu is generously laced with local delicacies—savory ragoût of wild boar, cod with pureed local vegetables and tapenade-laden croutons, and poached-egg cocotte with foie gras cream and turmeric-balsamic toast. A generous wine list offers plenty of local choices by the glass, and the dessert tray in the window—another big draw—features tantalizing concoctions, like a classic chantilly-topped baba al rhum (a small cake made with rum syrup) and creamy tarte au citron (a lemon tart). Service can be slow, but it's always friendly.

An open kitchen, a chalkboard menu, a bright terrace, and friendly service combine to create a laid-back atmosphere here, but, when it comes to the food, chef Nicolas Epiard is on his toes, serving up traditional local cuisine with flair and exuberance. Try dishes like the meltingly tender, slow-cooked bull with wild morels and a puree of root vegetables or the sea bass with savory herb pistou (Provence's answer to pesto) and crisp vegetables. Desserts might include fig crumble or white chocolate mousse. A refreshing rosé (the locally influenced wine list has plenty of choices by the glass) is the perfect accompaniment to an exemplary meal that's easy on the wallet.

If the happy, perennially buzzing crowd is any indication, there's something right going on at this chic but casual bistro featuring an eclectic, market menu with options that ranges from healthy salads to elevated snack food (gourmet hot dogs) to French classics (steak tartare). Seafood takes front and center in dishes like coquilles St-Jacques, towering shellfish platters, and local specialties like bourride de lotte (a less fussy version of bouillabaisse). The fenced-in garden, overlooking the market square, is open year-round.

The comfortable but nondescript interiors of this unpretentious eatery tucked in a 16th-century stone building in Les Baux’s old town are offset by a lovely outdoor terrace. If you’re not sure, check out the blackboard menu posted out front, or take our word that you’ll dine very well here on seasonal dishes made with quality ingredients and cooked or grilled to perfection.

You’re in excellent hands at this wine bar and “bistronomic” (bistro with gastronomic cuisine) dining room helmed by two accomplished chefs and set in a restored 18th-century inn in St-Saturnin-lès-Apt, a hilltop village 9 km (5½ miles) north of Apt. Cozy up to the old-fashioned wooden zinc bar for a homemade pastry and coffee, lunch, a snack, or a glass of wine expertly chosen from the Provence region and beyond. In the refined dining room (or balcony terrace), expect a casual bistro menu at lunch, but at dinnertime the linens and candles come out for a gourmet meal accompanied by spectacular views. All the ingredients, including the meats, artisan cheeses, and market-fresh fruits and veggies support local, sustainable, and organic agriculture.

Claude and Dana Douard collaborated with some of the greatest chefs of our time before getting away from the big city lights to open this bistro–wine bar hot spot in the center of St-Rémy. The wine selection is magnificent, and so is the simple food—try the grilled sea bass with chorizo, mashed potatoes, and seasonal vegetables or the grilled Mont Ventoux spiced pork.