Café de Nice — Restaurant in Nice

Great service, good food, but marred by second-hand smoke

We had a generally positive experience at Café de Nice, and I’d happily return—though with a small caveat. The service was excellent: the staff were immediately engaging and very willing to serve, which made us feel genuinely welcomed from the moment we arrived.

The food was good, with generous portion sizes that left us satisfied. Pricing was on par with most restaurants in the area—nothing extravagant, but not a bargain either. A highlight was the outdoor seating, which offered a lovely way to enjoy the city’s vibe and energy while dining.

However, one major drawback was the lack of designated smoking and non-smoking areas. While dining with children, we were unfortunately seated next to chain smokers, which significantly affected our experience. The staff was quick to respond to our request to move, which we appreciated—but our new table was, regrettably, still close to another group of smokers. So much impacted that I didn’t even feel like taking photos of the food we ordered. Just wanted to finish up and leave!

As non-smokers, this made it hard to fully enjoy what could have been a spectacular dining experience. A simple improvement—creating a clear section for smokers and another for smoke-free dining—would go a long way in making the space more comfortable for all guests, especially families.

All in all, a solid 4-star experience with room for improvement in...

The positive: location is very good, lots of seating available, waiters very attentive and smiley and service was fast, which we appreciated. Free appetiser with olive spread was tasty, and they provided us with free tap water for the table. Good value.

The neutral: the food was a mixed bag… we ordered mussels, octopus and creme brûlée. Octopus was delicious and came with chunky fries and an intense tomato sauce. The mussels were disappointing: super small and the sauce lacking much flavour. The creme brûlée was delicious and had a crunchy sugary top. The seating could be a bit more cosy because the lights were very white and bright.

Now the bad: They made a “mistake” on our bill: instead of charging for a glass of wine, they put an entire bottle which added an extra €21 to our bill. We checked our bill carefully, realised this extra charge and pointed it out to the staff. They did not seem surprised of this error and immediately took away the wrong bill and presented us with the right one. It could be an innocent mistake, or it could be a trick they use on unsuspecting tourists to charge them extra. I guess we will never know for sure, but they definitely reacted reallllly fast like they knew it was wrong and were not surprised that there was a mistake… so that left us feeling a bit “scammed” and brought down the entire experience.

So diners: be sure to check every item...

I visited this restaurant about a week ago, whilst on holiday. I chose it based off of reviews. I was hoping for some really good French food and was prepared to pay extra for it. I have visited France many times. I know French food. I ordered from the set menu. I had French onion soup. Can’t complain that was nice. Just as a side note I didn’t need the bread as there was already croutons in the soup and to have a basket of bread (as well as two additional courses) seems like a bit of a waste. I then had steak and chips. The steak was fine, the chips were fine. I did ask for peppercorn sauce, that was not good. It was extremely bland- had barely any taste and very liquid. I had to ask for mustard. Still paid for the peppercorn sauce (it’s not included in the meal). Finally I had a lemon and orange tiramisu. I like the idea of that and it was good, not amazing. But a bit irritating that there was only two options for dessert- pannacota or the tiramisu. And what’s annoying is when I arrived (granted it was later during the lunch time period) I could see people eating other deserts. (Oh also others arrived after me for food and I noticed one gent was being particularly well taken care of by the staff). I felt a bit dissatisfied by the food and the waiters were not overly impressed with my presence- however the waitress was more friendly and helpful. I probably...