Visited for Dinner on May 26, 2022
Once my friend Jennika and I had bought our flight to Nice, she immediately started scoping out fun restaurants to try. She stumbled across Le Plongeoir from a video she saw on TikTok and shared it with me. We were both in awe of the little island restaurant and booked us a reservation for the second night we were in-town. I mean take a look at these photos! Here is a video when walking up to Le Plongeoir. It’s just as incredible to see in person as the photos show.
We were staying in Old Town Nice, which isn’t too far from the restaurant. If you like to walk, you can easily do so in about 30 minutes. We opted to take an Uber there and walk back.
When arriving at Le Plongeoir, the restaurant looks just darling. It is positioned perfectly on a rock outstretched into the ocean, connected by a manmade walkway.
You travel down the walkway and if you look down, you’ll see that they also have tables (and a bar area) below. So, if you forget to make a reservation or want to pop over for a quick drink, you can likely do so.
To get to the restaurant, you’ll head upstairs. Now, I’ll say that the owners / designers really did not plan well because directly at the top of the stairs is a speaker hanging about 5.5 feet high.
So, when I walked up the stairs I hit my head squarely on it (and not lightly). Through the time we were at the restaurant, I watched person after person hit their heads on the speaker – so just please be careful! Also – if the restaurant ever reads this, please move that speaker!
Walking in, you can’t beat the view. Really, there isn’t a bad seat in the place for the view. That said, they initially tried to seat my friend and I at a table right at the top of the stairs, with the edge of the chair just a few feet in front of the stairs. It did not feel safe / comfortable to sit there, so we asked to be moved. The staff in the restaurant were actually a bit rude and dismiss-missive, even though there were quite a few empty tables. So, I went down to the host to ask and eventually we were accommodated.
Click here to see a video of the view from our seats 🙂
The ambiance of the outdoor restaurant is classy, but it doesn’t pull in a Parisian crowd. What I mean is that the clientele (from what we could tell) were entirely American tourists! We talked with folks from the surrounding tables and near everyone had found out about the restaurant from some type of social media. That said, there were folks from all across the states (Illinois, Los Angeles, etc.) so that was nice. Some families and also parties of friends out on vacation.
We ordered a bottle of wine to share (Domaine Toasc, 2021 – AOP Bellet €59 – nice, crisp and stone fruit flavors) and the ‘Beef tomatoes, buratta, vinaigrette with herbs’ to share (€25). The tomato was cooked alright (it was still a bit hard in the center), but the burrata was nice, creamy and thick. With the large amount of burrata to tomato ratio, there was plenty to spread on-top of the home-made sourdough rolls, which were our favorite.
During the first course, we weren’t super impressed with the servers, but the owner seemed to be the friendliest. When he came over, he was engaging, but as soon as he left, we felt again like we were invisible. Usually at a place you want to be left alone, but each time we had a need and I tried to flag someone (for additional sourdough rolls (which were yum), refills on water, etc.), the servers would ignore us, which was frustrating since there were like three folks on the floor at most times.
For the main, we both ordered the risotto carnaroli (with seasonal vegetables & aged parmesan shavings €32). It looked beautiful (as you can see). The problem was, it was lacking flavor. Not a dish I would recommend or order again. The most flavorful things were the vegetable toppings and shave parmesan. The risotto was entirely flavorless, we expected more. So, we decided that we wouldn’t worry about it and instead hang out, enjoy the rest of our wine, and have dessert in Old Nice on our walk back.
As the sun-set, the view just became better and better. It truly is an incredible setting to sit and enjoy the experience. There is a time limit (they have dining & reservation windows), so we were told our time was just about up after about an hour and a half.
Overall, I wouldn’t say that the experience at Le Plongeoir was bad, I would just say that it is very hyped. You truly can’t beat the experience of dining on a restaurant island during the sunset on the French riviera! I mean, that just sounds as delightful as the experience was, but the food and service did not make us feel like returning. Location & setting: full 5-stars. Food & service, 2 & 3 stars respectively. So, my overall rating for Le Plongeoir is 3 stars. Go for the view & experience, and share a light meal. You can grab something at better value (and flavor) in-town later.
~Jeremy
