In this article, we share with you our opinions on what we consider to be the best restaurants in and around Étretat.
Located in a valley, the restaurant offer is necessarily limited. But, there are several good addresses, with exceptional views of the mythical cliffs and a cuisine to match the landscape.
You can taste a cuisine directly inspired by the sea and you can regularly enjoy it with good Norman cheeses.
BEFORE OUR TIPS + PHOTOS
HERE ARE OUR favorites on the Côte d’Albâtre
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Must-See: Etretat gardens
Unforgettable: Helicopter flight over the cliffs
Our favorite places to stay:
Étretat: Hôtel Le Donjon – see photos and availability
Le Havre: Hilton Hotel – see photos and availability
Fécamp: Hôtel Le Grand Pavois – see photos and availability
This selection is completely independent, we ate anonymously and paid our bills in full.
The starred restaurant in Étretat
1. Le restaurant du donjon – Domaine Saint-Clair (1 star)
Nestled on the heights of Étretat (upstream cliff), this manor was built in 1862 in a rather surprising and offbeat medieval style by the Parisian journalist Zacharie Dollingen. It reflects the taste for theater and human comedy so common in France’s burgeoning seaside resorts in the second half of the 19th century.
Anxious to preserve this originality, the owners of the place since 1978, the Abodib family, have entrusted the decoration of the hotel’s gastronomic restaurant to the stylist Jean Charles De Castelbajac, one of the great names of French fashion.
The menu has just as much character, with the radical choice of a menu that focuses solely on seafood. Chef Gabin Bouguet, a native of the Pays de Caux, gets his supplies every day from the fish market in the nearby port of Fécamp and combines scallops, whelks and sea urchins with the good vegetables of our countryside.
Gabin Bouguet, a genuine enthusiast, was awarded the prize of“great of tomorrow” for the Normandy region in 2022. To be continued… and closely followed!
If you also want to sleep at the Donjon, our article about the night we spent in this charming hotel in Étretat with many pictures.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: upstream cliff
- Type: gastronomic
- Capacity: more than 25 place settings
- Price range: +55 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
The restaurants in the cliffs of Étretat
When you come to Étretat, it is usually because you have heard about its limestone cliffs, which struggle desperately against the stormy sea. Even if it’s not mandatory, you might as well enjoy the view while eating!
2. The golf restaurant
The address of the Étretat golf clubhouse restaurant is being passed around among many families in the region. Ideally situated on the downstream cliff, it offers breathtaking views of the cliffs and a friendly, uncluttered setting for Sunday family meals.
The cuisine is of good quality, although a little bit too good for our taste. The menu changes every month and the quality/price/view ratio seems unbeatable.
For several years, we have had a soft spot for their perfectly prepared scallops caught not far from Etrétat. It is rare for Claire to deviate from this Proust’s madeleine.
We assure you that you will not soon forget this meal with the sea as a horizon, bordered delicately by the beautiful cliffs of Étretat. Truly beautiful and inspiring!
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: downstream cliff
- Type: traditional
- Capacity: more than 25 place settings
- Price range: -+40€.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: yes
- Reservation
3. The Dormy House
If you’re not in the mood for golf, you’ll find the charming Dormy House Hotel and Restaurant a little further up the coast. The old “Villa Vassoigne” was first owned by the Count of Montault, before becoming the property of the French general Eli, Jean de Vassoigne. He acquired this beautiful house on the occasion of his marriage in 1866 to the daughter of the playwright Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois, who contributed greatly to the fame of Étretat. Converted into an auxiliary hospital during the First World War, the villa became a hotel in 1950.
On sunny days (but yes, it can be sunny in Étretat too), thepleasant terrace offers a beautiful view of the town and the cliffs above.
2 restaurants welcome you all year long:
- The Dormy’s bistro, with a simple and efficient menu that gives pride of place to local products: fish from Fécamp, Normandy cheeses made from raw milk (of course), and crème brûlée with Benedictine (a liqueur made at the Benedictine abbey in Fécamp).
- The traditional restaurant proposes a more demanding menu, with the sure values of French gastronomy (ceps, scallops, Aquitaine caviar…) cooked with a touch of audacity (did you know the Norman beef au gratin with Gorgonzola?). And we like that!
The wine list offers some very fine references (the problem is choosing) in Burgundy and even some old vintages in Bordeaux.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: upstream cliff
- Type: gastronomic and bistro
- Capacity: more than 25 place settings
- Price range: + 40€.
- Specialty of Normandy: yes
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation at the restaurant
WHERE TO STAY IN Étretat
Option 1: on the cliffs
We recommend..:
- Hotel Le Donjon Domaine Saint Clair with lots of charm – see prices, photos and availability
- Hotel Dormi House and its magnificent views – see prices, photos and availability
Option 2: in the center
We recommend..:
- B&B Les Tilleuls Etretat, close to the sea and easy to reach – see prices, photos and availability
- Hotel Le Rayon Vert, facing the sea – see prices, photos and availability
Option 3: in the surrounding countryside
We recommend..:
- Hotel Les Pins de César, in a green setting – see prices, photos and availability
Restaurants in the center of Etretat
4. Restaurant le Bel ami
Owned by the Abodib family, who also run the Donjon – Domaine de Saint Clair, the Bel Ami offers a radically different experience. Located right in the center of Étretat, the restaurant offers a friendly, urban and youthful atmosphere, with a daring mix of colors and styles. A special mention for the dessert plates, imitation wood trunk and for the club chair, ideal for a nap after a good meal.
In the kitchen, the chef Loic Lourmière proposes a short menu to guarantee short circuits and seasonal products. The Lebanese origins of the owners give us the opportunity to share delicious mezzes and to allow ourselves nice spicy touches in the dishes.
The restaurant carefully selects its producers, most of whom are located in Normandy. We share some with them, like the Maison Argentain, our favorite greengrocer in Le Havre.
The selection of wines by the glass is consistent with the menu. We do not try to impress, and we carefully select more confidential appellations with a strong character. Our favorite is the Savennières from Damien Laureau, one of our favorite white wines in the Loire.
And finally, if you are wondering, the restaurant owes its name to the French author Guy de Maupassant who owned the house La Guillette in Etrétat and contributed to the fame of the young seaside resort.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: center
- Type: trendy kitchen
- Capacity: more than 25 place settings
- Price range: +40 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
5. Restaurant Le Clos Lupin
Étretat has inspired many French writers since the 19th century, but it owes much of its current fame to Maurice Leblanc and his favourite character Arsène Lupin, the gentleman burglar. Especially since Netflix got hold of it, as you probably know. We believe that reading theHollow Needle should be mandatory before any stay in the city!
With the Clos Lupin restaurant, rest assured, there is little chance of being ripped off. The menu is on the slate. Quite classic, it reserves some nice surprises, like the raviole of piglet with its cider juice or the pan-fried pineapple with spices topped with a citrus caramel.
In the kitchen, it is Cyrille Huglin who previously ran the kitchens at the Golf Clubhouse for several years.
The service is pleasant, the decoration sober and the success is there. As the restaurant does not take reservations, we strongly advise you to arrive early to get a table.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: center
- Type: traditional
- Capacity: less than 25 covers
- Price range: from 20 to 40 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Read more
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6. Restaurant La Flotille
As sometimes the weather is capricious, you can choose to come and warm up by the fireplace of the restaurant La Flotille. Located in a beautiful house in the center of Etretat, with exposed beams, this restaurant is a family restaurant adapted to all budgets.
In addition to contributing to the atmosphere of the restaurant, the fireplace is used to cook the beautiful pieces of meat (rump steak, andouillette de Troyes, old-fashioned sausage…) or the fish of our coasts. But you can also be tempted by a mussel stew or a buckwheat cake (with a mention for the copious Normandy tartiflette, with camembert and andouille de Vire!)
And don’t forget that at La Flotille restaurant: we peel, we slice, we emulsify, we cut vegetables, we deglaze, we blanch, we fry, we sear, we gut fish, we dress. In short, at La Flotille, we cook and everything is homemade! We can only agree with this litany that the restaurant proudly displays on its front.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: center
- Type: brewery
- Capacity: more than 25 place settings
- Price range: from 10 to 40 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: yes
- Particularly suitable for children: yes
- Read more
Best seafood restaurants in Étretat
7. Restaurant L’huîtrière
Ideally located on the sea front, at the foot of the cliff, the restaurant L’huîtrière is an institution in Étretat. It was one of our grandparents’ favorite tables when they wanted a seafood platter.
The restaurant room boasts an incredible panoramic view, allowing you to enjoy both upstream and downstream cliffs, with fishing boats at your feet.
Even if the menu offers a wider choice, one comes to the Huitrière especially for its seafood platterswhich classically combine oysters, shrimps, scampi, whelks and periwinkles. But you can also be tempted by a blue lobster chosen in the restaurant’s fish tank or by scallops accompanied by a black truffle risotto.
The wine list features white wines from the Loire region, which offer a wide range to accompany seafood: from the characteristic hand-harvested Muscadet Sèvre et Maine from Domaine de la Haute Févrie to the elegant Sancerre from Philippe Raimbault.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: center
- Type: bistronomic and seafood
- Capacity: more than 25 place settings
- Price range: +40 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
8. Restaurant La Marie-Antoinette
It is difficult to make a shorter circuit than at the restaurant La Marie-Antoinette. It is indeed the restaurant of the fish shop “Les périssoires” which is located on the opposite sidewalk!
If you’re wondering, the perissoire is a small pleasure canoe that was very popular in Europe in the 19th century, before the advent of the canoe. A marine carpenter perpetuates the tradition in Étretat by producing each year a dozen of these small boats.
Logically, the menu gives pride of place to all seafood products, available on platters, but also in salads, carpaccio, soup or cooked with a few spices or hints of truffles!
You can also be tempted by a blue lobster (between 500 and 800g) or try the French caviar.
Note that the restaurant is one of the few in Étretat to offer an à la carte vegetarian plate.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: center
- Type: fish and seafood
- Capacity: less than 25 covers
- Price range: 20 to 50 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: no
- Particularly suitable for children: no
- Reservation
OUR ADVICE FOR RENTING A CAR IN Normandy
- Compare prices on our preferred platform: DiscoverCars – one of the best rated sites.
- Choose a car that is comfortable enough (distances can be long) but compact (some parking lots and villages are narrow).
- Think of thecomplete insurance (some roads are tortuous and narrow).
- There is a lot of demand, book it early.
Best restaurants for a healthy and cheap lunch in Étretat
If you want to eat healthy and without breaking the bank, the crêperie remains a safe bet. You can be sure that everything is fresh and you can often compose the patties according to your dietary constraints. A good option, as Étretat offers a very good crêperie in the center.
9. Creperie Lann-Bihoue
When Brittany settles in Normandy, it gives the creperie Lann-Bihoué. Located in the center of Etretat, recently renovated, it has an interior terrace in addition to the restaurant room.
On the menu, next to the traditional galettes, a tempting proposal of galettes with a taste of Normandy The “Vallée d’Auge” will marry camembert with roasted apples and caramel, the “Angelots” will make you discover 3 of the 4 AOP cheeses of our beautiful region (Livarot, Pont l’évêque and Camembert) when “la Coquillard” will propose, in season, shells fished in the bay of the Seine or on our sides with its leek fondue.
For the desserts, as you are in Étretat, let yourself be tempted by the Lupin pancake (in homage to the gentleman burglar character of Maurice Leblanc) with caramelized apples, frangipane and hot chocolate! But you can also opt for the Trou à l’homme (named after the hole in the cliff where dizzy tourists take refuge when the tide rises) which combines white and dark chocolate.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: center
- Type: light catering
- Capacity: more than 25 place settings
- Price range: -20
- Specialty of Normandy: yes
- Particularly suitable for children: yes
- Discover the map
10. Restaurant l’Essentiel
We are on a very small address, as we like them, with only a few tables to welcome you. If you want a little more space, feel free to take away and go to the beach which is just a few steps away.
As its name suggests, here we go to the essential, but we still offer a little originality. We appreciate the buckwheat pancake with ham on the bone and neufchâtel, a delicious AOP cheese from Normandy.
One can also be tempted by a salad with endives and Pont-l’Évêque which will awaken the taste buds of cheese lovers. Or by sandwiches made on demand and which combine the good products of the Norman soil.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: center
- Type: light catering
- Capacity: less than 25 covers
- Price range: -20
- Specialty of Normandy: yes
- Particularly suitable for children: yes
PLAN YOUR STAY IN Etretat
- What to do in Étretat
- Where to stay in Étretat
- Where to eat in Étretat
- The gardens of Étretat – coming soon
- The beach of Étretat – coming soon
Best restaurants near Étretat
11. Restaurant La Falaise in Yport
As much as Étretat is grandiose, Yport is discreet and cosy. Located between Fécamp and Étretat, this former small fishing port, now a seaside resort, has something deeply endearing to us.
And the restaurant La Falaise fits the spirit of the city. The atmosphere is definitely friendly, the cuisine generous, but has that little something extra that makes us come back.
The menu is on the slate and often changes according to the market and the seasons, and the chef brings little touches of Normandy in his dishes, whether it is his mussels with cider, or his tartlet with andouille and camembert.
The dishes sound like home, with a rump steak with pepper sauce or beef tongue with pickle sauce. You can feel the pleasure of the whole team of the restaurant, around the chef Benoit Argentin, to offer you a good moment in their company.
Practical information
- Neighborhood: center
- Type: home cooking
- Capacity: more than 25 covers (with the terrace)
- Price range: 20 to 40€.
- Specialty of Normandy: yes
- Particularly suitable for children: yes
- See the news of the restaurant
12. Restaurant Le Belvédère
One of the most beautiful panoramas of the Albatre coast, with the restaurant Belvèdère located at Saint Jouin de Bruneval. While its location above the oil harbor of Antifer-Le Havre may discourage some people, we like to walk regularly in Saint Jouin de Bruneval, at the foot of the particularly colorful cliffs at this place of the coast, under the protection of the lighthouse of Antifer.
In addition to the splendid view, the cuisine is based on local products, such as veal kidneys flambéed with calvados or stuffed guinea fowl medallions au gratin with livarot, a Normandy PDO cheese that adapts very well to sauces.
For dessert, let yourself be tempted by a Cauchois dessert with apples and Saint Honoré cream or a chocolate cake with a bergamot heart.
The wine list is of high quality, with a very large selection of the most beautiful appellations of our different French wine regions.
Practical information:
- Neighborhood: countryside
- Type: traditional superior
- Capacity: more than 25 covers
- Price range: +40 €.
- Specialty of Normandy: yes
- Particularly suitable for children: no
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Other restaurants where to eat in Étretat
They did not make it into our top 12, but these restaurants are also good places to try during your stay in Étretat.
- Restaurant Le Bistretatais: a small brasserie in the heart of Étretat that offers a wide choice of dishes from the à la carte menu and a menu with the catch of the day. Book
- Restaurant Le Romain d’Étretat: just because you are in Normandy doesn’t mean you can’t be tempted by an Italian restaurant where the pizzas seem to be unanimously appreciated. Book
- Restaurant Le Galion: if you have ever walked around Étretat you must have noticed this Manor House which houses the Hotel de la Salamandre and the restaurant Le Galion. This 14th-century manor house was originally built in Evreux, in the neighboring Eure department, before being moved and rebuilt in Étretat. The menu is very classic and its cuisine divides the customers.
- Hotel-restaurant Normand (Yport): another nice address in the nearby town of Yport, with the restaurant of the hotel Normand which mixes spices with local Normandy products. The chicken casserole will be Thai style while the beef will be pan-fried with Kampot red pepper. Book
- Restaurant Le Vicomté (Fécamp): direction the port of Fécamp, for a small very nice restaurant which proposes only a menu of the day with fresh products and an authentic cooking. We eat a calf’s head with gribiche sauce surrounded by posters and cartoons.
PLAN YOUR TRIP TO Normandy
Inspiration destinations
- Deciding where to go in Normandy – the best destinations
- Our weekend ideas: best-of, romantic, unusual, seaside, luxury, family
- 16 seaside hotels in Normandy
- The most beautiful charming hotels in Normandy
Best of
Practice
- Where to stay in Normandy – best places and hotels
- See our tips for renting a car at CDG airport, Orly airport, Beauvais airport, Caen, Rouen, Bayeux…
