Café de Paris Monte-Carlo, with the menu in hand

Some terraces you pay for because of what’s on the plate and some because of what’s in front of you. The Café de Paris is firmly the second kind, and I don’t mean that unkindly. It sits on Casino Square in Monte-Carlo with the Casino opposite and the Hôtel de Paris next door, and the SBM, which owns it, says it has been the beating heart of Monaco for 150 years. What follows is what’s on the menu, what it really costs and what I’d order depending on the time of day.

A Paris brasserie with a Riviera view

The SBM calls it a Parisian brasserie on Mediterranean soil, and the menu backs that up. There’s French onion soup, Burgundy snails, steak tartare with chips, calf’s liver, sole meunière and crêpes Suzette, alongside Riviera dishes like Niçoise salad, courgette flower fritters and Monegasque barbajuans. The chef is Victor Marion, whose motto is simplicity to bring people pleasure.

It’s open every day from 08:00 to 01:00 without a break, so it does breakfast as happily as a late supper after the opera. Inside there are two floors, a ground-floor brasserie and a more intimate room above it lit by a skylight, but the terrace is the whole point. For everything else around this part of town, see my guide to Monte-Carlo.

What does a meal at the Café de Paris actually cost?

Prices on the 2026 summer menu include tax and service, and they’re Casino Square prices. Starters are mostly €30 to €40, pasta starts at €37, fish runs from €43 up to €94 for the sole, and a 300 g Angus ribeye is €72. Six Monaco oysters are €42. Puddings sit between €12 and €25.

Two rules are worth knowing before you sit down. Everyone has to order at least a main or two starters, and the menu lists no coffee, so I can’t tell you what an espresso costs here. There’s a €30 children’s menu for under-12s with a main, a pudding and a syrup drink. On paying, service is already built in, so any tip is a genuine extra. And if the terminal suggests sterling, pick euros. I explain why in money and paying in Monaco.

Timing your visit

To me the Café de Paris changes character with the clock. Mid-morning it’s calm, good for a drink while people drift to and from the Casino, which opens its rooms to sightseers in the morning. At lunch it fills up and the minimum order kicks in, so either eat properly or come back later.

My favourite hour is early evening. Order a glass of Perrier-Jouët at €25, or the Golden Hour cocktail at €19, and watch the Casino façade and the gardens light up. If you’re going into the Casino afterwards, the times, the €20 entry and what to wear are all in visiting the Monte-Carlo Casino.

Not to be confused with the Casino Café de Paris

This catches a lot of people out. The SBM runs two casinos in Monaco, the Casino de Monte-Carlo and the Casino Café de Paris, which is on the same square but isn’t the brasserie. It’s a gaming room with 360 slot machines plus blackjack, punto banco, roulette and poker tables. Entry is free, but only for over-18s with an original ID card or passport, no photocopies or digital ID. Slots run from 10:00, tables from 16:00, and they ask for relaxed elegance, so no beachwear or tracksuits. If you’re eating, it’s the brasserie. If you fancy a flutter without paying to get in, it’s the casino.

My picks, and one I’d skip

If I could only have one thing, it would be the barbajuans. Ten pieces of fried pastry filled with Swiss chard and Parmesan for €19, the most Monegasque dish on the card and easy to share. I explain what they are, and where else to try them, in my guide to Monaco’s food. For pudding, the crêpes Suzette flambéed at the table for €25 are the house party piece.

The one I’d skip is the sole. It’s well made and very brasserie, but at €94 I’d walk to the other corner of the square instead. The Friday and Saturday lunch at Alain Ducasse’s Le Louis XV costs €230 with three Michelin stars, and I think that’s the better use of the money. I’d pass on the Niçoise too, a Nice dish that’s far cheaper in Nice.

Is the Café de Paris worth it?

As an experience, yes. As a place to eat on a budget, no, and it doesn’t pretend otherwise. The Michelin Guide lists it without a star in its top price band, which sums it up nicely. I’d use it for the part of the trip where you want to feel Monte-Carlo without paying for a palace hotel, a drink, some barbajuans and half an hour of watching the square.

For better food for less money, the Condamine market and the restaurants up on the Rock do the job, and I rank them by budget in my guide to eating out in Monaco. If you’d rather sleep a few steps away and dine here without watching the clock, the obvious neighbour is the Hôtel de Paris.