Le Louis XV, Alain Ducasse's three-star dining room in Monte-Carlo

Most people who look up Alain Ducasse and Monaco end up, sooner or later, at this dining room. Le Louis XV is inside the Hôtel de Paris, on Casino Square, and it’s the only restaurant in Monaco with three Michelin stars in the 2026 guide. Here’s what it really costs according to the house itself, when it opens, how to dress and what I’d order.

The first hotel restaurant with three stars

The story the Société des Bains de Mer tells is short and to the point. Ducasse was 33 and the restaurant had been open for 33 months when it became the first hotel restaurant to hold three Michelin stars. The Michelin Guide adds a detail that tells me even more, the «Jardins de Provence» vegetable menu, launched here on 27 May 1987, which put vegetables at the centre of the plate.

Today Ducasse, a Monegasque citizen according to Michelin, runs more than 30 restaurants worldwide, and the daily cooking at Le Louis XV is led by Emmanuel Pilon, his right-hand man. Desserts are by Sandro Micheli. The house describes its style as Mediterranean and «natural», built on produce from small farmers, fishermen and livestock breeders along the Riviera, with intense broths and lively jus.

What does a meal at Le Louis XV cost?

There are only three official prices, all per person. The Riviera Lunch, on Friday and Saturday at midday, lets you pick three courses from the carte, one starter, one main and one dessert, for €230 without drinks, or €300 if you add two glasses of wine plus water and coffee. The Agape, served at lunch or dinner, brings together four smaller courses chosen by Pilon, the cheese trolley and the dessert of your choice, for €420 without drinks. Among the dishes the SBM mentions are Sanremo prawns with caviar and wood-fired sea bass.

I’m keeping quiet on the à la carte dinner price. A €290 menu circulates on an unofficial website, and the SBM doesn’t confirm it, so I won’t treat it as real. If you’d like other starred tables in town, they’re sorted from cheapest to dearest in my guide to dining in Monaco.

The wine, right beneath your feet

Part of the experience isn’t on the plate. The Hôtel de Paris cellars, dug out in 1874 twelve metres below the square, hold over 300,000 bottles across 1,500 m², and in 2026 they received Wine Spectator’s Best of Award of Excellence. That’s where your glass comes from. The SBM doesn’t publish a priced wine list, so I’d order the Riviera Lunch with its two included glasses, €70 more than without, and let the sommelier team choose. It’s the way to taste that cellar without risking a bill you can’t control.

Days, hours and that jacket

Dinner runs Tuesday to Saturday, from 19:30 with last service at 21:15. Lunch is Friday and Saturday only, between 12:15 and 13:30. Sunday and Monday, closed. That combination catches a lot of people out, because anyone arriving in Monaco on a Tuesday hoping for lunch here goes without.

The dress rule is clear. Smart clothes at every service and a jacket compulsory at dinner all year. When the terrace opens, the house says a jacket is still «appreciated». Dogs aren’t allowed, the restaurant is accessible for people with reduced mobility, and there’s valet parking.

For British visitors, one more thing on paying. If the card terminal offers to charge you in pounds, pick euros and let your own bank convert it, which is the rule I’d apply to any bill in Monaco. The details are in money and payments in Monaco.

How to book

The restaurant runs its own bookings, by phone on +377 98 06 88 64 or through the booking button on its page of the SBM website. There’s no third-party platform in between, and I wouldn’t pay any middleman for a table you can get directly. If your date is a Friday or Saturday lunch, I’d book weeks ahead, because there are only two lunches a week.

Is it worth it?

For me, yes, on one condition, going at lunchtime. The Riviera Lunch puts you in the same room with the same kitchen for a little over half the price of the Agape, and without the jacket requirement. It’s the food treat I’d pay for in Monaco, and I set it alongside the others in luxury experiences in Monaco.

I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t enjoy a long, ceremonial meal, or to someone visiting midweek with no chance of dining in a jacket. In that case, Le Grill, up on the same hotel’s eighth floor, opens every day and holds one star. And if you prefer a counter to tablecloths, Pavyllon at the Hôtel Hermitage also opens daily.

If you decide to make a night of it, sleeping upstairs is the easy option. What the Hôtel de Paris offers and what it charges is on its own page, and the gaming rooms across the square are covered in the Monte Carlo Casino.