Restaurant in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France
One star, two visits, clear value.
La Table d'Olivier holds a Michelin star (2024) and a 4.8 Google rating in the centre of Brive-la-Gaillarde — and at €€€, it is among the most competitively priced starred restaurants in the Corrèze. Pierre and Fanny run both the kitchen and the room with serious intent. Book well ahead; this is hard to get into and worth the effort.
La Table d'Olivier is worth booking — and worth booking twice. This Michelin one-star in the centre of Brive-la-Gaillarde holds a 4.8 on Google across 444 reviews, which is unusually consistent for a restaurant at this price tier. At €€€, it is one of the most competitively priced starred restaurants in the Corrèze. If you are already planning a trip through the region, this should anchor your itinerary, not fill a spare evening.
The case for a second visit is built into how the kitchen operates. Pierre runs the savoury courses; his partner Fanny, a pastry chef, runs front-of-house and dessert. That division of labour means the meal has two distinct identities — the savoury side pushes into modern French technique (poached oysters, marinated seabass with citrus, veal scallop with chanterelle ravioles and black garlic), while the dessert sequence is its own event, with chocolate, pecan, clementine, and citrus sorbet combinations that Michelin's own notes flag as worth the visit alone. On a first visit, you are absorbing both. On a second, you can focus.
The room itself is a stone town house with modern furnishings and designer lighting , the kind of space that reads differently depending on whether you arrive for lunch or dinner. Lunch brings natural light through the stone surrounds; dinner shifts into a more intimate register. Both are worth experiencing, and the kitchen does not appear to scale down its ambition for midday service. That makes La Table d'Olivier one of the few starred venues in provincial France where the lunch sitting is not a concession to accessibility but a genuinely distinct meal worth planning around.
Start with dinner. The Tuesday-to-Saturday evening service (7:30 PM to 9:15 PM) gives you the kitchen at its most focused. The Michelin notation references a repertory that is in tune with the zeitgeist at bargain prices , that language is worth taking seriously. For a one-star in 2024, the price-to-quality positioning is among the more favourable in the southwest. Pierre's Normandy background applied to Corrèze produce creates a menu that references both coastal and inland French cooking without forcing the combination. The seabass-and-citrus dish is the clearest expression of that dual register.
Return for a Wednesday-to-Saturday lunch (12 PM to 1:15 PM). The tighter window , just over an hour of service , means the pacing is more compressed, which suits a working visit to Brive or a day trip from further into the Corrèze. Comparing the lunch and dinner experiences gives you a useful read on how much the kitchen's output varies by service, and the dessert work from Fanny is present at both. If you are choosing between visits for a special occasion, dinner remains the stronger setting; lunch is the better value-scouting exercise.
For context on how this star sits regionally: a Michelin star in a town the size of Brive-la-Gaillarde is notable. The nearest concentration of starred cooking in the broader southwest is in destinations like Bras in Laguiole or, further afield, Mirazur in Menton. La Table d'Olivier operates without that destination-dining infrastructure and does so at a fraction of the price point of peers like Arpège in Paris or Maison Lameloise in Chagny.
Booking difficulty is rated hard. With a small town-centre venue operating starred-level service across limited sittings (no Mondays, no Sundays, tight lunch windows), seats fill quickly. Book as far in advance as possible , walk-in availability is unlikely. No phone or website is listed in current data; check directly via search or reservation platforms for current contact details.
| Detail | La Table d'Olivier | En Cuisine | Inspyration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price range | €€€ | €€ | €€ |
| Cuisine | Modern | Modern | Modern |
| Awards | Michelin 1 Star (2024) | , | , |
| Google rating | 4.8 (444) | , | , |
| Lunch service | Wed–Sat | Check venue | Check venue |
| Closed | Mon, Sun | Check venue | Check venue |
| Booking difficulty | Hard | Moderate | Moderate |
For a broader look at dining, lodging, and things to do in the area, see our full Brive-la-Gaillarde restaurants guide, our hotels guide, our bars guide, our wineries guide, and our experiences guide.
No dress code is listed, but a Michelin-starred room with €€€ pricing and designer lighting suggests smart casual at minimum. Avoid overly casual dress for dinner; lunch allows slightly more flexibility without dropping standards entirely.
Yes , this is one of the stronger special-occasion options in Brive-la-Gaillarde precisely because it combines a genuine Michelin credential (2024 star) with a price point that does not require significant pre-justification. Dinner service gives you the fuller experience; the room's modern-meets-stone aesthetic works well for celebrations.
Based on verified Michelin data: the poached oysters and marinated seabass with citrus are the clearest expressions of Pierre's coastal-meets-Corrèze cooking. The veal scallop and sweetbread with chanterelle ravioles and black garlic represents the more land-rooted side of the menu. Do not skip the dessert , Fanny's chocolate, pecan, clementine, and citrus sorbet combination is specifically flagged in the Michelin guide as a reason to visit.
No seat count or group booking policy is available in current data. Given the town-centre stone house format and high booking difficulty, large groups should contact the venue well in advance. At €€€ per head, groups with mixed budgets may find Chez Francis or Moon easier to coordinate.
Dinner (7:30 PM–9:15 PM) is the stronger experience for first-time visitors , the room shifts into a more intimate register and you have more time to work through the menu. Lunch (12 PM–1:15 PM, Wednesday to Saturday) is worth doing on a return visit or if your schedule does not allow an evening. The kitchen's ambition does not appear to drop at lunch based on the Michelin profile.
For a step down in price without sacrificing modern cooking, En Cuisine and Inspyration both operate at €€ in the modern cuisine space. For something more traditional, Chez Francis covers regional French cooking at €€. None currently holds a Michelin star, which makes La Table d'Olivier the clear choice if the credential matters to your decision.
No tasting menu structure is confirmed in available data, but the Michelin description references a multi-course sequence across oysters, fish, meat, and dessert. At €€€ pricing for a one-star, the value is strong relative to comparably awarded restaurants in larger French cities. If the format runs as a fixed menu, it is worth committing to the full progression , the dessert course is specifically called out by Michelin as the payoff.
No bar seating configuration is confirmed in available data. The venue is described as a town-centre stone house with a formal dining setup, which suggests counter or bar dining is unlikely. Contact the venue directly to confirm seating options before visiting.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| La Table d'Olivier | €€€ | — |
| Inspyration | €€ | — |
| Moon | €€ | — |
| Chez Francis | €€ | — |
| En Cuisine | €€ | — |
A quick look at how La Table d'Olivier measures up.
The room is described in the Michelin notation as modern furnishings and designer lighting — elegant without being formal. Dress accordingly: put-together but not black-tie. Think a well-cut shirt or a smart dress rather than a suit. At €€€ with a Michelin star, you'll feel underdressed in jeans but overdressed in a tuxedo.
Yes, and it's a better choice than most Michelin-starred alternatives in the region at this price point. The combination of a Michelin one-star (2024), Pierre in the savoury kitchen and Fanny on pastry and front-of-house gives the meal a clear narrative arc — which lands well on anniversaries or milestone dinners. Book an evening sitting (7:30 PM, Tuesday to Saturday) for the most relaxed experience.
The Michelin record highlights poached oysters, marinated seabass with citrus and lemon-vodka sorbet, veal scallop and sweetbread with chanterelle ravioles and black garlic, and a chocolate, pecan, clementine and citrus sorbet dessert. These are the dishes the kitchen has been recognised for — order around them rather than substituting. Fanny's pastry work on the dessert course is specifically noted, so don't skip it.
This is a small town-centre stone house operating with tight service windows, which limits group capacity. Booking difficulty is rated hard even for couples or pairs. Groups larger than four should check the venue's official channels before assuming availability — the 1:15 PM and 9:15 PM service cut-offs leave no room for slow turnarounds. Groups seeking more flexibility should consider En Cuisine, which has a larger operating profile in Brive.
Dinner first, lunch second. The evening sitting (7:30 PM to 9:15 PM) gives the kitchen more room to pace a full menu, and the Michelin notation reads like a dinner experience. Lunch runs Wednesday to Saturday, 12 PM to 1:15 PM — just over an hour of service — which compresses the format. Lunch is worth doing as a return visit, not an introduction.
En Cuisine is the most direct local comparison for Michelin-tier modern French cooking in Brive. For something less formal at a lower price point, Chez Francis and Moon are options in the same city. Inspyration rounds out the local field for contemporary cuisine. None of them hold a current Michelin star, so if that credential matters for your occasion, La Table d'Olivier is the clear call in Brive-la-Gaillarde.
The Michelin notation explicitly calls the pricing 'bargain' relative to the execution — poached oysters through to a multi-element chocolate and citrus dessert at €€€ is strong value for starred cooking in France. If you're deciding between a tasting format here and a comparable menu in a larger city at the same price, La Table d'Olivier gives you more kitchen for the money. The format suits two people; confirm menu structure when booking.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
