Restaurant in Grimaud, France
Michelin-recognised. Low-key. Book it.
Petit Jacques holds consecutive Michelin Plates (2024 and 2025) and a 4.9 Google rating in the hilltop village of Grimaud. At €€€, it delivers Michelin-recognised modern cooking with straightforward booking — one of the most accessible high-quality restaurants in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez area. Visit in late spring or early autumn to catch the Provençal seasonal produce at its best.
Petit Jacques holds a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025, carries a Google rating of 4.9 from 185 reviews, and sits in the medieval hilltop village of Grimaud — a setting that draws visitors from across the Var and the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. Given that combination, you might expect a weeks-long wait for a table. You don't need one. Booking here is direct by the standards of any Michelin-recognised restaurant in the South of France, which makes it one of the more accessible high-quality options in the region. If you're planning a trip to the Grimaud area and want a serious meal without the reservation anxiety of bigger-name destinations, this is where to look.
The Michelin Plate, awarded in consecutive years, signals a kitchen that is consistent and technically sound — not just a flash-in-the-pan seasonal discovery. In the Michelin system, a Plate denotes good cooking worthy of a stop, a meaningful designation in a department where competition for recognition is real. The 4.9 Google rating, drawn from 185 reviews, is a strong indicator of consistent guest satisfaction across a broad range of visitors, not just the enthusiast crowd.
Petit Jacques operates as a Modern Cuisine restaurant, which in this context typically means a kitchen working with regional Provençal ingredients and contemporary technique rather than strict classical French formality. The Var department and the land around Grimaud offer serious raw material across the calendar year: spring herbs and vegetables, summer tomatoes and courgettes, autumn truffles and game, winter citrus from the coastal groves. A kitchen with Michelin recognition in this location should be making the most of that seasonal rotation, and the consistent awards suggest it is.
The editorial case for Petit Jacques is strongest when you align your visit with what the Provençal larder is actually delivering. Summer , when most visitors arrive in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez corridor , brings the most theatrical produce: ripe tomatoes, fresh herbs, local fish from nearby Mediterranean waters. But summer also brings the heaviest tourist pressure across the entire region, which means higher prices at accommodation, more competition for tables at peer venues, and a dining room that may skew toward transient visitors rather than the more food-focused crowd you'd find in shoulder season.
Late spring (May to mid-June) and early autumn (September to October) are the windows where a restaurant like Petit Jacques is likely to be operating at its most focused. The produce is at or near its peak, the village itself is quieter, and the kitchen is less likely to be running at full-tourist-season capacity. If you can time your visit to the Grimaud area around these windows, you'll get more from the experience. For those visiting in high summer, a booking here still makes sense , just expect the room to be fuller and the surrounding area busier.
Winter visits are worth considering if you're in the region off-season. Provençal winters are mild, and a modern cuisine kitchen in this setting should be working with black truffle (the Var has its own truffle production), game from the inland forests, and winter vegetables. The dining room dynamic shifts considerably when Grimaud sheds its tourist season, and for the food-focused traveller, that can be a more rewarding context.
Grimaud sits within reach of some of the most serious cooking in southern France. Mirazur in Menton represents the leading end of the regional range, a three-Michelin-star operation focused on garden-driven cuisine. La Table du Castellet in Le Castellet offers another starred reference point to the west. For travellers exploring the broader French dining landscape, destinations like Arpège in Paris, Flocons de Sel in Megève, and Bras in Laguiole set the broader standard for regional, produce-led cooking that Petit Jacques belongs to in spirit, even if not in scale or star count.
Within Grimaud itself, Les Santons offers a Classic Cuisine alternative for those who want a more traditional Provençal register. If Petit Jacques's Modern Cuisine approach isn't what you're after on a given night, Les Santons provides a useful alternative in the same village.
For a fuller picture of what the area offers, see our full Grimaud restaurants guide, along with guides for hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences in the area.
Petit Jacques makes most sense for food-focused travellers who are in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez area and want a Michelin-recognised meal without the logistics of a major destination restaurant. It also works well as a special-occasion dinner for visitors staying in or around Grimaud, where the hilltop village setting adds to the occasion without requiring a long drive. For travellers who want to anchor their trip around the highest-starred cooking in the South of France, it's a strong supporting booking rather than a primary destination , combine it with a visit to Mirazur or La Table du Castellet if that's your priority.
At the €€€ price point, it sits at a level where you're paying for genuine kitchen skill and a Michelin-recognised experience, not just a meal. That's a fair value proposition in a region where inflated tourist-season pricing is common. Book it. Go in shoulder season if you can. Align your visit with what the Provençal season is actually offering, and you'll get the leading of what this kitchen does.
Petit Jacques, Pl. des Pénitents, 83310 Grimaud, France. Price: €€€. Awards: Michelin Plate 2024 & 2025. Google: 4.9 (185 reviews). Booking difficulty: Easy.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Petit Jacques | €€€ | — |
| Plénitude | €€€€ | — |
| Pierre Gagnaire | €€€€ | — |
| Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen | €€€€ | — |
| Kei | €€€€ | — |
| Le Cinq - Four Seasons Hôtel George V | €€€€ | — |
Comparing your options in Grimaud for this tier.
Yes, and it's a smarter choice than most of the flashier options around Saint-Tropez. The Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025 signals a kitchen that performs consistently, and the medieval village setting in Grimaud adds occasion without the circus of port-side dining. At €€€, it's a serious meal without requiring a remortgage.
Specific dietary policy isn't documented in available venue data. For a €€€ Michelin Plate kitchen cooking modern cuisine, you should check the venue's official channels before booking and state any restrictions clearly. Don't assume flexibility — call or email ahead.
It's in Grimaud village proper, on Pl. des Pénitents, which means you're in a hilltop medieval setting rather than on the coast. The price range is €€€ and the recognition is Michelin Plate two years running, so expect a considered, technically grounded meal rather than a casual bite. Book in advance, particularly in summer when the wider Gulf of Saint-Tropez area is at peak demand.
Grimaud itself has a limited restaurant field at Michelin level, which makes Petit Jacques the clear reference point for food-focused visitors. If you want to step up in ambition and budget, Mirazur in Menton and La Vague d'Or in Saint-Tropez operate at a completely different tier. For something closer in price and register, the surrounding Var has solid regional cooking — but Petit Jacques is the most recognised option in the village itself.
Specific menu items are not available in the venue record, so any dish-level recommendation would be speculation. What the data does confirm is a modern cuisine format with Michelin Plate recognition — align your visit with Provençal seasonal produce for the strongest case. Ask the team on booking what's currently running.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
