Nice Matin

Is Nice Matin Worth Booking on the Upper West Side?

Yes — and especially if you care about what's in your glass. Nice Matin has been a reliable French bistro at 201 W 79th St for more than two decades, and its wine program is the clearest reason to return after your first visit. A 2,535-selection list with 26,650 bottles in inventory puts it well beyond neighbourhood-restaurant territory for wine. This is a serious cellar attached to a casual room, and that combination is genuinely hard to find on the Upper West Side.

What the Wine Program Actually Delivers

Wine Director Aviram Turgeman and Sommelier team Walter Dunbar and Daniel Tang oversee a list with real depth across Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhône, Champagne, California, and Italy. The pricing sits at the $$ tier — a range of price points rather than a wallet-busting all-premium selection , and the corkage fee is $60 if you want to bring your own. For context, a 2,500-plus selection at this price tier in a neighbourhood bistro setting is rare; most Manhattan restaurants with lists this size are formal dining rooms charging considerably more per head. If you've been to Nice Matin once for the food, come back and work through the Rhône section with the sommelier. That's the move.

The Food Case

Chef Andy d'Amico runs a French kitchen with Provençal leanings , think southern French technique rather than Parisian formality. The cuisine pricing is $$, meaning a typical two-course meal comes in at $40–$65 before drinks and tip. That's honest value for the Upper West Side, and it positions Nice Matin as a practical dinner option rather than a special-occasion splurge. The restaurant serves both lunch and dinner, making it one of the more flexible French options in the neighbourhood. General Manager Lisa Jordan and owner Simon Oren have kept the operation running for over twenty years, which at this price point and in this city says something meaningful about consistency.

Leading Time to Go

Weekday evenings are the call if you want to use the wine list properly , you'll get more sommelier attention when the room isn't at full Saturday-night pace. Lunch is a lower-pressure entry point if you haven't been, and the $$ price tier makes a midday visit easy to justify. The Provençal character of the food also makes Nice Matin a natural fit for warmer months, when that sunny southern French register feels most at home , though the kitchen runs year-round.

For the Return Visit

If you've already done a standard dinner at Nice Matin, the next move is to arrive with a specific ask for the sommelier: tell them your price range, tell them whether you want Old World or New World, and let the team do the work. With 2,535 selections on the list, a good sommelier conversation here has real upside. The Rhône and Burgundy sections in particular represent the kind of depth that rewards a deliberate approach rather than defaulting to a safe bottle off the by-the-glass list.

How It Compares

Nice Matin is not competing with Le Bernardin, Per Se, or Eleven Madison Park on food ambition , those rooms are $$$$ tasting-menu territory where a dinner for two easily clears $400 before wine. Nice Matin is $$ French with a wine list that punches considerably above its weight class. If your priority is serious wine with good-value French food and no booking drama, Nice Matin wins that comparison cleanly. If you want the full formal French experience, Le Bernardin is the benchmark , but budget accordingly.

Atomix and Masa are in an entirely different category , multi-course progressive menus at the leading of Manhattan's price ceiling , and are only relevant if you're deciding between a special-occasion splurge and a neighbourhood dinner. For the latter, Nice Matin is the more sensible choice. Its 4.5 Google rating across 1,812 reviews reflects consistent execution over time, not a hot newcomer trading on hype.

Within the Upper West Side specifically, the combination of a two-decade track record, a sommelier team managing nearly 27,000 bottles, and $$ food pricing gives Nice Matin a clear position: it's the right room when you want French food done without fuss and a wine list worth actually exploring. For more French options across the city, see our full New York City restaurants guide.

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Pearl Picks: If You're Travelling for Food

• The French Laundry in Napa , for the tasting-menu French benchmark on the West Coast
• Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg , for wine-forward dining with serious cellar depth
• Lazy Bear in San Francisco , for a communal-table format that rewards wine exploration
• Alinea in Chicago , for when the occasion demands something more theatrical
• Providence in Los Angeles , for French-influenced seafood at a high level
• Emeril's in New Orleans , for French-rooted cooking in a different American register