The 12 best restaurants in Avoriaz
The line between resort and mountain dining is blurred in Avoriaz, where the pistes blend seamlessly with the snow-covered main drag, Promenade des Festival, and central square, Place du Snow.
A decent range of restaurants to suit all budgets, many of which serve food all day or kickstart evening service around 5pm to cater to families with young children. At the other end of the spectrum, Avoriaz’s dazzling reputation as a popular freeriding zone means ample casual as well as late-night dining too. Cuisine rarely moves beyond traditional Savoyard (mountains of cheese) or international (burgers, steaks and fries).
On the mountain, reliably good food fuels skiers in the vast Portes du Soleil ski area. Closest to Avoriaz, ample ops are cooked up in Lindarets (centred around the eponymous goat village) and the Plaine Danse area (across the ridge en route to neighbouring Châtel).
For further Avoriaz inspiration, see our guides to the resort's best accommodation and après ski.
Find a restaurant by location
In resort
L’Épicerie
Accessible on foot or skis by the Proclou piste, this enchanting épicerie in the Amara quartier is popular by day and after dark. Grilled meats sizzle on a barbecue in the snow at lunchtime – look for the day’s suggestions chalked on the board. Come dusk, diners tuck into hot boxes of seasonal Mont d’Or cheese, ribs, Asian-inspired prawns and tataki beef in a contemporary, bistro-styled interior. A refreshing pinch of Asian spice aside, the heart-stealer is watching a setting sun drop into the Morzine valley far below from the panoramic terrace. For company order a vin chaud and Savoyard cheese platter.
Contact: lepicerie-avoriaz.com
Price: ££
La Cachette
With the added bonus of early dining from 5pm, La Cachette or “The Hiding Place” is one of those fabulous family-friendly spots, oozing ease and conviviality.
Casual dining is around wooden tables and many of the dishes on the menu are designed to share. Kick off with drinks and a platter of cheese, charcuterie or both. Cheese fondues (minimum two people) are spectacularly served in a bread loaf bowl, and thick slices of wagyu beef steal grilled at the table are the highlight of the pierrades (hot-stone cooking) menu. Book tables online. Takeaway service too.
Contact: lacachetteavoriaz.com
Price: ££
Le 155
Refuelling at this steakhouse after a gruelling day on the slopes is always a highly satisfactory affair, although any animal lovers in your party might not be able to handle the portraits of handsome, doe-eyed cows on the walls. (There is actually ample choice on the menu for non-meat lovers, including roasted Camembert and a fantastic Savoyard rendition of good old mac’n’cheese.) Beefy cuts – served with fries or mash and a choice of pepper, gorgonzola or bearnaise sauce – include a côte du bœuf for two, boneless ribeye and various burgers. Grab a pew on the lunchtime terrace to people-watch while you eat.
Contact: 155-steakhouse.fr
Price: ££
La Cabane
From its signature wooden architecture – a riot of mismatched angles and windows – to its central location wedged between the resort’s snowy main drag and slopes, The Cabin is a brilliant spot to lap up that distinct Avoriaz charm.
Inside, two sizeable floors sport a cosy but chic, modern chalet décor – upstairs, home to a cocktail bar and better views, is the nicer of the two. The menu features everything from traditional cheese fondue to steaks, burgers with smoked raclette cheese, pasta and sushi, and is a real crowd-pleaser. Allow plenty of time pre or post-meal for lingering over drinks. Reservations are essential.
Contact: lacabaneavoriaz.fr
Price: ££
La Fruitière
An advance table reservation is vital at the seriously swish restaurant at Le Folie Douce, above the ground-floor bar. Book for a fixed sitting at noon or 2.15pm. This is the place to be seen in Avoriaz, where local bankers from Geneva entertain their clients over plateaux of freshly shucked Maison Gillardeau oysters, Madagascan caviar and 13-month-aged Savoy ham smoked with juniper berries. The cheese fondues are also pretty good, as are the glitzy cabaret dancers that prance between tables in the noisy, all-wood interior. Should you fail to bag a table, a self-service canteen called La Petite Cuisine, on the ground floor, doles out pricey bowls of soup, salads, pasta, burgers and other quick bites.
Contact: lafoliedouce.com
Price: ££–£££
Les Enfants Terribles
The resort’s most upmarket dining experience lounges inside four-star Hôtel des Dromonts. The wood-clad hotel is a striking piece of 1960s architecture and a meal here is as much an opportunity to poke around the landmark pinecone-shaped building as to feast on the chef’s top French bistro cuisine.
Scarlet walls, dark-slate flooring and black and white snaps of the “enfants terribles” of French skiing set the retro tone, further enhanced by a menu packed with diehard culinary classics. You can’t go wrong with thyme-roasted lamb shanks, the tomahawk beef, pavlova piled high with seasonal fruit or tarte tatin with apple ice cream.
Contact: hoteldesdromonts.com
Price: £££
MiL8
Another avant-garde hotel restaurant that is a culinary destination in its own right, MiL8 is the resort’s newest kid on the block. Since the four-star hotel first opened its doors in 2019, foodies have flocked here for modern French cuisine with a focus on local produce. Lunch is bursting with seasonal vegetables, local Abondance cheese and hazelnuts from across the border in Piedmont, and is served in a bright and airy dining room spilling onto a stylish wooden-deck terrace overlooking the slopes. One-pot casserole dishes designed to share are the star of more intimate evening dining, in the wood-panelled bistro.
Contact: hotelmil8.com
Price: £££
La Réserve
Faux fur throws, cow-hide cushions and pops of red-and-white gingham fabric inject a sassy dose of alpine vintage into this sharp, upmarket address. Big windows – some of them round – overlook the snow, and little beats a bluebird-day lunch on the sizeable south-facing deck. The menu delights with French classics, and surprises with innovative pairings: Jerusalem artichoke soup with foie gras crisps, creamy burrata with juniper-smoked beetroot, an oven-baked Mont d’Or “cheese in a box” with truffle meat juice or hand-cut steak tartare with Beaufort cheese and walnuts. Don’t count on skiing post-lunch.
Contact: la-reserve-avoriaz.com
Price: £££
On the mountain
La Ferme
Franco-Italian owners Cécile and Alessio lend a wonderful Italianate air to this traditional 19th-century farmstead in the famous village of Lindarets, abuzz in winter with skiers feasting on its good-value, two-course menu du skier.
Much of the produce (truffles!) hails from across the border in Italy, and AOP Abondance and Reblochon cheeses come from a nearby farm, Ferme de Seraussaix. But the restaurant’s USP is its thick-crust pizza, cooked up by Italian pizzaiolo Giuseppe. Venison-stuffed ravioli in thyme butter, fried gnocchi, fresh tagliatelle with truffle shavings and salted caramel panna cotta are other delicious nods to The Farm’s authentic Italian soul.
Contact: laferme.ski
Price: ££
Closest lift: Ardent cable car
Les Marmottes
The primary appeal of this sizeable wooden chalet on the slopes is in the name. Since 1962 skiers have flocked to The Marmots to bask like sun-loving marmots on its spectacular ray-drenched terrace, on the plateau in Les Lindarets.
Inside and out sparkles anew after a head-to-toe refurb a couple of years back, and traditional mountain fare covers the gambit of tastes: mushroom omelettes, quintessential French steak-frites, meal-sized salads and a rather sublime tarte aux myrtilles (blueberry tart) heaped with whipped cream. Sunday lunch ushers in a wildly popular, as-much-as-you-can-eat jambon à la broche (spit-barbecued ham) with chanterelles sauce, creamy potato gratin and a green salad.
Contact: facebook.com/marmottes.lindarets
Price: ££
Closest lift: Ardent cable car
Buvette de Chavanette
A snack bar doesn’t get more basic or authentic than this doll's house-sized chalet at the bottom of the Swiss Wall. It sits right at the bottom of the infamous orange run (that’s even tougher than black!), meaning unnerving views of skiers tumbling like rag dolls down car-sized moguls.
The lunch offering is deliciously simple: toasted sandwiches, soup and golden plashes of Raclette cheese, melted on an outside burner in the snow. Buy a wedge of homemade salée de la vallée (butter and cinnamon flan) for dessert. There is no inside seating – just deckchairs and stand-up bar tables in the snow. Cash only, and the snack bar is actually in Switzerland, meaning you can pay in Swiss francs as well as Euros.
Price: £
Closest piste: Le Pas de Chavanette (Le Mur Suisse)
O’Padcha
Reasonable if pricey mountain grub aside, there is good reason to hit this self-service eatery at altitude. Its sunny lunchtime terrace sits on the French-Swiss border, meaning you can plump for a table in la belle France or Switzerland. The views are also sensational: the jagged teeth of the Dents du Midi mountains zig-zag across the horizon, while daredevil skiers quake in a line at the incredulously steep top (a sheer drop, pretty much) of Europe’s toughest ski slopes. DJ-spun tunes every lunchtime inject plenty of cheer into the place while you eat, while techno music blasting from huge loud speakers provide the soundtrack to skiers attempting to hurl themselves off the edge of the Swiss Wall.
Contact: facebook.com/opadcha
Closest lift: Chavanette drag lift or Choucas chair
Price: ££
How we choose
Every restaurant in this curated list has been expertly chosen by our ski expert, following years of experience on the slopes. We cover a range of budgets, from piste-side huts to Michelin-starred restaurants – to best suit every skier’s taste – and consider the food, service, best tables, atmosphere and price in our recommendations, with options both in the resort and on the mountain. We update this list regularly to keep up with the latest opening and provide up to date recommendations.
