New Pensacola French restaurant Renaissance is beginning to serve customers during its soft opening, which runs now through July 2.
The Pensacola restaurant at 3 W. Main St. is the second location for owners Natasha and Martin Arnt, who also own a popular spot in Santa Rosa Beach that specializes in modern French cuisine.
The Arnts, both born Parisians who met in the United States, have brought food and décor inspired by the city to the Panhandle. They’ve designed every detail of the diners’ experience, even down to the curated playlists.
“America is our place, our country, our life, but France — it’s just so much of our heart,” Martin said. “By finding each other, we were also finding what was missing from our country, the culture, the food, obviously … Natasha is French American; she already had roots here. But me, I did the old-school immigrant thing, I left everything I had — my friends, my job, my apartment, everything to start a new life in America.”
The Pensacola kitchen will be run by Martin, alongside a sous chef flying in from France to assist. The 30A location, which opened in 2024, will continue to operate as a well-oiled machine, using the recipes and practices Martin has established, with Martin returning in person as needed, while Pensacola serves as their family’s new home base.
Their 30A location has received a slew of awards since opening, including OpenTable’s Diners’ Choice award for 2025 and 2024, as well as Emerald Coast Magazine’s Best of the Emerald Coast awards for Best New Restaurant of 2025 and Best French Restaurant of 2025.
While the two restaurants resemble each other in design and cuisine, the 30A restaurant leans into more traditional, composed plates, whereas Pensacola will largely carry Martin’s “French tapas”-style menu, allowing patrons to order multiple dishes to share and experience.
“Old-school, but modern at the same time. It’s definitely still very traditional. … It’s really 100% French in every flavor that you’re going to have,” Martin said.
If you really want to leave your dining experience fully in Martin’s hands, he will curate a course-by-course experience just for your table through Chef Martin’s Tour de France, offering four courses that are a surprise to diners, with an option for an additional wine pairing.
During the restaurant’s soft opening stage, Pensacola’s Renaissance will offer a limited menu selection, beer and wine and require reservations. However, they will be leaving room for walk-ins at their bar. Once they reopen for their grand opening, they’ll begin to expand their offerings.
Martin said the tapas-style menu was a great way to introduce the area to French cuisine, which has been underrepresented in culinary terms.
“I’ve traveled a lot of places in America—the West, Midwest, East Coast, the South—I’ve always been baffled by their lack of real French restaurants,” he said. “It’s about putting the French flag back in Pensacola, the city of Five Flags. No person has really established something French here. For us, it’s even more important to bring the culture that once was here.”
In addition to the variety of tapas to try, such as beef carpaccio, duck foie gras, and a Gulf Coast-inspired seafood stew, the restaurant also has a few main dishes on the menu, including their signature steak frites and fan-favorite slow-cooked beef bourguignon.
As much as Martin enjoys being innovative with what goes on the plate, he still follows traditions and techniques from the past, such as a French onion soup recipe passed down through generations in his family. While largely self-taught, even turning down prestigious culinary school offers, Martin does pull influences from his father, who is a chef in France.
“I was a young, rebellious man, so I decided not to do it (culinary school). I did want completely different things; I went into music for a long time, sound engineering,” Martin said. “Now, I’m reconnecting to the career I would have been supposed to do when I was 18.”
The Arnts have filled the restaurant with personal artifacts of their lives, including their prized possession: a drawing of the Eiffel Tower by their son.
“When (Martin) creates the environment and the blueprint of the business, he is inspired by the way we do our home. It looks a lot like this, a lot of the art,” Natasha said. “It’s a lot of influences from just everyday life.”
To the guest who wanders in for a glass of wine or a snack, they want it to feel like the hospitality of their own home, or their favorite neighborhood bistro in Paris.
After much preparation, they’re excited to finally have patrons to fill the space they created with exquisite wines, food and atmosphere.
For real-time updates and information, follow Renaissance Pensacola on social media and on renaissancefrench.com/Pensacola.
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This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Renaissance introduces French tapas to downtown Pensacola dining
Reporting by Brittany Misencik, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brittany Misencik, Pensacola News Journal | USA TODAY Network
