Insider’s Guide to French Restaurant Culture and Eating Out in France

I love eating out or stopping into a café for a drink. But it wasn’t until years after I had been studying French that I really got comfortable enough to fully interact with a server in a restaurant situation and to really know what was going on and what to do.

Do you know what I mean? There’s just this awkwardness where for example you’re trying to speak French but you don’t know all the words (speak it anyway, I say, and fill in with English!). And also there are the questions you ask yourself if you’re not familiar with French restaurant culture, like why is the waiter not bringing our check?

Well, if that rings true for you or if you’ll be coming to France for a visit, here’s a little video for you that explains the experience of dining out or going to a cafè in France.

I hope it helps you have a wonderful time in France!

Let me know in the comments if there are things you like to order that you never know how to say and I’ll try to help you out!

Also, if you enjoy my videos, I hope you’ll come on over and check out my free newsletter and posts on Substack. We have such a sweet community there and we talk all about France as well as creativity and inspiration, recipes and stories!

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Bonne continuation les amis !

#FrenchLife #FrenchRestaurant #FrenchCulture

Salour hello from Paris today’s video is for you if you are going to be traveling in France or living in France even if just for a short time and maybe you don’t speak a lot of French but of course you’re going to find yourself in

A restaurant or a cafe uh having a meal this video is honestly coming from a very personal place because I wish I had had something like this to look at even after studying French for a long time because it’s not even just about the language it’s about the culture of going

To a cafe or restaurant in France and how that is different from what you would find um in the US for example this is just my experience of course things are different depending on where you go but I’m going to give you some of my thoughts and tips for how to have a

Great experience in a restaurant or Cafe when you take your trip to France [Applause] okay let’s Dive Right In the first thing is when you’re going into um a restaurant or a cafe in France you kind of have to assess the situation there are lots and lots of places where

There’ll be an outdoor Terrace or um you know an outdoor part with tables where people are kind of sitting maybe facing out toward the street and that is generally speaking a very casual situation where you can just seat yourself and wait for a server to come and greet you that’s almost always the

Case when you’re in the outdoor of a cafe where there’s kind of a casual feeling um maybe you’re on a big place or Terrace so you can feel free to see yourself and wait if however there’s any doubt in your mind or if you’re going into a restaurant where you want to ask

For a table where you’re actually going to you know really have dinner or something like that where you’ve made a reservation then you’re going to want to seek out someone to speak to so what we would call the hostess um it may be a waiter it may be someone else then

You’re going to approach that person and the first thing you want to do when you’re greeting that person at the restaurant is to say bonjour or B so bonjour for the daytime for the the night time once you’ve said that then they might ask you um

Alier all that means is would you rather sit outside or inside so alexer is outside on the sidewalk or on the Terrace or Ania is on the inside once you have your table in a French restaurant or Cafe just know that one difference in restaurant culture is that

You’re probably going to wait a little bit generally speaking you know in the US we have this culture of greeting people within a minute or so hi I’m going to be your server in in France that’s not so much the case the waiters are oftentimes fewer than in a a US

Restaurant and they’re making their way they’re doing things they know you’re there and they’re going to come and take care of you and you can just chill out for a minute or five and and wait for them to um to come to you when they do

I’ve talked about this before but if you would like to have some water and you just are happy with tap water then I suggest that you order a car of water because if you ask for some water for example a large percentage of the time they’re going to

Come to you with a bottle of water that is open whether it is bubbly or flat you may have told them but you’ll be paying for that and so if what you really want is just some tap water which in France is great then you should

Sayl C play means please so a cff of water please and then they’ll bring you a cff of water and it’ll be free when you want to order a drink and you’re looking at the menu you’ll find the drinks under a section that’s generally

Called bon or it may just be a set of pages that’s divided up into the different drink categories so what are the basic um drink categories as well you have things that are non which are non-alcoholic drinks sodas ANC juices um pelo things like that then you’ll have which is very easy that’s

Beer and um one interesting thing to know about beer is that just like in the states there’s beer on top or there’s beer in bottles so if you want a draft beer you can order it and that means a beer you know from the to then of course you’re going to

Have le the wines and you’re going to have le which are the other types of alcohol so a scotch or a you know a vodka things like that and of course de cocktail cocktails uh it’s the same word and so that that one’s easy okay this next point is pretty

Important because when you go into a French restaurant um the first thing you’re going to do even if you’re trying to speak French is say menu right but you don’t want to do that because why in French there are three words that relate to ordering from a selection of different items right the

First is L and the the phrase L is literally the translation of the menu the physical menu La so if you want the menu you’re going to ask for I will tell you this if you your level of French is um you know very basic you are generally going to find in

The bigger cities in France a menu that’s available in English or a menu that is translated so like on this half you have the French and on this half you have the English so you can work on your French a little bit there but if you

Want to ask for the menu and you’d like to try to do it in French you’re going to say or that’s a little bit less formal and that means can I have the menu if you say uh can I have the menu in English chances are you’re going to get the

Actual physical menu too but the important thing to know if you’re trying to learn about French restaurant culture is that the words menu and La actually apply to a fixed price menu um formula that is often times either an appetizer and a main course or a main

Course and dessert or all three and so if you ask for the menu it it can be confusing because you could be saying I the menu like the the prefix and if that’s not what you want then it could be confusing if you’re a vegetarian or a

Vegan and you plan on visiting or living in France you’re going to find more and more options than ever before but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be easy if you are off the beaten path or in a smaller town or Village that being said if you would like to

Tell your server that you are vegetarian or vegan and you want to try practicing it with your French the way to do that is to say vegetarian that’s for a guy veget or just be vegetan if you’re a female and the server will hopefully help point you to

Um the options that are there on the menu the interesting thing is vegan in French uh you can really do two ways the easiest way is just to say just vean just vean more and more it’s it’s a known expression and they just use the English version if you want to say I’m

Vegan in actual French you could say just veget vegetan for guys and for the ladies so it’s it’s a very small distinction vegetar for vegetarian and vegetar for vegans so maybe just say just Bean now something that I didn’t learn until much later in my French journey is a major difference between

The way menus are structured in the US and in France in the the US an entree is a main course right entree means main course your the bigger part of your meal but in France an anre is the debut the beginning of the meal right it’s an appetizer Entre means

Appetizer in French so when you see Entre don’t think that that’s like The Big Dish those are small plates and so that’s really really important to know in French the m course is known as the pl principal now the next thing is I’m not going to review every single

Translation of every single different menu item although frankly I would have found that helpful for myself back in the day but I am going to just hit some of the bigger categories of the menu in case that’s helpful to you so we talked about Entre which are appetizers you may

See near the um appetizers a section that is for example FR f is seafood so that’s going to be your oysters um clams muscles things like that uh you may also see Le salad that’s easy it’s salads and then next you might see La laa that

Means poultry so that’s going to be dock chicken Quail anything that would fall under the category of poultry and then lavond lavond is meat and so that will be everything like steak often times it’s burgers and uh lamb and things like like that so that’s a category that’s

Very important to be able to recognize La once you’ve placed your order and your food has arrived your server may or may not stop back to check on you to make sure like just after you’ve taken the first few bites to find out if everything’s okay and that’s completely

Normal they assume that if you need something you’re going to Signal them and they have this very cool as far as I’m concerned um attitude of just letting you do you and enjoy your meal in peace with the by yourself or with the the person that you’re eating with

So don’t be alarmed if they don’t stop back immediately to check like hey how is everything is it the correct temperature all of that so once you finished your main course your server may ask you ampty Des ampty Cafe and that just means would you like coffee or

Dessert and so you can decide if you’d like to look at the dessert menu or order a coffee or an after meal beverage and the great thing about desserts in French is they are Le Des so it’s very easy he spelled the same way and pronounced des and then the next thing

That is really important in French restaurant culture is that in general in a setting where you are eating a meal they don’t generally drop the check you know how when you’re in a restaurant in the US and you’re finished and everything’s done and everybody knows everything is done the waiter is going

To try to kind of come over give you that check give you the opportunity to settle up and um and turn that table in a way in France it’s much more relaxed that you’re either going to um signal the waiter when you’re ready to pay or

You’re even going to get up and go to wherever the the cash register is maybe it’s behind the bar or something like that and settle up so just don’t be alarmed if they’re not bringing your check to you automatically it’s something that you generally have to ask

For in France once you have your check and you pay it you’ll notice that unlike in the US there’s generally not a place to punch on a machine to leave a tip or something to sign where it says a tip if you’re in a hotel that’s different if

You’re in a very touristic restaurant you may encounter that but by and large you’re just going to see the total it’s going to have the tax and everything is going to be very clear you just pay it if you decide that you do want to leave a tip it’s completely optional and what

I mean is that in France folks who work in restaurants are actually given a salary and benefits so they don’t rely on their tips to make a living if you do want to reward good service it’s definitely always appreciated it’s just just not expected and in general when

Tipping in France it’s it’s definitely not 20% or 30% of your check it’s a few EUR it’s a 5 bill or a €1 if you’re having like a really nice meal and it will always be very much appreciated but not expected so just wanted to mention that as it is something that’s very

Different from our American restaurant culture and the last thing that I want to share with you about um French restaurant culture is just the idea of making sure that you say thank you and goodbye and the way you do that is you stand up if you’re putting on your coat

You put on your coat if you’re getting your stuff you gather your things but on your way out you just sort of turn to whoever it may be your server it may be the manager of the restaurant and you say mer thank you mer that means thank you goodbye you

Could also sayare which means good evening or bour and that means have a great day it’s very important in French culture in general to open and close a conversation with uh that little formality and so I strongly uh advise doing that French people will think you’re very cool for knowing how to do

It it’s not something that all Americans know how to do so I definitely suggest you add that into your repertoire of French restaurant culture all right if you’ve enjoyed this video and you’ve made it to the end tell me if you’ve had any uh French restaurant adventures and

Um or if you have questions about how to order something in French something you love to have and you’re not sure how to order and I’ll try to help you out in the comments okay and just a last little note if you have enjoyed this video you

Can also find me at my free newsletter and that’s where I talk all about life in France about creativity and inspiration living your dreams a lot about what it’s like being an expat in France and kind of going through the process of you know um acclimating and

How to do new things how to understand new cultures how to work on your language skills so I hope you’ll come on over it’s free you can sign up you can tell your friends and I hope we’ll see you there we would love to have you it’s

A very cute community and um you are very welcome