Sharing entrees in Paris

I am going to assume you are using the American meaning of entree i.e. main course. It is gauche to share the main course in French restaurants and I would expect most restaurants not to allow it. They can't make money if they can't serve meals to guests. It is fairly common for people to share entrees meaning appetizers however. And fairly common to share desserts. Many menus or formulas (words referring to what Americans call 'prix fixe' meals (not a term the French use) sometimes offer a cheaper choice of two courses rather than 3. Many couples with small appetites will order one menu of appetizer (entree) and main course (plat) and share the entree (appetizer) and then share the dessert. But they each have their own main course.

I've been to Paris restaurants that would split a plat (what we call entree) between two plates, so each diner would get half. There's an extra charge for this, but it comes out cheaper than two separate plats. Not to mention that food isn't wasted.

While it's common for American restaurants to box leftovers for the diners to take home, I don't think that would be done in France. At least I never heard of it. And of course if "home" is a hotel room it wouldn't be much help anyway.

The formule (special or set menu) is common -- entree+plat+dessert, or entree+plat, or plat+dessesrt. Maybe that's the best way for the two of you to go.

I do not know if this is your first trip to France, but you will find that serving sizes are usually significantly smaller than in the US/Canada. My small appetite can usually manage a shared starter + a whole main.

As most restaurants are not charitable affairs, you´ll want to give them the chance to stay in business by ordering at least one main course for each person seated. You can always split desserts. First courses (entrées) are generally not shared unless it is so stated. There are a few restaurants which offers starters for the table.

Overall, you will not find plates smothered with food. Portions will be very manageable, even those with small appetites.

The French tend to eat their main meal at lunchtime. Portions are nowhere near the size of what I have had in America. It’s not generally the done thing to share a plate.

The French tend to eat their main meal at lunchtime.

I find this statement demonstratively untrue. I cannot think of a single restaurant that serves larger meals at lunch than they do at dinner. There may be those who prefer lunch as a main meal, but what evidence is there that this is a rule for the entire country other than maybe on Sunday or on a holiday.

A main meal at lunch is a good strategy to have meals at very good restaurants for less. Many (not all) fine restaurants have an affordable lunch meal that is very similar to the evening menu but at about 60% or so of the cost. We had a wonderful anniverary lunch at L'Tour d'Argent several years ago; it was not cheap but we really could not afford to eat there in the evening.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2016/03/01/anniversary-lunch-at-la-tour-dargent/
Other restaurants don't do this but it is worth looking at lunch and dinner menus on line when you want a splurge meal for less.

I agree to Tocard that 'most French do not eat their main meal at noon'. None of my French friends do. But you can get a dinner like meal in fine restaurants at noon and a good hot plate for cheap in many inexpensive restaurants at noon.

A friend ordered the cote de boeuf at Chez Dumonet when we ate out with him and they carved half a cow at the table -- he had about half a dozen of enormous slabs of rare thick roast beef. It was truly enough to have fed the table. He did ask to take the leftovers and they packaged it up. It would have been terrible to waste that much meat and it was a rare example of a huge serving. It is the only time I have seen a doggie bag in Paris.

To help you remember: entrée is like enter, you are entering or beginning the 3-course meal. Plat is the main dish. Dessert is already translated.

I have no idea how it got turned around in the US, sort of like burgundy and chablis meaning red and white wine.

If you are asking if two people should go to a restaurant and order a single main course to share and nothing else, the answer is a resounding "no." If those same two people went to a restaurant, ordered two appetizers, wine or other drinks, and two desserts and also split a main course, in most restaurants that I have been to, no one would care or say no. I've split entrees, plats, and desserts in Paris without any problem but every time the split course was one of at least two or three courses.

I have found that eating a nicer lunch is more reasonably priced and the afternoon of walking and sight seeing helps a lot to digest. I try to find a small dinner or snack in the evening, especially dessert. I find this works in any country you visit. Unless there is a particular restaurant you are focused on that isn't open until the evening, try the complete meal at lunch.

It is true, compared to American restaurants, European meals have smaller portions, but in no way will you walk away hungry, unless you eat at the fanciest of fancy where each course is one or two bites.

I travel solo most of the time, so I don't have an answer on sharing in France. I have an opinion, but it wouldn't be popular here.

We recently returned from France (& Switzerland & Italy) and had the same conundrum. We are both very small eaters at home. During the first week in France we both ordered a main course and always left food on the table. We finally decided to begin ordering a larger salad (entree) and asked for it to be served with the main course that the other person was ordering. Then we switched plates half way through. We always ordered alcohol and felt like we were spending fairly at the restaurants. I prefer not to waste food (especially sustainability-wise) and only order what we can eat. Bon Appetit!

Thank you all for all of the perspectives. As many of you have surmised, I have never been to Paris so need all the help I can get to be sure we are not rude. The question I raised is not based on the price - when we split portions of a meal in the US, we always pay extra and tip extra but I was told that tipping is not common in France although we would be happy to leave cash on the table equal to another pate. I just really am concerned about food waste which is endemic in the US, and as we can't always eat the full portion, we definitely would not be looking for a doggie bag either. In the US we typically will order two starters (entrée in France as you have taught me), one main(Pate) and 1 or 2 desserts and can just finish that amount of food. I do think it is because portions in the US are often oversized. It is very helpful to know that the portions in Paris are not likely to be American sized. That makes me much more confident that we won't waste food and even better, will each be able to order what we choose.
I am so looking forward to this experience and appreciate all the education from this forum!

I'm totally sympathetic to the problem. We often eat family style in restaurants with certain of our friends. Maybe 2 or 3 mains, and 3 appetizers and a couple of desserts and wine. Everybody gets a little of everything and we end up not wasting any food.

We will be traveling with a child in April and I assume we will order her an entree as a main as she is a small eater and a vegetarian. .

As a representative of the retired folks living in a French household, here's what I know about the main meal at lunch: almost everyone we know in France who is retired, if they are at home at noon, among our French family and friends, eats the main meal at lunch, including us. Most of us have very light meals in the evening because we can't sleep on full stomachs for one health reason or another. The exception is when the grannies are babysitting: then there's time only for precious pumpkin to eat like royalty.
BTW, in the old days before bakeries started selling salads, the main meal was at lunch, whether in a café using coupons from the employer, a company cafeteria, or on a work site. It's the law to provide access to a meal at a discounted price. Sandwiches were scoffed at, considered too American, except standing at the bar for a quick ham and butter on baguette with a glass of wine.

You will find that portion sizes in France are about half of an American portion size. So no need to split as what you will be given should be just right. Plus, it is a bit gauche to do this anyway.

You have to remember that K2 is one of those elite bourgoise Paris types, often unaware of life in the provinces :) In France the midday meal is often the main meal of the day, especially when working.

When I am working lunch is the biggie, at home usually I am more modern and have the big meal at night

K2. Around here most people still get subsidised lunches, so lunch is still the biggie and the evening meal somewhat smaller unless it's something special. I spend (or at least, before the pestilence, spent) a lot of lunchtimes in restaurants of the less elegant kind, and the numbers didn't seem to be massively down.

Catch the train down to Amboise one day, and I will show you to my favorite of the kind. Unfortunately I suspect we won't be meeting in Paris for some time yet...

Well, I'll provide another French resident voice from the "provinces" outside Paris. My experience after nearly a decade in Bourgogne and Normandie (with travel to pretty much every corner of France) is that dinner (the evening meal taken around 20 h or so) is the main meal for many people, with lunch being a substantial second (due to the lack of much breakfast).

Getting back to the original post, in nicer restaurants I think sharing an "entree" (what I suspect the original poster meant to be equivalent to a main dish, or plat, in France) would not be received well. The entrée in France is what in the U.S. would be called an appetizer.

That said, in more casual spots, that might be fine. For example, when my spouse and I are out and about, if we stop at a spot for lunch that serves mainly pizza, one of us might order a large salad and the other a pizza. We will then each eat half and then exchange, so we each get half a pizza and half a large salad.

It works.

But I wouldn't go into a nicer restaurant, occupy their table, and try to split a plat. That's not respectful. And keep in mind that plats (main dishes) in France are not nearly as gut-busting as what is common in the U.S. It's not that the French don't eat much. It's just that, in many cases, the plat is sized to be just one course in a multi-course meal. Of course, in many restaurants, one can eat only one, two, or however many courses one wants.