We just returned from a 12-day trip from France. Leading up to it I peppered this forum with many questions. The responses were always insightful, thoughtful and generous. We greatly benefited from it. This trip report is paying it forward — my thanks. Here you will find our impressions, our opinions. Hope you find them of use during your trip. The observations below are from an American’s viewpoint)
This is one part of a multi-part trip report. See intro for the other sections
Dining in France
- If you want free water ask for a “carafe d’eau” or if they speak English “tap water”
- Restaurants may not have an English menu. Keep Google Translate handy. It’s real time translation (using the camera) is useful.
- Read Rick Steves’ tips in his guide book. Tips are included. Some places might try to gouge you. Be aware. If you really enjoyed the service you are welcome to leave a little something extra on the table.
- Service can be slow by US standards. That’s just the pace of things. They aren’t being slow.
- In addition to Rick Steves’ recommendations we found TripAdvisor and Google’s “restaurants near me” combined with reading reviews to be helpful