Bistro and Food Culture in France: the reservation

The Rendezvous in France

In our experience here so far, it seems to be a bit of a norm, if not a rule, that appointments are preferred for all kinds of things in France from doctors (obviously), to haircuts, to casual restaurants or formal ones, any kind of banking, and many other things. Nobody seems to like it when you just show up. Even our local bistro, where they see me several times a week, will grudgingly find a spot for us without a rendezvous, or reservation, but also make it very clear that they would prefer that we call ahead.

In fact, they seem a little confused if we don’t as if to say, “you were here yesterday, didn’t you know you were going to eat lunch today?”

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People seem to visibly relax when you tell them that, yes, you have an appointment.

In the US, reservations are a hit-or-miss affair or something for the hottest restaurants in town or maybe fancier places, but not really for casual eateries. They might make you wait a bit, but they’ll fit you in.

Not so here. Most restaurants only do one seating for lunch and one for dinner and no one is chasing you out, no matter how much time you take. Times and schedules are highly variable as well and some odd things happen, like our favorite bistros in the neighborhood are never open on weekends. This has all changed a lot since Covid, I am regularly reminded: Covid seems to have altered the DNA of dining in France in many ways and a lot of bistros have changed their hours and the ways that they do business.

France and the Internet

France also doesn’t seem to be totally up-to-date on the internet. I’ve had various Maps applications have sent me through cow pastures, down walking paths or into dead ends on more occasions than I can easily remember. I’ve seen many listings for places that weren’t open, or had their summer hours listed in December or the place simply wasn’t in the spot that the Internet said it was.

Many restaurants have almost no web presence (2 places I like don’t show up on Google Maps at all) and, if they even have a reservation system on their website, it’s a bit like crosswalk buttons in New York – they might not be connected to anything.

We recently booked a lunch reservation on the website of a restaurant in a smaller village outside of the city, but when we showed up, the place was closed. So then we went to another restaurant in the area that looked nice – but without a reservation.

Expect to be greeted differently

When we showed up at the second place, the owner looked very surprised, and then very concerned and then he began lecturing us a bit loudly about the importance of booking ahead. He quickly paced between the kitchen, the bar, and the dining room to check with his staff, all while maintaining a steady banter about how he runs needs to run his business, the margins that he needs to be profitable, how early he wakes up in the morning to get to the market, how they want to take care of their customers, especially those who have made reservations, and so on. All of this interspersed with some choice “ooh-la-la’s” and a steady stream of comments about how he couldn’t take care of anybody who just shows up.

I got an earful, in short. I’ve had this happen in a handful of different places, in one form or another.

It seemed like he was not just lecturing me, but also telling all of the local regulars that were in there, as if to say, “don’t get any ideas that this is okay.”  This went on for 3-4 minutes and then, despite his protestations, he showed us to a table.

Once we sat, he expressed further annoyance and uncertainty what would be available to us on the menu. He told us we could have no appetizers, and we agreed. Then we ordered drinks and he grudgingly smiled and walked away. A moment later, the waiter was there to take our order and the normally pleasant hospitality of such places took over.

Not having a reservation seems to mess with French hospitality.

Knowing that you're coming means that they can be prepared to make sure that you have good service and a good meal.

By the time that we were leaving after dessert and coffee, the owner seemed so pleased that we were happy with our meals that he chatted our ears off (now very happily) about how nice it is to have guests from out of town and how he and his wife had been to New York once for vacation and all of that. It took a while just to pay the bill.

A few bistro owners have told me that smaller restaurants make their money by finding the balance between how much they will spend on food and the number of guests they have. While waiters aren’t going to get rich waiting tables, they are paid a lot better than waiters in the US, they have health benefits, and so on. Most smaller places also don’t have much room for storage (2 places near me have refrigerators that are the same size as the one in our apartment) and most things for lunch are bought in the morning that day.

My own bad habits

I’ve shown up without reservations a lot. I still haven’t gotten used to it and while I might get a lecture, that’s not always the case. Another owner told me a bit more indirectly. We were there for a Sunday brunch and there was a huge spread of foods on the buffet, yet the man apologized when he came over to take our order.

“I’m sorry, but there are no oysters. If you had a reservation, I would have had oysters here for you.”

That’s not a problem.  

It’s worth mentioning that there are oysters absolutely everywhere in this part of France – just everywhere.

He hadn’t yet taken our order and kind of repeated himself, “yes, I always get oysters, but if I don’t know who’s coming, then it I can’t just buy them and have them go to waste.”

Of course. That makes sense. We have no problem if there are no oysters.

He then took our drink order and came back.

In the process of taking our food order, he mentioned the oysters another few before I realized that he wasn’t talking about oysters, he was telling us that we should make reservations. It wasn’t until we said, “Oh yes: we’ll definitely make reservations next time. Sorry about that,” that he then happily took our order and moved on.

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