Unless otherwise indicated, the prices mentioned on this site are for 3-course meals, excluding drinks. Your choice of drinks and wine will naturally greatly affect the final bill. Tax and tip are always included in the price posted in restaurants, bars, and cafés in France.
- Le Menu. The French call the fixed-price menu le menu. Two-course menus (starter + main course or main course + dessert) or three-course menus (starter + main course + cheese or dessert) are often available at lunch. Most menus for dinner consist of three courses.
- La Carte. The bill of fare that we call “the menu” in English is called la carte (literally, the card) in French. A la carte, therefore, refers to choices and choosing outside of the fixed-price menu. When ordering à la carte you may naturally order whatever courses you want. Descriptions on this site sometimes indicate the average range of prices for three courses selected à la carte (also noted here as ALC). Exceptionally higher or lower priced dishes have been excluded in that average range.
- Menu/Carte. The term menu/carte indicates that the restaurant’s bill of fare comes to a fixed price whatever you chose for three courses. In other words, aside from several dishes that may have a small supplement, the starters are all the same price, the main courses are all the same price, and the desserts are all the same price.