14 French Restaurant Red Flags: The Signs To Watch Out For

French food is easily one of the world's most celebrated cuisines and is often considered the foundation of modern Western cooking. It's renowned for using only the finest and freshest ingredients and requires the highest level of culinary skill to prepare. That said, there's also something wonderfully simple and rustic about French fare. Thanks to the cuisine's incredible popularity, you can find French restaurants in every corner of the planet. Some have managed to achieve global acclaim, while others serve their deliciously authentic food under the radar. However, considering the sheer number of French restaurants out there, you can't expect them all to be winners.

After a long career in the service industry, including two seasons spent working in the French Alps, I've become pretty familiar with French dining. I've been privileged to eat at both fine-dining restaurants and mom-and-pop joints across the world, but I've also had some less-than-stellar experiences. Unfortunately, some restaurants don't have the knowledge, skill, or access to quality ingredients necessary to represent French cuisine faithfully. Some try but fall short, while others simply believe they can get away with cutting corners. The good news is that there are a good number of warning signs that indicate you might be in one of these subpar venues. Below, I'm going to share some red flags that are worth knowing if you don't want to be let down by a French restaurant.

One of the most common mistakes a restaurant can make is trying to please everybody with its menu. Restaurants rely heavily on prep in order to produce and serve a variety of dishes in a relatively short space of time. The problem with large menus is that you need to sell every item quickly enough to use the prepped ingredients while they're still fresh. If some items sell slowly, the restaurant has to choose between wasting ingredients and losing money or using them when they're past their best.

Some cuisines reuse many of the same ingredients in their dishes, making it easier to offer more options. Unfortunately, French food isn't one of them. French cuisine places a huge emphasis on fresh ingredients, which is why the best French restaurants tend to stick to a tight, cohesive menu. This is also why there are different types of French restaurants that specialize in their offerings. Even if a French restaurant is busy enough that it may be able to keep its food fresh, an oversized and muddled menu is inauthentic and may be a sign that standards are slipping elsewhere.

It's not uncommon for restaurants to offer a mixed menu with dishes from different cuisines, but it's something to be wary of, particularly when it comes to French food. Regardless of the cooking fundamentals, most cuisines require different ingredients, equipment, and culinary know-how. It's not often you'll find a restaurant that can serve a combination of various cuisines while guaranteeing each dish is of equally high quality.

The French also tend to have very strong feelings about how their culture – particularly their food — is represented. Authentic French restaurants are extremely unlikely to serve items from other cuisines unless they specialize in fusion dishes. If the non-French offerings have shared regional influences, like certain Spanish or Italian dishes, this might be less of a problem. However, if you see things like hamburgers or sushi on the menu, there's a very good chance the French stuff won't live up to expectations. You're better off choosing a restaurant that's confident its customers want to eat French food and doesn't have to provide alternatives to convince people to eat there.

Whenever a country adopts a cuisine from overseas, it tends to put its own twist on the food over time. This is usually due to factors like the availability of certain ingredients and differing taste preferences. As I said before, the French are typically purists when it comes to their cuisine, so the best French restaurants are unlikely to serve Americanized versions of French food.

Examples of Americanized French food include things like French onion soup that's been smothered with cheese, duck à l'orange doused in a sweet, syrupy sauce, or escargot that's been taken out of the shell. Modified breakfasts are another thing to be wary of. French breakfasts are light and simple, especially compared to American breakfasts, so you're unlikely to see a croissant stuffed with ham, egg, and cheese in an authentic French café. I think it's only fair to point out that Americanized French food isn't necessarily poor quality. It can still be delicious and ultimately down to your personal preferences; however, it's also a potential sign that the restaurant doesn't understand French cuisine.

Although we tend to refer to cuisines by their country of origin, food varies massively from region to region. Take American food, for example. The dishes native to Texas bear little resemblance to those you'll find in New England or Louisiana. France is no different.

French cuisine varies hugely across the country. The dishes themselves are influenced by the ingredients available in each locale, as well as the cuisines of neighboring countries. For example, dishes from Languedoc-Roussillon tend to have a strong Spanish and Mediterranean influence with lots of seafood and fresh vegetables. Typical dishes from Provence are similar but with stronger Italian elements. In the Alpine Savoy area, you're going to find Swiss-style cheese dishes, like fondue, raclette, and tartiflette. Looking inland, you'll start to see heartier dishes with a more prominent meat aspect that pairs well with the region's famous red wines. Overseas, French restaurants are more likely to offer a combination of regional fare, but the best ones are more likely to stick to a regional theme. If the menu offers an incohesive mixture of dishes from all over France, there's a possibility it won't meet your expectations.

If there's one thing the French take more seriously than their food, it's their language. Although it's not uncommon for French restaurants outside of France to use English in their menus for ease of use, it's typically reserved for descriptions. The dishes themselves will usually retain their native names. In my experience, the more authentic the restaurant, the more French it'll use. This is why it's always handy to brush up on some essential French dining terms before your visit.

However, regardless of how much French is on the menu, it's more important that the words are spelled correctly. If the restaurant can't spell boeuf bourguignon, bouillabaisse, coq au vin, or ratatouille correctly, you may want to give it a miss. A French chef – or a chef who's been trained in French cooking – is unlikely to let those simple mistakes slide. Even if that's not the case, I view a misspelled menu as a lack of attention to detail. The very best restaurants are those that are meticulous in everything they do. If a restaurant hasn't been bothered to proofread its menu, it makes you wonder what else it has overlooked. A typo might not be the end of the world, but what if the restaurant is overlooking food safety standards?

If you visit a French restaurant and the staff are French or can speak the language, it's a pretty good sign that you're onto a winner. It usually means that they're well-versed in French cuisine and that the owners have specifically hired a team with expertise. It's not necessarily a problem if the staff aren't French or fluent French speakers, but they should still be able to explain the menu.

If there's a dish on the menu you don't recognize, your server should be able to give you a detailed explanation of what it is and what ingredients are in it. If the staff can't pronounce the French terms correctly, it's a sign they may not have been sufficiently trained. Even if they can't hold a conversation in French, they should have at least memorized the menu in order to advise customers. If they look just as befuddled as you by the French terminology, it's a red flag that training standards are low across the board. It may just be the case that they're new and still learning; however, they should be able to ask for assistance from a colleague. If it seems like nobody knows what's going on, you could be in for a poor dining experience.

One of the trickiest aspects of recreating French dishes outside of France is being able to source the correct ingredients. There are some essential components of French cooking that just can't be substituted if a restaurant is aiming for authenticity. The best French restaurants will try to source genuine ingredients, all the way down to what type of flour they use. Often, they'll even have to order ingredients from Europe, which is why high-end French restaurants have a reputation for being pretty expensive.

I'm not saying that every single carrot or cut of beef has to come from France, but there are some substitutions that are less acceptable than others. If a restaurant is swapping authentic Dijon mustard for yellow American mustard, then it's likely cutting corners. A traditional French onion soup should be topped with Gruyère cheese, not Swiss cheese or cheddar. Roasted duck isn't the same as authentic duck confit and shouldn't be labeled as such. Lower-end restaurants will rely more heavily on substitutions, and while that doesn't mean the food will be inedible, you won't be experiencing the joy of true French cuisine.

Whether it's a small-scale bistro, mid-range brasserie, or a Michelin-star fine-dining establishment like The French Laundry, authentic French restaurants put a huge emphasis on fresh ingredients. As a result, the best French dining spots tend to have ever-changing seasonal menus that rotate to incorporate whatever produce is available. Simply put, farm-to-table cooking is a feature of French cooking.

If a French restaurant keeps the same menu all year round, it goes against the entire ethos of the cuisine. Establishments like cafés and patisseries can be let off the hook due to the type of food they serve but most other restaurants should always be trying to keep things fresh. Another red flag is when the menu lists items that contain out-of-season ingredients. While the produce might not be out-of-date, it's likely the business had to source it from out of state or overseas, and it may have been grown using unnatural fertilizers and pesticides. However, you should be aware that the seasons vary across the United States and may not align with France's growing periods. Just because a dish is out of season for France, that doesn't necessarily mean it's out of season elsewhere.

If there's one thing that France is more famous for than its food, it's its wine. A reputable French restaurant will have a wine list that's been finely curated to pair perfectly with its food offerings. It doesn't have to be a huge or expensive selection, but it should be suitable and of reasonable quality. While there doesn't need to be a qualified sommelier on staff, your server should still be knowledgeable about the wines available and be equipped to make suggestions based on your preferences and food choices.

Most French restaurants will stick solely to French wines; however, they may offer non-French bottles if they think they're worthy additions. It's extremely uncommon for a highly regarded French restaurant to have a wine list that only features New-World wines and includes no European options. It's also worth looking at how many wines are offered by the glass versus by the bottle. Unless the restaurant has a special tool for drawing wine from corked bottles, there shouldn't be an excess of single-glass options. Otherwise, there's a chance it's keeping and serving opened wine that's past its best.

Along with food and wine, coffee is a huge part of French culture. Enjoyed throughout the day – especially after a hearty meal – traditional French coffee is a far cry from the sort of thing you might find at your local Starbucks. It's not a reassuring sign if a French restaurant doesn't have an espresso machine or at least a French press. If it's cutting corners and using instant coffee, it's unlikely to care about the quality of its food either.

Even if a restaurant does have an espresso maker, that doesn't mean the staff are trained on how to use it properly. If you can hear the machine's steam wand screaming in the background, there's a fair chance the person using it doesn't know how to make a decent coffee. You also want to keep an eye out for burned or split milk. If the coffee tastes bitter or tasteless, it may have been over-extracted. As someone who's been professionally taught how to make coffee, a lot of experience and training is required to perfect this skill. A great French restaurant will make sure its staff is up to the task, especially as it knows how important it is to get its coffee right.

From steak to charcuterie, the French take a lot of pride in their meat. A cornerstone of the French cooking ethos is the idea that every part of the animal can be used to create a delicious meal as long as it's used correctly. French beef dishes have an unparalleled reputation thanks to this approach.

Tougher cuts are typically reserved for things like stews, so they end up beautifully tender. You've also got the renowned steak tartare, consisting of raw, tender beef that's been seasoned to perfection. When it comes to steaks, they're generally served much rarer than in other parts of the world to allow the natural flavors of the beef to shine. It's fairly common to receive a steak at a French restaurant that's rarer than you expected, but it should never be the other way around. If the restaurant is serving chewy, overcooked meat or choosing unsuitable cuts for its dishes, it's failing at one of the most basic aspects of French cuisine.

These days, it's entirely possible for restaurants to offer fresh seafood regardless of where they're located. I know spots in Bangkok that receive daily orders of European oysters, but it costs a pretty penny. However, sourcing fresh seafood from afar isn't cheap. You can almost certainly trust that a high-end restaurant is paying for quality seafood, but be wary of the cheaper places.

Additionally, many French seafood dishes use fish from the North Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Atlantic Ocean. If you're on the West Coast of the U.S., there's a higher chance the restaurant is using a substitute fish species instead. This doesn't necessarily mean the food will be bad or unsafe to eat, but it won't be a true representation of the real deal. If you're unsure, don't be afraid to ask your server about the seafood on the menu. A reputable restaurant will have no issues telling you what its fish is and where it comes from, even if it's not the exact species used across the pond. In fact, it's usually a point of pride. If the server doesn't know or can't give you an acceptable, transparent answer, you're better off ordering something different or dining elsewhere.

French food has a long-standing reputation for being fancy and expensive, but the truth is that it doesn't have to be. Although dishes that require fresh, authentic French ingredients can be expensive to produce, there are many dishes that can be made with cheap and simple elements if the chef knows what they're doing.

Unfortunately, you'll come across lots of French restaurants that can't justify the prices on their menus. It's one thing to charge a lot for a meal that uses high-end imported ingredients, but a dish made with locally sourced components shouldn't cost a great deal more just because the recipe is French. Straightforward dishes like potatoes au gratin, ratatouille, or salade niçoise shouldn't break the bank unless you're visiting a fine-dining restaurant. I suggest doing your research by checking out the customer reviews and the menu before you make a booking. If a place with mediocre reviews is charging $20 for a bowl of French onion soup, skip it.

While there's nothing wrong with a restaurant leaning into the French theme, you should always be wary of the ones that rely on it a bit too heavily. There's a fine line between recreating the atmosphere of a bonafide bistro and using lazy stereotypes to draw in customers. The latter is distinctly un-French and implies a lack of authenticity. It's also a possible sign that the restaurant is counting on its gimmick rather than great food to get customers through the doors.

Over-the-top decor can be a big red flag, especially if the place is covered in French flags or photos of famous landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower. Keep an eye out for things like cheap, faux-French farmhouse decorations and plastic baguettes or grape vines. Themed uniforms for the staff can be okay, but only if they're appropriate for the type of restaurant. A formal vest and bowtie is suitable at a higher-end venue, but it doesn't make sense for a cafe, bistro, or brasserie-style restaurant. If the servers are wearing striped shirts and berets, you're unlikely to be in for an unauthentic dining experience.