Dining in Chartres
Chartres restaurants, cafes, and everything else you need to know to keep yourself well fed
General France Dining tips
- Timeout.com - Good, thorough restaurant reviews that really keep on top of the latest and greatest on the local dining scene.
- Yelp.com - Though not as thorough abroad as it is in North America, this crowdsource review site remains useful.
- Lefooding.com - Great French dining guide.
- Tripadvisor.com - The Big Daddy of crowdsourced travel user reviews, offering reviews on hotels, restaurants, sights, activities, and more—though with so many millions of reviews, there are plenty (experts say 1/3 to 1/2) of fake ones, so take it all with a grain of salt.Partner
- Realadventures.com - This is not a tour operator or travel agency, but rather a clearing for independent tour operators, local adventure outfitters, and vacation agencies to offer their trips and tours direct to consumers. As such, it offers a potpourri of trips around the world, including cooking schools, and much, much more.Partner
- Viator.com - Best place to search for one-day culinary adventures (along with a few mutli-day ones)—from cooking classes to vineyard visits, market tours to memorable meals.Partner
- City-discovery.com - Chief rival to Viator (though with a less spiffy interface and often sub-par text descriptions), representing many of the same tours (at the same prices). However, it also seems to cover more destinations, especially secondary ones. When it comes down to it, City-Discovery and Viator have maybe 70% the same inventory, but then 30% will be completely different (some Viator has City-Discovery does not, other vice-versa) so it pays to check through the offerings from both.Partner
- Contexttravel.com - This bespoke walking tour company doesn't even call its 200 tour leaders "guides." It calls them "docents"—perhaps because most guides are academics and specialists in their fields—whcih means your curated meal or market tour will be led by a chef or food historian, your wine-tasting tour led by a trained sommelier, Partner
- Activegourmetholidays.com - Mixing active pursuits—walking and biking, mostly, with some golf and yoga—with one-day cooking classes, longer cooking courses, wine tasting, and other culinary adventures. Nifty idea—Though far from the cheapest out there.
- intrepidtravel.com - Intrepid makes a concerted effort to travel like real independent travelers—small groups (usually a max of 8 or 12 people), staying in mom-and-pop accommodations and getting around by public transport rather than a big tour bus. Among their trips are a series of 'Real Food Adventures."Partner
- Infohub.com - Not a tour company, rather a kind of aggregator of trips offered by tour companies. it casts one of the largest nets over the industry, listing some 14,000 tours offered by 4,000 operators in more than 100 categories—including plenty of cooking courses, wine tours, and other foodie adventures.Partner
Tips
You will notice that all restaurants (and sights and hotels) on this site have a ReidsFrance.com star designation from ☆☆☆ to ★★★.
This merely indicates that I feel these eateries offer a little something that makes them special (or extra-special, or extra-extra special, etc.).
These star ratings are entirely based on personal opinion, and have nothing to do with any official local restaurant ratings or grades.
In general, a pricier restaurant has to impress me that it is worth the added expense.
This is why I give ★★★ to some inexpensive eateries or pubs that happen provide amazing value for the money—and similarly have ranked a few fancy but notable restaurants just ★★☆.
Here at ReidsFrance.com we simply provide a general price range indicating the general amount you should expect to pay for a full meal in the eatery.
Each eatery is rated into a price category, which indicates—very roughly—what you could expect to pay, per person, for a standard full meal: Two courses (appetizer and main course, main and side, main and dessert, whatever), plus something to drink.
There are three price ranges, giving you a sense of which restaurants are budget, which are moderate, and which are splurges:
€ | under €15 |
€€ | under €40 |
€€€ | over €40 |
Useful French for dining
English (anglais) | French (français) | Pro-nun-cee-YAY-shun |
Where is? | Où est? | ou eh |
...a restaurant | un restaurant | uhn ray-stah-RAHN |
...a casual restaurant | un bistro or une brasserie |
uhn bee-STRO or ooun bra-sair-RHEE |
a table for two | un table pour deux | uhn TAH-bluh peur dou |
I would like | Je voudrais... | zhuh vou-DRAY |
...some (of) | un peu (de) | uhn puh (duh) |
...this | ce | suh |
...that | ça | sah |
and | et | ay |
chicken | poulet | poo-LAY |
beef | bouef | buff |
veal | veau | voh |
fish | poisson | pwa-SOH |
pork | porc | pork |
meat | la viande | lah vee-YOHN-duh |
platter of cured meats | la charcuterie | lah shar-coo-tair-EE |
I am vegetarian | je suis végétarien | zhuh swee veh-je-ta-ree-YEN |
rare | bleu or saignant |
bluh or sain-NYUHn |
medium rare | à point | ah PWAHn |
well done | bien cuit | bee-YEN kwee |
dessert | dessert | day-SAIR |
and | et | ay |
...a glass of | un verre de | uhn vair duh |
...a bottle of | une bouteille de | oun boo-TAY-yuh de |
...a half-liter of | un demi de | uhn de-MEE de |
...fizzy water | eau gazeuse | oh gah-ZUHZ |
...still water | eau non gazeuse | oh no gah-ZUHZ |
...red wine | vin rouge | vah roozhuh |
...white wine | vin blanc | vah blahn |
...beer | bière | bee-YAIR |
...cider | cidre | SEE-drah |
Check, please | La conte, s'il vous plaît or L’addition, s'il vous plaît |
lah KOHNT seel-vou-PLAY or la-dih-see-YON seel-vou-PLAY |
Service (tip) is included | service compris | sair-VEES cohm-PREE |
Basic phrases in French
English (anglais) | French (français) | pro-nun-see-YAY-shun |
thank you | merci | mair-SEE |
please | s'il vous plaît | seel-vou-PLAY |
yes | oui | wee |
no | non | no |
Do you speak English? | Parlez-vous anglais? | par-lay-VOU on-GLAY |
I don't understand | Je ne comprende pas | zhuh nuh COHM-prohnd pah |
I'm sorry | Je suis desolée | zhuh swee day-zoh-LAY |
How much does it cost? | Combien coute? | coam-bee-YEHN koot |
That's too much | C'est trop | say troh |
Good day | Bonjour | bohn-SZOURH |
Good evening | Bon soir | bohn SWAH |
Good night | Bon nuit | bohn NWEE |
Goodbye | Au revoir | oh-ruh-VWAH |
Excuse me (to get attention) | Excusez-moi | eh-skooze-ay-MWA |
Excuse me (to get past someone) | Pardon | pah-rRDOHN |
Where is? | Où est? | ou eh |
...the bathroom | la toilette | lah twah-LET |
...train station | la gare | lah gahr |
Days, months, and other calendar items in French
English (anglais) | French (français) | Pro-nun-cee-YAY-shun |
When is it open? | Quand est-il ouvert? | coan eh-TEEL oo-VAIR |
When does it close? | Quand est l'heure de fermeture? | coan eh lure duh fair-mah-TOUR |
At what time... | à quelle heure... | ah kell uhre |
Yesterday | hier | ee-AIR |
Today | aujoud'hui | ow-zhuhr-DWEE |
Tomorrow | demain | duh-MEHN |
Day after tomorrow | après demain | ah-PRAY duh-MEHN |
a day | un jour | ooun zhuhr |
Monday | Lundí | luhn-DEE |
Tuesday | Maredí | mar-DEE |
Wednesday | Mercredi | mair-cray-DEE |
Thursday | Jeudi | zhuh-DEE |
Friday | Vendredi | vawn-druh-DEE |
Saturday | Samedi | saam-DEE |
Sunday | Dimanche | DEE-maansh |
a month | un mois | ooun mwa |
January | janvier | zhan-vee-YAIR |
February | février | feh-vree-YAIR |
March | mars | mahr |
April | avril | ah-VREEL |
May | mai | may |
June | juin | zhuh-WAH |
July | juillet | zhuh-LYAY |
August | août | ah-WOOT |
September | septembre | sep-TUHM-bruh |
October | octobre | ok-TOE-bruh |
November | novembre | noh-VAUM-bruh |
December | décembre | day-SAHM-bruh |
Numbers in French
English (anglais) | French (français) | Pro-nun-cee-YAY-shun |
1 | un | ehn |
2 | deux | douh |
3 | trois | twa |
4 | quatre | KAH-truh |
5 | cinq | sank |
6 | six | sees |
7 | sept | sehp |
8 | huit | hwhee |
9 | neuf | nuhf |
10 | dix | dees |
11 | onze | ownz |
12 | douze | dooz |
13 | treize | trehz |
14 | quatorze | kah-TOHRZ |
15 | quinze | cans |
16 | seize | sez |
17 | dix-sept | dee-SEP |
18 | dix-huit | dee-SWEE |
19 | dix-neuf | dee-SNEUHF |
20 | vingt | vahn |
21* | vingt et un * | vahnt eh UHN |
22* | vingt deux * | vahn douh |
23* | vingt trois * | vahn twa |
30 | trente | truhnt |
40 | quarante | kah-RAHNT |
50 | cinquante | sahn-KAHNT |
60 | soixante | swaa-SAHNT |
70 | soixante-dix ‡ | swa-sahnt-DEES |
80 | quatre-vents ‡ | kat-tra-VAHN |
90 | quatre-vents-dix ‡ | kat-tra-vanht-DEES |
100 | cent | sant |
1,000 | mille | meel |
5,000 | cinq mille | sank meel |
10,000 | dix mille | dees meel |
* You can form any number between 20 and 99 just like the examples for 21, 22, and 23. For x2–x9, just say the tens-place number (trente for 30, quarante for 40, etc.), then the ones-place number (35 is trente cinq; 66 is soixsante six). The only excpetion is for 21, 31, 41, etc. For x1, say the tens-place number followed by "...et un" (trente et un, quarante et un, etc.).
‡ Yes, the French count very strangely once they get past 69. Rather than some version of "seventy,' they instead say "sixy-ten" (followed by "sixty-eleven," "sixty-twelve,' etc. up to "sixty-nineteen.") And then, just to keep things interesting, they chenge it up again and, for 80, say 'four twenties"—which always make me thinks of blackbirds baked in a pie for some reason. Ninety becomes "four-twenties-ten" and so on up to "four-nineties-ninteen" for 99, which is quite a mouthful: quartre-vingts-dix-neuf.