Why the same coffee has three prices

A café is allowed to charge less for a drink taken standing or seated at the comptoir (counter) than for the same drink served at a table in the room, and more again for a table on the terrace. The logic is service: a waiter carrying your cup to a chair costs the business more than you picking it up yourself, and the price reflects that.

French consumer-protection rules require cafés and bars to display these prices where a customer can see them before ordering — a list outside covering the most common drinks, and a fuller list inside covering everything on offer, according to the official guidance from the DGCCRF, the government's consumer-protection agency. If you don't see a price for where you're about to sit, ask before you order rather than after the cup arrives.

What service compris means for tipping

Look at the bottom of a French menu and you will usually find the words service compris, sometimes with a percentage. That means the cost of serving you is already folded into the listed price — by law, service has to be included in the total you're charged, and staff cannot demand anything on top of it, per the same DGCCRF guidance.

A cash tip beyond that is entirely optional. Rounding the bill up to the next euro, or leaving a coin or two for a coffee, is normal and appreciated, but it is a courtesy, not a requirement. Nobody will chase you into the street for skipping it, and nobody will discreetly deduct it from a card payment — service compris is not a suggested tip line waiting to be filled in, because there isn't one.

What to actually say at the counter

Café vocabulary is short and specific, and using the right word saves a confused pause:

  • Un café — a small, strong espresso, the default if you just say "a coffee."
  • Une noisette — an espresso with a dash of milk, named for its hazelnut colour.
  • Un allongé — an espresso lengthened with hot water, closer to what English speakers picture as a black coffee.
  • Un café crème — closer to a small latte, usually only available as a breakfast-hours order.
  • Une carafe d'eau — a jug of tap water, and it is free. You can ask for one with any order and the waiter is not doing you a special favour.

Ordering by pointing or by number rarely works well here; a two-word request said plainly gets a faster, correcter drink.

Sitting down, paying up

Once you sit at a table, a waiter will come and take your order — cafés with table service do not expect you to pay at a till first. When you're ready to leave, you have to ask for the bill; it is considered intrusive for a French waiter to bring it before you request it, so don't wait for it to appear on its own.

Say "l'addition, s'il vous plaît" and the bill comes to the table, often with a portable card reader if you're paying by card. Cash is accepted everywhere a café takes card. There is generally no separate step of paying at a counter or a cashier once you have been served at a table.

Before you sit down

Glance at the posted price list for where you intend to sit, decide whether you want table service or a faster, cheaper drink at the counter, and remember that whatever price you see already includes the service charge. From there, ordering and paying is just two short phrases: what you want, and, whenever you're ready, l'addition.