Chefs de France and Feeling Foolish

[Withacy]

I'm a simple girl, with simple taste.

But my friend has always wanted to try French food, so we have an ADR at Chefs de France.

I was looking at the menu. The food looks fine - but my worry - I don't speak French. I have no clue how to pronounce this stuff. Am I going to be made to feel like a complete idiot when I try to order? (Most likely using the point-to-order method.)

Anyone else been in that particular boat? How compasionate are the waiters, in general?

 

[kslo69]

The menu will have both the englisha dn french version of the items. Not to worry. BTW the food is awesome, you won't be disappointed.

 

[RMulieri]

No worries, the waitstaff is very very understanding

 

[HelenParr]

I know what you mean, but don't let that stop you from going. The wait staff speaks English, and we've had only super nice, friendly encounters.

 

[Withacy]

The menu will have both the englisha dn french version of the items. Not to worry. BTW the food is awesome, you won't be disappointed.

Thanks for the information. I'm so happy my friend will get to try some great French Food.

You reminded me of my trip to Paris 5 years ago (I was with a native speaker, and I let her handle the "speaking" part). A good number of menus in Paris were in French AND English. Sometimes the translation was too complete. I got a chuckle over one of the desserts - "Chocolate Foam".

 

[bleeps]

It is part of a server's responsibility -- at ANY restaurant (WDW or otherwise) -- to make guests feel comfortable, whether they know the language of the particular country's cuisine that a restaurant serves or not. What the server needs to know is what you're ordering -- so as long as it's clear (and here's where the tried-and-true method of pointing at the item as well as saying it helps!), then the server should never, ever make the guest feel uncomfortable about trying to pronounce the item.

Aside from that, though, at WDW (or otherwise!) it can be an enjoyable icebreaker with your server to say, "this entree sounds really wonderful, but I'm not exactly sure how it pronounce it!" This gives the person an opportunity to teach you, and for both you and the server to feel relaxed.

We've had SUCH wonderful experiences with the staff at Chefs de France over the years, and sometimes it has all started by our asking for a mini-lesson in the pronunciation of the menu items!!

 

[ksbean]

If I'm not sure on how to pronouce something I find I tend to point to the item on the menu and say I'd like to try this.

 

[Evi]

Don't worry the international staff at chefs de france are some of the nicest ones on property honestly. Most of those kids are really happy to interact with you and there happy to explain teach you to pronounce if you want or just take your order.

 

[canoe86]

On a related topic........

I love traveling to Quebec! Although my french is terrible, I love trying to order without using english. I've found that if I TRY, people are appreciative.