We visited Paris in March 2012. We wandered down to the restaurant L'Avenue on a beautiful Sunday afternoon around 3:00. Many were enjoying the outdoor cafe area; there were ample tables inside. We had never heard of L'Avenue prior to coming upon it on that Sunday afternoon . However, my husband must have been more observant than me, because he voiced objections about going in to this restaurant based on what he thought were the "type" of person he saw dining outside,ie a tres chic crowd. We walked in and asked for a table in French politely but anyone would know we were Americans. A very tall imposing French woman informed us right away that "There was no table available for you Americans " We were shocked; walked out quietly and immediately walked back to the Georges V, where we were staying, had the concierge make us a reservation for 15 minutes later walked back to L'Avenue and faced the same woman ,handed her our reservation from George's V, and watched her IMPLODE. It was worth everything . You seldom get that satisfaction that quickly. We were seated and had a lovely lunch.

bonniejean...I love it!

bonniejean's post is great - and proves that at least some Parisian waiters are downright rude to Americans at least.

Je l'aime aussi!

LOVE IT!

That's a funny story but I don't think I'd want to give them my business after that.

I receive no joy from rubbing anybody's face in it.

>> A very tall imposing French woman informed us right away that "There was no table available for you Americans " <<

I'd have thought that was illegal, even in France. It certainly would be in the UK.

AFAIK (and I don't claim to know it really "far") only discrimination in access to goods or services based on sex is illegal by European law.
Otherwise the "individual's freedom to choose a contractual partner" is not infringed by the respective Council Directive.

If the UK has extended that scope also to other possibilities to discriminate it only affects contracts in the UK.

"A very tall imposing French woman informed us right away that "There was no table available for you Americans "

Possible a mother or relative of a French soldier killed or wounded in Afghanistan fighting along side our kids when she heard the "Freedom Fries" B.S. that was flying around the US over the Iraq blunder.

I had dinner in Dubai one evening with a father of a French Soldier who was in Afghanistan watching CNN with the idiots whining about France not joining us in that debacle.

Talk about an embarrassment!

>> A very tall imposing French woman informed us right away that "There was no table available for you Americans " <<

I'd have thought that was illegal, even in France. It certainly would be in the UK.>

Well parse what she said - no table available - then for you Americans just meant there are no tables available for ..... fill in the blank - she could have said no tables open for you Germans - she may not have been outright discriminating against Americans - though that was proven wrong by her hotel being able to book a table - but even that could be OK if a restaurant wishes to have a good relationship with some hotel.

HappyTrvlr - Next time go to Café Saint-Régis. I speak some French and had people correct me when i was trying to speak it. I found it helpful. Perhaps you were tired or hungry and not taking his help in the spirit it was intended.

I have had people tell me all over Western and Central Europe that they can't believe that we are Americans because we are so polite and have manners. I think that people on Fodors are sadly NOT the problem Americans.

As far as saying bonjour to everyone, my mother-in-law had that experience the first time she went to the doctor after she moved to France. She got the serious cold-shoulder because she didn't say hello to everyone in the waiting room.

I have to chime in and say our many trips to France have had a way below-average rude rating. Rudeness happens, as it happens everywhere.

We moved to rural France (La France profonde)5yrs ago after 13yrs of owning our French property. I know there will be some who will say that rural France is not Paris, however during our 20yrs of visiting France including many times in Paris, never, ever, have we encountered any rudeness directed at us.(Despite our atrocious French!) Sadly though, we have observed some truly apalling behaviour by US tourists and worse, by our Australian compatriots. Having said that, our French friends and neighbours do regard 'les Parisiens' with contempt. Paris and Les Parisiens, may as well be another country/planet. We all tend to generalise and our French neighbours are no exception, thus label 'les Americans' as très exigeant (very demanding) and that's being polite! As I said, we all tend to generalise!

Since people can now choose the "department" identification number on their car licence plates rather than having the number of their actual residence imposed as it used to be, the two numbers that have turned out to be the least popular are 75 (Paris) and 69 (Lyon). People from those two cities do not want the rest of France to know where they are from.

some of my French friends consider Germans to be very loud and demanding as well - of course animosity between France and German has been going on a long long time.

My French friends often make fun of Belgians too - like they speak some kind of peasant French.