Essentially, there are some things you should know, if you are planning to eat out in France, particularly if you are in a more rural area, rather than metropolitain and I'll be having a look at some of those in this article.
The Timing
Many of us, particularly if you are - like me - used to big city life, have lost most sense of timing for when a desire can be had. Particularly a desire for food. I lived in a few German cities, I lived in Paris and I have been living in London for over a decade now. When I am hungry, most of the time, there will be a way we will be able to find food. Supermarkets are open Monday to Sunday, many corner shops are open round the clock, food deliveries are at hand most of the time. And even if you think that it's too late for a food delivery, there'll always be another restaurant not too far away.
Now, if you are in rural France, and even in some of the bigger towns and cities, you will find that this way of life is not what you can expect here. Most shops are open Monday to Sunday, a few big supermarkets are now open on a Sunday morning if you are lucky, sometimes only on special occasions. Generally you can also assume that the supermarkets, particularly the rural ones, are closed by around 20h00 the latest. And bank holidays? They are shut.
So generally for supermarkets a sort of planning what you need has to be reintroduced, especially for the city dwellers.
But what does it look like for restaurants?
I have to say, it's even worse there. Generally it can be assumed, that restaurants are closed until 12 o'clock, midday. Particularly during the week, the bigger dwellings in particular, the restaurants then get very busy when everyone is having their lunch break. At 13h30 the chefs close the kitchen. And then there won't be any more food served until 18h00 or 19h00.
So if you happen to pop in any restaurants between 13h30 and 19h00, you most likely will not get any food. This time of the day is to have a coffee.
In rare occasions you stumble across a restaurant where either the staff are extremely friendly or the owner is also the chef and they might pop into the kitchen and get you a little something. Often it's not on the menu or they tell you they don't have a certain ingredient for the dish but can offer an alternative. Generally I recommend to take it. Certainly you don't want to abuse the kindness of the restaurant staff and then be fussy on top of it. If these things happen to us, we generally leave a generous tip, quite often the staff is also extremely friendly and it would be rude not to leave a generous tip.
What about allergies?
I know allergies can be a touchy subject and in our house-hold, we do have some allergies. Generally, they are nothing we have to worry about (a couple of fruits, dairy intolerance, nothing that can't be easily avoided or compensated with a pill).
However, we also do have a Gluten and Yeast issue in our household and that's where it gets quite difficult. France is a country where bread is one of the main sides of any dish, if not even an ingredient itself. So finding something that is Gluten free is quite difficult and many members of staff do not even know or understand what this is about. So be aware that this limits what you can have. Unlike other places (once more, we're spoiled by London) quite often you will not find allergens marked on the menu, when you ask staff they don't know, quite often they won't even check with the chef.
By the way... the same applies to supermarkets, by the way. Only recently supermarkets started stocking a very basic "free from" range. So generally it's highly recommended to note down where you found what (we sometimes go through 4 supermarkets before we have a suitable range of products) or if you can, make as much food as you can yourself.
Etiquette
In Germany, where I was born, it is quite common to walk into the restaurant, take a seat and eventually a waiter will show up and you'll be served. In France thats quite rare. Once again, we're talking about rural places, not the metropolitain ones.
If it's a restaurant and you have to go inside, you usually wait at the entrance, and someone will come, greet you and you will be seated. If they have an outside area, quite often there will be a member of staff hustling and bustling (or sitting around...) and you can just ask if you sit down and they'll nod.
Quite often, however, particularly for evening meals, you are required to reserve a seat. Many restaurants have a small contingency and unlike big restaurants also limits of what meals they can offer. So generally, if you can, please call the restaurant, ask them if they are open (not all that are open for lunch are also open for dinner) and if you know your time, reserve a table.
This also often means that a certain meal might not be available anymore. Don't get upset, order another one. Some restaurants can't afford to have a huge stock of food if half of it has to be thrown away, some of them are small family businesses. That doesn't mean the rest of the food is not good. You can have it another time.