Quote:
Originally Posted by forgotten username
yeah, dinner at 9pm is quite late by French standards. Even here I usually eat around 8 if possible. Your sunsets are later though.
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One thing I found about France is that dinner time is very "bunched up" between roughly 1930 and 2030. Some people eat a bit before that, and some people linger towards 2100 and beyond.
But if you go to a restaurant in a non-touristy area in France, often I've noticed it's nearly deserted before 1900, then people start to trickle in, and then it's absolutely packed from 1930-2030, and some stay until 2100 and a bit beyond. And then it gets much more quiet.
If I compare this to most parts of the U.S. for example where there are quite a few people arriving for dinner at 1700 sharp (or even a bit before), and then it gets really busy around 1800, and starts levelling off around 1900-1930. By 2000 there are still some tables of course but it's not very busy.
Outside of the more hip parts of central big cities many U.S. restaurants seem to close their kitchen around 2200. Some close even earlier than that.
The time period over which people dine (and dine out) seems much more spread out there than in France.
On the weekend I had a bite in a large local chain restaurant (not really a bar) in suburban Montreal. There was a sign that said closing time was 2300, but with a message underneath that said something like: "The posted closing time is only indicative of when our kitchen service winds down. You're more than welcome to stay longer and close out your evening beyond that time if you wish."
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