Pre Fixe 
A tasting menu with three to eight courses is usually where you can experience the chef's creativity and imagination compared to a few à la carte' courses. The preferred format for almost all of the top fine dining restaurants in the United States, with only a few exceptions. The portions are sized to reflect the number of courses served so that when a diner finishes eating, they should be full but not overly so. It usually includes a wine pairing for a reasonable price (see wine below).

Supplementary Prix Fixe 
It is a menu for ordering the maximum number of signature dishes that usually offers the most courses.

 à La Carte 
It includes their top creative dishes. You can generally dine in under two hours for a three-course plus the other complementary courses. Personally, I'm not too fond of the new prix fixe trend in the United States forcing customers to spend so long at the table and pay higher prices as well. In France, almost every restaurant offers an à la carte menu giving customers more options as good 'customer centric' establishments should. Note that as of 2022, the only top fine dining restaurant in the United States to offer à la carte per their website is Guy Savoy in Las Vegas.

The Menu is Not on a Restaurants Website
Beware that many restaurants no longer have the menu or even a sample menu on their website, especially if they only offer multi- course menu's. Most of the time, you have to go to a reservation page to find the price of each prix fixe menu. There are two restaurants in the United States list with no prices online.

Helpful Hint: you can do an online search of the restaurant and add the word 'menu', then go to 'images' tab to. This will have recent or very old menus, but it should give you a good idea of the style and usual dishes.

Are They Serving Foods You Want To Eat? 

Your answers could be yes, kind of, not sure, or no. Usually a top consideration when determining where to travel to dine next.

Why Lunch Versus Dinner in France?
Cost - the majority of top restaurants in France offer a two or three-course lunch a few days a week for an average of 30% to 50% less than dinner. The United States rarely offers this except for Le Bernadin in New York City.

Foreign Language  
Most top restaurants in France now offer menu's in English for their English-speaking customers. If you want to be as prepared as possible, look at menus online beforehand. Most websites have English  translation. If not, use a 'translate the page' tool.

Be aware that 'entree' in French does not mean the main course but rather an appetizer before the main course. 'Le plat principal' or 'revele' refers to the main course.

Gourmandises refers to any small sweet, and mignardises refers to chocolate truffles or petit fours, that are served after the dessert course. In recent years these two terms are now often used interchangeably. Amuse-bouche is a single, bite-sized complimentary hors d'œuvre.

Dietary Preferences
Fine dining restaurants are quite used to expecting dietary preferences, allergies, or intolerances. Let the restaurant know when you make a reservation. They should let you know if anything is an issue or which menus will be best for you.

Complimentary Extra's To Be Expected

An amuse-bouche to wake up your palette to start your meal which is meant to be eaten in one bite. These can be one or ten or more, especially in France. They typically make some sort of statement or give an indication of the chef's style and the dishes that will be served. Palette cleansers between courses are sometimes offered.
Gourmandises/mignardises chocolates and mini desserts after dessert

A parting memento is sometimes offered in the United States, which can be a bread, a sweet, chocolate,…        

Menu's