Glossary
Prix Fixe
pree FEEKS
French; "fixed price"
A multi-course meal served at a single set price, usually with a small choice of dishes per course (two or three options each for starter, main, dessert). Distinct from a tasting menu, which has no choice.
Full Definition
The prix fixe is the older, more flexible cousin of the tasting menu. The diner pays a single set price for a complete meal — typically appetizer, main, and dessert — but with two or three choices per course, so the menu maintains some agency. The format is dominant at French bistros, theater-district pre-fixe menus in New York and London, lunchtime tasting menus, and weekday "menu of the day" formats across European cities.
A prix fixe usually runs $40–$120 per person at the bistro tier, $90–$220 at the fine-dining tier. The format is particularly common at lunchtime — many three-Michelin-star restaurants offer a prix fixe lunch at 30–50% of the dinner price, which is the most accessible way into a kitchen most diners will never see otherwise.
The prix fixe format works well for first dates and business lunches because it removes pricing anxiety from the menu — both parties know the bill before the food arrives, and the choice between courses keeps the meal personal without becoming an ordering ordeal.
Common confusion: "prix fixe" and "tasting menu" are sometimes used interchangeably in casual signage, but the technical distinction holds — prix fixe gives choice within a fixed price; tasting menu gives no choice. Where you see "tasting menu" with course-by-course options, the kitchen is using the term loosely.