I was at a restaurant yesterday in Lyon and when I asked for water, the server right away offered me an Evian or Volvic bottle. I thought that was weird because back in Belgium, it's normal that they serve free water. So I'm wondering if that's an actual rule or if it was just that restaurant being stingy.
Did you specifically ask for tap water or did you just say "water"?
Because in France, technically there's no legal obligation to offer free water. Unlike Belgium or other countries, it's not written into the law. So restaurants can totally refuse to serve tap water for free, and lots of them take advantage of it since it's an easy source of income. It's completely legal, just a different cultural/commercial thing.
That said, in restaurants that are a bit more laid-back or less uptight, if you explicitly ask for "tap water please" (or "carafe of water" in some places), they'll serve it to you without fussing. But yeah, the waiter who directly offers you Evian is doing it because it's in their commercial interest. It's not specific to that restaurant in Lyon, it's pretty widespread in France unfortunately.
You have to explicitly ask for "a glass of tap water" or "a carafe of water" - it's free and mandatory in France, but if you just say "water", they'll offer you the bottled kind! I made the same mistake at a restaurant last week, I just vaguely said "water" and boom, they brought out a bottle, but when I clearly asked for tap water, they brought me a carafe no problem!
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