How to Say "The bill, please" in French

The mistake to avoid. Le chèque is a cheque, the thing you write and sign, so asking for it in a restaurant asks the server to bring you a blank payment slip. Une facture is an invoice and belongs to plumbers and phone companies, not tables. The other half of this is cultural rather than lexical: in France the bill is not brought until you ask for it, because bringing it unprompted is treated as pushing you out. You can sit for an hour waiting for something that will never arrive on its own.