"Are you ready yet? " "Almost! Just five more minutes.
" "Okay, hurry up! In this lesson, we're going to go to the restaurant. Are you ready?
Let's go! Hello, my name is Maddie from POC English, and in this lesson, we're going to go to the restaurant. We're going to see how to speak English in a restaurant.
**Part One: Before Going to the Restaurant** First, let's learn some words and phrases that you may need to learn and use when you are planning to have a meal outside. The first one is a phrasal verb: to eat out. It's very obvious, right?
If you eat out, it means you eat outside your house; you go to a restaurant. But instead of 'eat', if you say 'dine', to dine out means to have lunch or dinner outside, to go to a restaurant to have dinner. "Let's dine out tonight, shall we?
" Now, if you want to eat out or dine out, before going to the restaurant, you want to make sure that they have a table available for you. Let's say you are two people and you want to dine out, but you are not sure if they have a table ready for you. So what you need to do is call the restaurant, and what should you do?
You should book a table or you should make a reservation. "Book a table" or "make a reservation" means to call the restaurant to let them know that you want to go there tonight for dinner or today for lunch and that they have a table available for you. "Hi, I'd like to book a table for two for tonight at around 8 PM.
" "Let me check. . .
uh, yes, we have a table available for you. " Now, when you go to a restaurant, it may be very expensive, but it may also be reasonably priced. "Reasonably priced" does it mean it's cheap?
No, it's not cheap. The prices are reasonable; it means you can accept the price. "Huh, it sounds fair.
Well, that's a steak—twenty dollars for that steak, 300 grams of steak. " "Twenty? That's fair.
This is reasonably priced. " For example, I checked the menu of that restaurant, and it is reasonably priced. Now, at the restaurant, there are some people who are working.
Those people are called the staff. Now, if the staff are paying attention to the customers, they are responding to their needs, and they are being very careful with everything. Those staff are attentive.
Attentive staff means staff who really care about customers. The next word to learn is "cuisine. " Now, a lot of my students have problems pronouncing this.
Pay attention! Quick! Now put them together: cuisine, cuisine, cuisine.
Where's the stress? Is it on the first syllable or the second syllable? Quizzing or cuisine?
Cuisine! It's on the second syllable. Repeat after me: cuisine.
Now, what does it mean? Cuisine is a specific type of food for a country or a place. Now, what is local cuisine?
Local cuisine is the specific type of food you can find in a particular area. For example, in the city I live in right now, which is Milan in Italy, local cuisine is risotto Milanese. It's a very tasty dish made with risotto, which is rice, and saffron, which is a kind of herb.
You have to try this local cuisine when you come to Italy. Now, there is a type of food that is generally categorized as Continental food. What is it?
Continental food is European food, food made in Europe, food cooked and prepared in Europe. That is Continental food. For example: Italian food, Spanish food, French food, German food, Portuguese food—these are Continental food.
But we also have another category, which is oriental food. Oriental food is Southeast Asian food. So, Oriental or Continental— which one do you prefer?
I really like oriental food. How about you? Another type of food is vegetarian food or even vegan food.
Now, vegetarian food is a type of food that does not include any meat. Vegan food, on the other hand, is any food that doesn't include any meat or any other products coming from animals, including eggs or milk. Okay, enough learning for now!
Let's see how to use what we have learned in a dialogue. "Guys, would you like to dine out this weekend? " "Great idea!
I'm free on Saturday. How about you, John? " "I'll try my best to come.
" "Nice! Do you know somewhere to go? " "There is this new place, uh, two streets away from here.
I checked the menu, and it's reasonably priced. " "And what types of food do they have? " "Mainly local cuisine.
" "I don't know; I'm a vegetarian, you know. " "Yes, and they have a vegetarian menu too. " "Do they have Continental food too?
" "I think yes, uh, I'm not sure though. " "Sounds great! I'm down, but it's so crowded at the weekend.
We should make a reservation right now! " "So what are we waiting for? Let's do it!
" I hope you're enjoying this lesson. Before we continue, let me tell you something. Do you want to have the summary of this lesson in a PDF file?
And not just this lesson; all of the lessons on my YouTube channel for free? How can I do that? You can download my free English book.
In this book, I have 400 pages of lesson summaries—400 pages that means all of the summaries of all of my YouTube Channel videos from day one, and this is for free for my YouTube subscribers! So get it now. How?
Click on the link above my head, go to my website, type in your email address, your name, and click download. You will receive the book in your email. Now let's get back to our lesson: **Part Two: At the Restaurant** Now, when you are at the restaurant, the first.
. . " The thing you need is the menu.
The menu, as you know, is a list with the names of all the dishes and meals that the restaurant has to offer. Nowadays, many restaurants do not offer a menu on paper; rather, they have a QR code on the table. You have to scan it with your phone to see the menu, and that is good.
I think it means you don't use paper. Next to the menu, some restaurants have another menu, which is the drinks menu. That is the list of all the drinks they have to offer: different wines, different sodas, soft drinks, alcoholic drinks— the entire list of drinks.
Now, sometimes on the menu, you may see one section titled "Today's Special" or maybe just "Specials. " What is that? That is the dish or meal that the chef has prepared specifically for today.
Tomorrow, you won't find that on the menu; it's only for today. That is today's special. Now, each meal at the restaurant may have three different steps.
The first one is the starter, which is a very light meal meant to work up an appetite. Good phrase, "work up an appetite. " What does it mean?
Appetite is the desire to eat; if you "work up an appetite," it means you are doing something to your body that makes it feel more and more hungry. So, basically, you are preparing your stomach for the real meal, which comes after the starter. This meal is called the main course.
The main course is the main dish, the biggest dish you're going to eat. After that, you may want to order dessert, which is something sweet at the end of the meal. Now, when you order your meal, you may want to choose some side dishes.
Side dishes—what are those? Well, maybe some yogurt, some olives, something to eat alongside your food, like pickles. They just put it beside your food; it's not part of your main meal, so you can order side dishes.
Or, if you're having salad or something that requires some sauce, you can order dressing. Drssing—no, no, no, it's not just any dressing; it is basically a sauce added to salad. Now, at the end of the menu, or at the bottom of each page of the menu, you may see this word: "allergen.
" Allergens—what does it mean? Well, an allergen (plural: allergens) refers to the materials, the substances in the food, that may cause an allergic reaction. So, for example, if you are allergic to tomatoes, you may want to check the allergens to see if tomatoes are in the meal you're going to order, or if you're allergic to peanuts, you may find peanuts listed as allergens.
Finally, a very useful phrase: imagine you and your friend are at the restaurant, and your friend decides to have pizza. Then you think, "Huh, pizza sounds good! I want the same.
" What can you say? "A pizza for me too"—that's okay, but you can also say, "Make it two! " It means I want the exact same that he ordered.
If you are the third person, you can say, "Uh, yeah, make that three. " "Make it two," "make it three" means "me too; I want the exact same that these guys are having. " Alright, enough!
Let's see how to use these in a dialogue: "I booked a table for two for 7 PM under the name of Thomas Shelby. " "Of course, please, come this way. " After sitting down: "Sorry, could we have the menu please?
" "Of course, just scan the QR code. " A few minutes later: "Can I check your order, sir? What would you like for the main course?
" "Yes, a margarita pizza please. " "Excellent choice! And you, sir?
" "Yeah, make it two. " "Uh-huh, two margarita pizzas. Anything for a starter?
" "Maybe a seasoned salad, and I'll have the fried snails. " "Okay, anything to drink? " "How about a bottle of water?
" "Yes, a bottle of sparkling water. " "Great! I'll be right back with your order.
" Now, as you are having your meal, you may have some needs or requests. Who should you call? You should call the waiter.
Now, you can call the waiter or the waitress, but you can use a very nice phrasal verb: "flag down. " To flag down the waiter or to flag down the waitress means to wave at them to get their attention, and then they will come to you. This is called "to flag down.
" "Excuse me, sir/ma'am! "—that is flagging them down and calling them to come to you. Another phrase is "a round of drinks.
" What does it mean? Well, if you are out with more than three friends—three, four, five, six, seven, eight—if you want to order drinks, you may say, "We need another round of drinks! " Now, a round of drinks means drinks for everybody.
It's not just for me. If I want a drink, I would say, "I need another Coca-Cola. " But if everyone at the table wants the same drink, you would say, "Sorry, another round of drinks!
" Here, it means everyone at this table would like another drink—a round of drinks. The waiter or waitress may say, "Right away! " What does it mean?
It means immediately, without hesitation—right now. "Right away, sir! " Look at this dialogue: "Great pizza!
" "Tell me about it. " "I need another beer. " "Me too!
" "Let's flag down the waiter. " "Yes, sir, can we get another round of drinks? " "Right away, sir!
" When your meal is finished and you want to leave the restaurant, you have to pay the bill. An informal phrase instead of "pay the bill" is "foot the bill. " Yes, "foot the bill" means to pay the bill, but that's informal.
If you're out with your friends… Friends, you may want to foot the bill. It means to pay it. Now, where do you pay the bill?
First of all, you need to ask for the bill or the check. Uh, can we have the check, please? You can use this sign as well: "Sorry, can I have the check, please?
" or "Can I have the bill, please? " They will bring it to you at your table. You can see if you want; you can discuss, you can divide, you can split the cost.
That is splitting the cost: the act of "I pay for my share, you pay for your share. " We are splitting the cost. A very lovely idiom here is "go Dutch.
" "Go Dutch" means going to Germany? No, no, no, no! Going to the Netherlands?
No, "go Dutch" means each person pays for his or her half, or not half, for his or her part. That's a lovely idiom: "to go Dutch. " Now, if you want to go Dutch, you can decide.
Now, after this, you have to stand up and go to the cashier; that is the place where you can make the payment. "Can I have the check, please? " "Of course, here you are.
Thank you. " "I'm ready to pay. How would you like to pay?
Cash or credit? " "Cash, please. " "That'll be eighty dollars, please.
" "Here you are. Thank you, and here's your change and your receipt. Thank you.
" And that's it, guys! I hope you've enjoyed this lesson. I tried to touch on the main points of the dialogues that you may come across when you are at a restaurant, or when you're planning to go to a restaurant, or when you're paying for the bill.
Also, I tried to use some situational dialogues so that you can see how to use them, and you can feel more confident and comfortable with these new phrases. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson. Don't forget to give it a thumbs up!
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