English Lessons

Eating out is one of those everyday situations that catches English learners off guard. You can spend years studying grammar and reading articles, and then the moment a waiter asks Are you ready to order? your mind goes completely blank. It happens to almost everyone — and the fix is not more grammar. The fix is a small toolkit of restaurant words and phrases you have actually said out loud a few times.

Restaurants are also one of the first places visitors and learners end up speaking English in real life. Whether you are on holiday, on a study-abroad trip, or just popping out for lunch with classmates, you will need to book a table, read a menu, ask what is in a dish, and pay the bill. In this lesson we will walk through the kinds of places you can eat, the parts of a menu, the phrases you need to order and ask questions, how to handle the bill, the most common mistakes I hear in class, and a quick quiz to check what you remember.

Types of places to eat

Before you even open the door, it helps to know what kind of place you are walking into — the vocabulary, the prices and the formality all change quite a lot.

  • Restaurant — the general word. Sit-down service, waiters, a printed or digital menu.
  • Café — lighter food, coffee, cakes and sandwiches. Often more relaxed, sometimes self-service at the counter.
  • Pub — a British classic. You usually order food and drinks at the bar and they bring the food to your table. Pub grub is the informal word for the food served there.
  • Bistro — small, casual, usually European-style cooking. Somewhere between a café and a restaurant.
  • Takeaway — the British word for food you order to eat somewhere else. Americans say takeout.
  • Fast-food — quick service, standardised menu, you order at the counter or a screen.
  • Fine dining — formal, more expensive, multiple courses, dress code possible. Book a table in advance.
  • Street food — cooked and sold from a stall, kiosk or van. Quick, cheap and often delicious.

Knowing the right word saves you a lot of confusion. Shall we grab a takeaway? and Shall we book a fine dining place? are very different evenings.

Menu sections and food types

Most English-language menus are organised into the same handful of sections. Once you know the labels, you can navigate any menu in any country.

  • Starter (or appetiser) — a small first dish, like soup, salad or bruschetta.
  • Main course — the biggest dish of the meal. Sometimes called the main for short.
  • Side dish (or side) — something that comes alongside the main, such as chips, rice or vegetables.
  • Dessert — the sweet course at the end. Cake, ice cream, fruit, that kind of thing.
  • Special — a dish that is not on the regular menu, often listed on a board. Today’s specials are usually fresher and seasonal.

You will also see dietary labels, and these are worth learning properly:

  • Vegetarian — no meat or fish.
  • Vegan — no animal products at all (no meat, fish, dairy, eggs or honey).
  • Gluten-free — no wheat, barley or rye. Important if you have coeliac disease or a gluten intolerance.
  • Dairy-free, nut-free, halal, kosher — other common labels you might see.

If you have an allergy, do not just rely on the menu — always tell the waiter directly. We will look at the exact phrase in a moment.

Useful phrases for arriving and ordering

Here are the phrases that get you from the front door to a plate of food on your table. Practise saying them out loud — restaurants are noisy, and you want the words to come out smoothly.

When you arrive:

  • Could we have a table for two, please?
  • We have a reservation under the name of Smith.
  • Do you have a table free? — for a walk-in, no booking.
  • Could we sit by the window / outside / inside, please?

Looking at the menu:

  • Could I see the menu, please?
  • Could we have a few more minutes? — when you are not ready to order yet.
  • What do you recommend?

Ordering:

  • I’ll have the soup, please. — the most common everyday phrase.
  • I’d like the grilled fish, please. — slightly more formal and very polite.
  • Could you bring me some water, please?
  • For my main, I’ll go for the pasta.
  • Just a still water for me, thanks.

Notice how often the word please shows up. In British English, leaving it out can sound abrupt, even if your tone is friendly.

Asking about dishes

Menus are sometimes vague, and it is completely normal to ask the waiter for more information. These questions are short, polite and incredibly useful.

  • What’s in this? — the simplest way to ask about ingredients.
  • Is it spicy?
  • Does it contain nuts? — the standard wording for an allergy question. You can swap nuts for dairy, gluten, shellfish, etc.
  • I’m allergic to nuts — is this dish safe for me?
  • How is it cooked? — is it grilled, fried, baked, steamed?
  • Is it served with rice or chips?
  • Could you recommend something light / vegetarian / typical?
  • What’s today’s special?

One quick note on cooking verbs: grilled means cooked over heat (often with marks on the food), fried means cooked in oil, baked means cooked in an oven, and steamed means cooked over hot water vapour. Tiny words, big difference on the plate.

Paying and tipping

This is where a lot of learners get stuck, partly because British English and American English use different words. Let us clear it up.

In the UK (and in Malta), you ask for the bill:

  • Could we have the bill, please?
  • Could we get the bill when you have a moment?
  • The bill, please. — short, but still polite with a smile.

In American English, the same thing is called the check: Can we get the check, please? Both work, but if you are studying or travelling in the UK, Ireland, Malta or Australia, stick with bill.

Other useful expressions:

  • Service charge included — a percentage (often 10–12.5%) added automatically to the bill. If you see this, you do not need to leave an extra tip.
  • Tip — extra money you leave for the waiter, usually around 10% in the UK and Malta if service is not included.
  • Could we split the bill? — divide the total equally between everyone.
  • Could we pay separately? — each person pays only for what they had.
  • Can I pay by card? / Do you take card? — useful if you are not sure.

Tipping culture varies a lot. In Malta and the UK, a 10% tip for good service is generous and very welcome, but it is not obligatory in the way it is in the US.

Common mistakes

Here are the slips I hear most often from A2/B1 students when we practise restaurant English in class:

  • Bill vs check: In British English you ask for the bill, not the check. Asking for the check in a small Maltese restaurant might just get you a confused look.
  • Menu vs meal: The menu is the printed or digital list of dishes. What you actually eat is your meal or your order. I had a delicious menu is a classic mistake — you mean I had a delicious meal.
  • I want vs I’d like: I want the steak is grammatically correct, but it sounds blunt and slightly demanding. I’d like the steak, please or I’ll have the steak, please sound much warmer and more native.
  • Take vs have: Native speakers usually have a coffee or have lunch, not take a coffee. I’ll take a coffee is fine in a fast-food queue, but I’ll have a coffee sounds more natural at a table.
  • How much does it cost? at the table: it is fine, but most people just say Could we have the bill, please? and find out that way.
  • Plate vs dish: A plate is the round flat object you eat from. A dish is what is on it (a recipe). This is a typical Maltese dish, not This is a typical Maltese plate.

Mini quiz — 10 questions

Time to test yourself. Write your answers down before you scroll to the bottom — no peeking!

  1. Complete: Could we ____ a table for two, please?
  2. Which is more polite: I want the salad or I’d like the salad, please?
  3. What is the British English word for the piece of paper that tells you how much to pay?
  4. True or false: a vegan dish can contain cheese.
  5. What do we call a small dish you eat before the main course?
  6. Fill the gap: Excuse me, ____ this dish contain nuts?
  7. Which is the correct British word: takeaway or takeout?
  8. What does service charge included on a bill mean?
  9. Choose the natural sentence: I had a lovely menu last night or I had a lovely meal last night.
  10. How do you ask to divide the bill equally with friends?

Answers

  1. have — Could we have a table for two, please?
  2. I’d like the salad, please — I want sounds blunt in a restaurant.
  3. The bill.
  4. False — vegan dishes contain no animal products at all, including cheese.
  5. A starter (or appetiser).
  6. Does — Does this dish contain nuts?
  7. Takeaway in British English; takeout is American.
  8. A percentage (usually 10–12.5%) is already added to the total, so you do not need to leave an extra tip.
  9. I had a lovely meal last night — the menu is the list, the meal is what you ate.
  10. Could we split the bill, please?

If you got seven or more right, you are already in great shape to walk into any English-speaking restaurant and feel comfortable. The best way to lock this vocabulary in, of course, is to use it for real — and one of the small perks of studying with us is that the streets right outside the school are full of cafés, bistros and restaurants where you can practise every lunchtime. Want to come and try it? Get a quick course quote from Maltalingua here and our team will put together a plan that fits your level and your dates.

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