Restaurants

There are two main types of restaurants in the U.S.: fast food and full-service restaurants. Fast food restaurants are called such because little time passes between the time a patron (= client) orders a meal and when he receives it. The style of fast food restaurants is much like that of a cafeteria. In a fast food restaurant, customers go up to a counter to order their meal. It is then placed on a plastic tray which patrons bring to a table. Fast food tends to be mass-produced. Items such as hamburgers, hot chicken sandwiches, pizza, and salads are typical of fast food fare.

Eating in a fast food style restaurant is much less expensive than eating in a full service restaurant. A typical dinner in a fast food restaurant costs from $4.00 to $6.00. Add a 6 to 10 percent tax levied on the cost of your bill. It is expected that customers will finish eating and leave the fast food restaurant within 30 to 45 minutes. In full service restaurants, customers don’t have to look for a table by themselves. They have to wait to be seated. The head-waiter or a waiter will necessarily come up to you, offer you a table:

Would you like a table by the window? – Yes, please, but not too close to the

entrance.

and show you to your seat:

This way, please.

The waiter hands a wine list to each customer. In first-class restaurants they have separate menus for wine and food (Here’s the menu.). Don’t be surprised if you don’t find a cloakroom in the restaurant. Most restaurants, and, of course, cafes and pubs, don’t have them. Customers usually put their coats on the back of their chairs or elsewhere.

First, you order your drinks:

Are you ready to order your drinks? – A gin and tonic for me, please.

What would you like to drink? – Scotch on the rocks, please.

Which wine would you like, sir? Which would you recommend? – We have

Chablis 1994. – Sounds good to me.

If you have ordered a bottle of wine, the waiter will bring one and first pour a little bit of wine into your glass. You should taste it, and if you find the wine good (which is most often the case), you should say “Yes” or just nod approvingly. Only then will the waiter fill your glass.

A few minutes after handing a menu to each customer, the waiter comes back: Are you ready to order? – I think we are.

What would you like to have for starters?/ What would you like to start

with? – I’d like to have green salads, please./ The same for me, please. /

I think I’ll start with soup/melon.

What would you like to have for the main course? - I’ll have steak and new

potatoes./ I’m at a loss. I don’t know what to order. Can you recommend

something to me?

Why not start with the shrimp cocktail, if you like sea food.–It’s fine with me.

At a restaurant the last course usually called ‘pudding’, ‘sweet’ or ‘dessert’ shouldn’t be ordered together with the starters and the main course. This is usually done later.

If you order tea and coffee together with the starters, the waiter will bring it at the beginning of the meal. That’s why if you want to finish your meal with tea or coffee, order it later.

Do you want any sweet? – A cup of coffee and cheese to finish with, please.

How about pudding? – Chocolate pudding for me, please.

Dinner at full service restaurants can vary from $20 (including tax) in a less expensive restaurant, to $80 and more in an expensive restaurant. It is expected that customers will finish eating and leave a full service restaurant within an hour or an hour and a half.

Could I pay now? - Here’s your bill, sir.

Could I have the bill? – Here you are, madam.

The bill, please. – Here it is, sir.

In case something goes wrong you can say:

I’m sorry but we have been waiting for half an hour.

or Sorry, but we did order 40 minutes ago.

or Sorry, but I asked for strawberry ice-cream, not

chocolate.