At the restaurant – A1 English Vocabulary

At the Restaurant

In this Pre-intermediate Vocabulary Lesson about Restaurants, you will learn essential terms and phrases related to eating out at restaurants. The pictures, descriptions, and examples below will help you understand and remember the terms.

Nouns

1 A starter is a small dish that you eat at the beginning of a meal.

• We ordered garlic bread as a starter and chicken as a main course.

2 A main course is a larger plate of food that you have after your starter.

• We ordered garlic bread as a starter, followed by chicken as a main course.

3 A side dish is a small dish of vegetables, salad, or potatoes that you have with your main course.

• I’ll have the fish, with a side dish of chips.

4 A dessert is a piece of fruit or a sweet dish such as ice cream or cake that you have at the end of your meal.

• Whenever I eat at that restaurant, I order the chocolate cake for dessert.

5 Cutlery is a word referring to knives, forks, and spoons.

• I can eat my burger with my hands, so I don’t need cutlery.

6 A napkin is a paper or cloth sheet that you use to protect your clothes and clean your mouth or hands while you’re eating.

• When our food arrived, I put my napkin on my knee and started eating.

7 A reservation is an arrangement made with a restaurant to use a table and have a meal at a particular time.

• The restaurant is always busy. You need to make a reservation.

8 A waiter is a man, and a waitress is a woman who looks after you when you eat in a restaurant.

• I asked the waiter for another beer.

9 A customer is a person who dines at a restaurant and purchases food or drinks.

• The customers asked the waiter for the menu when they sat down.

10 A menu is a list showing all the food and drinks available in a restaurant, and a set menu is a special menu containing a particular starter, main course, and dessert that you can order for a fixed price.

• There are many dishes on the menu.
• If you order the set menu, you get a starter, main course, and dessert for just $20.

11 A beverage is a drink that you order in a restaurant.

• You can see all our beverages on the drinks menu.

12 A special is something that is not normally on the menu but that you can have on that day.

• Our special today are chicken lasagne and salmon with spicy sauce.

13 An order is the food or drinks that you ask the waiter or waitress to bring to you. To order is also a verb.

• I’ll be back soon with your order.
• Are you ready to order?

14 The bill or check is a piece of paper that lists how much you need to pay for your meal.

• After we finished eating, we asked the waiter for our bill.

15 A tip is extra money that you leave for the waiter to reward them for good service.

• We left our waiter a £5 tip.

Verbs and Verb Phrases

16 When you eat out, you have a meal in a restaurant or away from home.

• We didn’t have any food in the house, so we decided to eat out.

17 If you book a table, you call a restaurant to say that you will use a table at a particular time.

• I’d like to book a table for four people tomorrow night.

18 If you recommend something, like a dish, you tell someone to try a particular dish because you think it is good.

• Are there any dishes that you would recommend?

19 When you pay the bill, you give money to pay for your meal.

• After we finished eating, we paid the bill and left.

20 If you leave a tip, you give extra money to the waiter for good service.

• We always leave a tip if the service is good.

Listen & Practice: Vocabulary with Pronunciation

Here’s a video to help you review the vocabulary from this lesson and improve your pronunciation.

After completing the exercises in this lesson on Restaurant language, you can use the unit’s Vocabulary Flashcards to revise and help you memorize the terms.