English as a language is very quirky. It is easy to learn yet sometimes tricky to use. For an example, let’s take a situation wherein you are in a café and you are required to order a coffee. You make an order easily. Now, take the situation in this way, where you are required to order five cups of coffee with different specifications. How will you order? Confused? Fret not! We’ll help you with the vocabs for cafés and pubs.

We’ll divide these in four categories:

1. While ordering
2. Questions in a restaurant
3. Complaining
4. Special Requests/ Preparation of dishes

These are some of the most basic everyday phrases which are not been taught by anyone. We either learn it from reading blogs or by hearing someone ordering.

1. While ordering

- I would like the .............., please.
- For starters, I'll have the French onion soup and for the main course I would like the ………..
- Could I have fries instead of chips, please?
- Is there anything you would recommend?
- Could I see the wine menu, please?
- I'll have a bottle of the York Sparkling Cuvée Brut.
- I'll have a glass of house red/white, please.



2. Questions in a restaurant

When you want to ask about the taste and quality -

- How’s the… (name of plate)?
- What’s the (name of plate) like?

Examples:

- How is the Cottage Cheese Lasagna?
- What’s the Marinated Grilled Lamb like?

When you want to refer to the ingredients or cooking -

· What’s in the Moroccan Chicken?
· How’s the Brazilian-Spiced Mushroom prepared?
· Is the Lemon-Rosemary Chicken spicy?
· May I have the Tadka Dal with/without garlic?
· May I have the eggs with a side of sunny side up?

When you can’t decide what to order -

- Do you have any specials (like today’s special menu)?
- What would you recommend?
- Would you recommend the… or the…?



3. Complaining

- I'm sorry but I ordered the potato salad not the vegetables.
- Excuse me this fish taco is overdone, I ordered rare.
- Excuse me, but my meal is cold.
- Excuse me, we've been waiting for over an hour for our desserts.
- Excuse me, this wine isn't chilled properly.

4. Special Requests

- I am a vegetarian. What types of vegetarian dishes do you offer?
- I am allergic to garlic. Do you have any dishes without garlic?
- With whipped cream/no whipped cream

5. Other random questions

- Do you have a free wifi?
- What is the password for the wifi?
- Where is the washroom?

These words/phrases might help you get your basic English communication right. You can also join a spoken English course and learn advanced English speaking skills.

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- By Shailja Varma

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