Cafe and restaurant in Spanish
A table, the menu, what you cannot eat, and a compliment to the kitchen. Play the ten Spanish words against the clock, with a note on how locals really use each one after every answer. All ten are written out below.
All 10 Spanish phrases in this lesson
- Una mesa para dosOO-nah MEH-sah PAH-rah dohs
- A table for two
- La carta, por favorlah KAR-tah por fah-VOR
- The menu, please
- ¿Qué me recomienda?keh meh reh-koh-MYEHN-dah
- What do you recommend?
- No como...noh KOH-moh
- I don't eat...
- Soy alérgico a...soy ah-LEHR-hee-koh ah
- I'm allergic to...
- CarneKAR-neh
- Meat
- PolloPOH-yoh
- Chicken
- Pescadopehs-KAH-doh
- Fish
- Está buenísimoehs-TAH bweh-NEE-see-moh
- It's delicious
- ¡Salud!sah-LOOD
- Cheers
For one: para uno. Spaniards eat late: lunch from 2 pm, dinner rarely before 9 pm. A restaurant empty at 7:30 is not bad, it is just early.
Careful: la carta is the menu. El menú usually means the "menú del día", the fixed-price lunch deal, which at 12 to 15 euros for three courses is the best deal in Spain.
The question that turns a counter into a conversation. Ask it at a tapas bar and you will be handed the thing the house is proud of, which is almost always better than whatever you were about to point at.
"No como carne", I don't eat meat. Ham turns up in a lot of dishes, so be specific.
A woman says alérgica.
Live fish is "pez"; fish on a plate is "pescado".
The natural compliment, stronger than "está bueno". Say it to the waiter mid-meal and the service warms up noticeably.
Literally "health". Clink glasses and make eye contact with everyone at the table before drinking.
Where Spanish is spoken
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