Spanish Restaurant Vocabulary and Useful Phrases

Learn the essential Spanish restaurant vocabulary and phrases you need to order food, ask simple questions, request the bill, and pay. For beginners, a few flexible phrases such as Para mí…, Quisiera…, and La cuenta, por favor can handle most restaurant situations.

Essential restaurant phrases

Spanish	English
Una mesa para dos, por favor.	A table for two, please.
Para mí…, por favor.	For me…, please.
Quiero…	I want…
Quisiera…	I would like…
¿Tiene…?	Do you have…?
¿Me puede traer…?	Could you bring me…?
¿Qué me recomienda?	What do you recommend?
La cuenta, por favor.	The bill/check, please.
¿Puedo pagar con tarjeta?	Can I pay by card?

Quiero, quisiera, or para mí?

All three can be used when ordering, but they feel slightly different.

Para mí… is simple and natural when choosing from a menu:

Para mí, la ensalada, por favor. — The salad for me, please.
Para mí, un café. — A coffee for me.

Quisiera… is a polite way to say I would like…:

Quisiera una botella de agua, por favor. — I would like a bottle of water, please.

Quiero… literally means I want…. It is grammatically correct and commonly used, especially when combined with por favor, but para mí or quisiera can sound softer when ordering:

Quiero un café, por favor. — I want a coffee, please.

For an A1 beginner, Para mí…, por favor is one of the easiest restaurant patterns to remember.

For more about querer and poder, see Querer, Poder, and Necesitar.

Restaurant vocabulary in Spanish

Spanish	English
el restaurante	restaurant
la mesa	table
la carta	menu / list of dishes
el menú	menu / set menu
el camarero / la camarera	waiter / waitress
el plato	dish / plate
la comida	food / meal
la bebida	drink
el postre	dessert
la cuenta	bill / check
la propina	tip

La carta vs el menú

These words do not always mean exactly the same thing.

La carta is the full list of dishes you can choose from.

¿Me trae la carta, por favor? — Could you bring me the menu, please?

El menú can refer generally to a menu, but in Spain el menú del día often means a fixed-price set meal with a limited choice of courses.

Usage varies across Spanish-speaking countries, so you may hear menú used more generally for the restaurant’s menu.

Drinks

Spanish	English
el agua	water
el agua con gas	sparkling water
el agua sin gas	still water
el café	coffee
el té	tea
el zumo / jugo	juice
la leche	milk
el refresco	soft drink

Zumo is common in Spain, while jugo is common in many Latin American countries.

Examples

Para mí, agua sin gas, por favor. — Still water for me, please.
¿Me puede traer un café? — Could you bring me a coffee?
Quisiera un té con leche. — I would like a tea with milk.

Basic food vocabulary

Breakfast and common foods

Spanish	English
el pan	bread
el huevo	egg
el queso	cheese
el jamón	ham
la tostada	toast
el bocadillo	sandwich
la fruta	fruit

Meat and fish

Spanish	English
la carne	meat
el pollo	chicken
la ternera	beef / veal
el cerdo	pork
el pescado	fish
el marisco	seafood

Vegetables and common dishes

Spanish	English
las verduras	vegetables
la ensalada	salad
la sopa	soup
el arroz	rice
la pasta	pasta
las patatas / papas	potatoes

Patata is common in Spain. Papa is common in much of Latin America.

Dessert

Spanish	English
el postre	dessert
el helado	ice cream
la tarta	cake / tart
el pastel	cake / pastry
la fruta	fruit

Useful questions at a restaurant

Asking for a recommendation

¿Qué me recomienda? — What do you recommend?
¿Cuál es la especialidad de la casa? — What is the house specialty?

Asking what a dish contains

¿Qué lleva este plato? — What is in this dish?
¿Lleva queso? — Does it contain cheese?
¿Tiene frutos secos? — Does it have nuts?

Here, llevar is commonly used to mean that a dish contains / has an ingredient.

Asking whether something is available

¿Tiene sopa? — Do you have soup?
¿Tienen opciones vegetarianas? — Do you have vegetarian options?

Asking about price

¿Cuánto cuesta? — How much does it cost?
¿Cuánto cuesta este plato? — How much is this dish?

Review Spanish numbers in Numbers and Calendar.

Asking about spicy food

¿Es picante? — Is it spicy?
¿Pica mucho? — Is it very spicy?

For more ways to form questions, see Question Words and Questions.

Dietary needs and restrictions

These simple patterns are useful when you need to check ingredients or avoid certain foods.

Vegetarian and vegan

Soy vegetariano / vegetariana. — I am vegetarian.
Soy vegano / vegana. — I am vegan.
¿Tiene opciones vegetarianas? — Do you have vegetarian options?
¿Este plato es vegano? — Is this dish vegan?

Con and sin

con = with
sin = without

Un café con leche. — A coffee with milk.
Agua sin gas. — Still water.
Una ensalada sin queso, por favor. — A salad without cheese, please.

Allergies and foods you cannot eat

Soy alérgico / alérgica a los frutos secos. — I am allergic to nuts.
Tengo alergia al gluten. — I have a gluten allergy.
No puedo comer marisco. — I can’t eat seafood.
¿Lleva gluten? — Does it contain gluten?
¿Lleva leche? — Does it contain milk?

For a serious allergy, do not rely only on recognizing menu vocabulary. Clearly tell the restaurant staff about the allergy.

A natural restaurant conversation

Here is a simple interaction you can adapt in a real restaurant.

Camarero: Buenas tardes. ¿Cuántos son?
Cliente: Dos. ¿Tiene una mesa para dos?

Camarero: Sí, por aquí.

Camarero: ¿Qué van a tomar?
Cliente: Para mí, agua sin gas, por favor.

Camarero: ¿Y para comer?
Cliente: Quisiera el pollo. ¿Lleva queso?

Camarero: No, no lleva queso.
Cliente: Perfecto. Entonces, el pollo, por favor.

Later:

Cliente: Perdona, ¿me puede traer la cuenta, por favor?
Camarero: Claro.

Cliente: ¿Puedo pagar con tarjeta?
Camarero: Sí, por supuesto.

Common things a waiter may say

You do not only need to know what you should say. These are useful phrases to recognize when restaurant staff speak to you:

¿Cuántos son? — How many people?
¿Qué van a tomar? — What would you like to drink / have?
¿Qué quieren beber? — What would you like to drink?
¿Y para comer? — And to eat?
¿Algo más? — Anything else?
¿Todo bien? — Everything okay?
¿Postre o café? — Dessert or coffee?
¿Efectivo o tarjeta? — Cash or card?

You do not need to understand every word to respond. Often a short answer is enough:

Sí, gracias. — Yes, thank you.
No, gracias. — No, thank you.
Nada más, gracias. — Nothing else, thank you.
Sí, todo muy bien. — Yes, everything is very good.

Paying and asking for the bill

To ask for the bill:

La cuenta, por favor.

You can also say:

¿Me trae la cuenta, por favor? — Could you bring me the bill, please?

To ask to pay by card:

¿Puedo pagar con tarjeta? — Can I pay by card?

Other useful words:

en efectivo — in cash
con tarjeta — by card
la propina — tip

Tipping customs vary between countries, so propina is useful vocabulary, but whether and how much people tip depends on where you are.

Mini dialogue to remember

If you only memorize one restaurant interaction, start with this:

Camarero: ¿Qué quiere tomar?
Cliente: Para mí, agua sin gas, por favor.

Camarero: ¿Y para comer?
Cliente: El pollo, por favor. ¿Lleva queso?

Camarero: No.
Cliente: Perfecto, gracias.

Later:

Cliente: La cuenta, por favor.
Camarero: Claro.

Cliente: ¿Puedo pagar con tarjeta?

Quick restaurant survival guide

For your first restaurant conversation in Spanish, remember these five patterns:

Para mí…, por favor. — For me…, please.
¿Tiene…? — Do you have…?
¿Lleva…? — Does it contain…?
La cuenta, por favor. — The bill/check, please.
¿Puedo pagar con tarjeta? — Can I pay by card?

With these patterns and a small amount of food vocabulary, you can already handle many basic restaurant situations in Spanish.

To review the present tense used in many of these questions and answers, see Regular Present Tense.