Here comes time you go to a fine restaurant to treat yourself to a big, fancy meal. Different than a xiǎo chī diàn, here you’ll see that there are waiters/waitresses who lead you to a table, bring you menus, take your orders, and serve you food. Consequently, before you can gorge yourself with the local cuisines, you’d have to communicate with the waiter/waitress first. In what follows, let’s walk through some essential steps to begin your dining experience.

We will start with number of people

Waiter:

請問有幾個人？

qǐng wèn yǒu jǐ ge rén?

請問有幾位？

qǐng wèn yǒu jǐ wèi?

How many people?

Customer:

你好，我們有_____人(位)

nǐ hǎo ， wǒ men yǒu _____ rén (wèi)

Hi, we have (number of) people.

你好，我自己一個人/ 一位

nǐ hǎo ， wǒ zì jǐ   yí gè rén/ yí wèi

Hi, it’s just me (one person).

Waiter:

好，請跟我走

hǎo ， qǐng gēn wǒ zǒu

好，請往這邊走

hǎo ， qǐng wǎng zhè biān zǒu

Please follow me/ This way, please.

這是菜單。你看一下，我等一下會回來。

zhè shì cài dān 。 nǐ kàn yí xià ， wǒ děng yí xià huì huí lái 。

This is the menu. Take a look at it. I’ll be back in a minute.

準備好了嗎？

zhǔn bèi hǎo le ma ？

Are you guys ready?

現在可以幫你們點餐了嗎？
xiàn zài kě yǐ bāng nǐ men diǎn cān le ma ？

Can I take your order now?

Customer:

我想要一份…

wǒ xiǎng yào yí fèn

來一份…

lái yí fèn

I’d like a …

Waiter:

還有其他的嗎？

hái yǒu qí tā de ma?

還需要點其他的嗎？

hái xū yào diǎn qí tā de ma

Would you like anything else?

If you want to add another order, you can use this construction:

Besides …, I’d like …

除了…之（以）外，我還要…

chú le … zhī (yǐ) wài ， wǒ hái yào …

As for (category), I’d like …

(category) 的話，我還要…

de huà ， wǒ xiǎng yào…

For example,

除了蝦仁炒飯之外，我還要蔥爆牛肉。

chú le xiā rén chǎo fàn zhī wài ， wǒ hái yào cōng bào niú ròu 。

Besides shrimp fried rice, I’d like a stir-fried beef with spring onion.

湯的話，我還要南瓜湯。

tāng de huà ， wǒ hái yào nán guā tāng 。

As for soups, I’d like a pumpkin soup.

Or if you’re good, you can simply say:

這樣就好了

zhè yàng jiù hǎo le

That’s it!

Lastly, it is a standard practice that the waiter should repeat your order to make sure everything is correct, especially when you have ordered a lot of food.

Waiter:

我幫你重複一下…

wǒ bāng nǐ chóng fù yí xià

I’ll repeat your order for you… (recite your order)

我跟你確認一下…
wǒ gēn nǐ què rèn yí xià

Just to confirm with you… (recite your order)

Customer:

對，沒錯！

Duì, méi cuò!

That’s correct!