RESTAURANT VOCABULARY 1 (ESL)

level: Beginner/Intermediate (A2/B1)

Restaurant vocabulary is essential for anyone eating out or working in the food service industry. This first exercise covers key words and phrases for ordering food, understanding menus, and interacting in a restaurant. This is exercise 1 of 2.

READY TO PRACTICE? LET’S GO!

Choose the word that best fits the sentence.

1. I'm sorry, but my meal is cold, could you please ________ for me?
a. warm it up
b. make it warm

2. After that meal I was quite ________.
a. full
b. complete

3. Whatever you can't finish, you can take home in a ________.
a. box
b. boxes

4. knives, spoons, and forks = ________
a. food tools
b. cutlery

5. I ________ soup, but they brought me a salad.
a. ordered
b. decided

6. In most fancy restaurants, the ________ is usually excellent.
a. service
b. responsibility

7. A restaurant where customers serve themselves is called a ________.
a. buffet
b. kiosk

8. If your waiter/waitress provided good service, you should leave a big ________.
a. tip
b. top

9. McDonald's is a ________ restaurant.
a. fast eat
b. fast food

10. We're not paying together. We are on separate ________.
a. pay
b. checks

Restaurant Conversation Questions 1. How often do you eat at restaurants? What types do you like?
2. What is your favourite dish to order when eating out? Why?
3. Do you think tipping should be standard practice? Why or why not?
4. Have you ever had a really bad experience at a restaurant? What happened?
5. What is the best restaurant you have ever been to? What made it special?
6. Do you prefer cooking at home or eating out?

More English vocabulary exercises Restaurant vocabulary 1
Restaurant vocabulary 2
Food & cooking 1
Food & cooking 2
Food & cooking 3

Did you know? The word restaurant comes from the French verb restaurer, meaning "to restore." The name was first applied to establishments in 18th-century Paris that sold restorative meat broths. The modern concept — where customers choose from a menu and sit at individual tables — developed in France and spread worldwide.

A menu was originally a detailed list of all the dishes in a meal. Menu is French for "small" or "detailed." The word tip (gratuity left for service) has been used in English since at least the 18th century.