A guide to American restaurant culture

When eating in Western restaurants in the United States, everyone is very quiet, and there is rarely any loud noise or calling out to friends. If the guests have any requests, they will wait patiently for the waiters to come over. This is very different from the bustling scenes in domestic restaurants. Here I would like to briefly introduce to you some knowledge about American restaurant culture to avoid making jokes due to cultural differences or etiquette issues in restaurants in the future.

Most restaurants in the United States do not have private rooms. All tables are in the lobby. This is related to the function of private rooms. Some people say this is because most meals in the United States are in small groups of two or three people, and seven or eight people are relatively rare. The investment and benefits of setting up a single room are disproportionate. Some people also think that this is a manifestation of the American concept of equality: even if the president comes, he will eat in the lobby like everyone else.

Please wait to be seated (Please wait to be seated)

When dining in non-fast food restaurants in the United States, the waiter usually leads the table. Such restaurants usually have a service desk at the door, or there is a sign at the door saying Please wait to be seated. If there is such a service desk or sign, don't go in directly, but wait at the door first. Even if you come for an appointment and a friend has already sat down in the restaurant, the waiter usually has to find your friend's table first and then take you into the dining area. The waiter will ask how many guests are there before taking the table. Sometimes you will also be asked whether to choose a smoking or non-smoking area. Because more and more public places in the United States are smoke-free, there are fewer opportunities to be asked this question. If you have any special needs for a seat, such as if you want to sit by the window, or if you want a quieter place, you can mention it so that the waiter can find the seat you are most satisfied with. If you are led to a seat you don't want, you can ask it instead of changing it yourself. The reason why American restaurants are arranged this way is because each waiter has his own area of ??responsibility. The waiters who take the seats will also try to balance the guests that each waiter is responsible for when meeting the needs of the guests, so as to prevent some places from being too busy and others from being too idle.

Are you ready to order?

After the guests sit down, the waiter in charge of the table will bring the menu and sometimes free ice water at the same time. I was used to drinking cold water in China, but when I first came to the United States, I was not used to ice water. I asked my American friends why all restaurants in the United States add ice to their water. My friend's answer is that Americans believe that water or soft drinks are unclean and stale if they are at room temperature, so the water is not only kept in the refrigerator, but also ice cubes are added to keep it fresh.

When eating in China, there is often only one or two menus for a large table, but in American restaurants, everyone orders their own portion, so it is not difficult to understand that everyone has a menu. . Before ordering food, the waiter will ask if you want any drinks. If you are not sure yet, you can say something like "I'm not sure yet. Give me a couple of minutes." The free drink in American restaurants is ice water. If you can't decide what to order and want something to drink, you can say water. After the waiter brings your drink order, he will leave to give you some time to look at the menu and choose the dishes you want to eat. Some restaurants have specially recommended dishes of the day, and the waiter will introduce them to you before ordering.

American menus rarely have pictures, but the ingredients and preparation methods are clearly written behind each dish. There are many people in the United States with food allergies, so clearly stating the ingredients makes it easier for customers to choose. If you have thought about what to order, closing the menu means "I've finished reading and you can order." The first few times I ate in an American restaurant, I saw that the waiter hadn't come, so I passed the time while reading the menu, but the waiter never came. I wonder why the service is so bad. Later, after observation, I discovered that in the United States, you have to close the menu to indicate that you are ready to order. If the waiter doesn't come after you've decided what to order, don't try to call the waiter. The American custom is to wait for the waiter to come over and ask if you are ready. It is considered very rude to raise your arms and say "Hey, waiter/waitress". Normally, the waiter will quickly notice if the guest's menu has been closed.

If the waiting time is indeed a bit long, you should generally wait until he meets your eyes and then nod or smile slightly to indicate that he is ready.

Occasionally, the waiter will ask before you close the menu. This may be because the restaurant is not busy, or the waiter happens to be free. If you're not ready, just politely say I need a couple more minutes. If you have any questions about a certain dish, you can ask the waiter at this time.

When ordering, try to be concise and to the point. When I am in China, I often order while looking at the menu. In the United States, people think that this is a waste of the waiter's time, and it also delays the time of other tables for which the waiter is responsible.

Ordering food in an American restaurant is a skill. When I first came here, what I was most afraid of was ordering food. When ordering in China, you just talk about the name of the dish. Unlike China, when ordering in the United States, many choices are not on the menu. First, American Western food has different side dishes, which you can choose according to your own taste. Secondly, the United States values ??personal choice, which can be reflected even in the small matter of ordering food. For example, when ordering breakfast in the United States, if you order eggs and bacon, the waiter will ask, How do you like your eggs cooked? This was the first time I heard such a question, and I didn’t know how to answer it. Fortunately, my friends who were traveling with me helped me. There are many ways to cook eggs, the more common ones are: fried on both sides but the yolk is soft (over-easy), fried on both sides but the yolk is hard (over-hard), fried on one side (sunnyside-up), and scrambled (scrambled) ;After talking about eggs, and bread, Do you want your bread baked or not baked? What kind of bread do you like? Whole wheat, white? If you don’t want bread, do you want British style? British muffin. With so many choices, the waiters are already familiar with them, but for foreigners like us who don’t know much about them, it seems like an oral test.

Salad dressing

You can usually order salad as an appetizer. Generally speaking, garden salad, green salad, and dinner salad do not have salad dressing. The waiter will ask you What dressing do you like? The most common choices are: ranch, caesar, blue cheese, Italian and thousands Island. Other specialty salads will have dressings listed on the menu.

?Eat soup?, not ?drink soup?

The starter that is often ordered with salad is soup. Unlike Chinese soup, American soup is very thick. , many are made with a base of melted cream and cheese, and are often served with bread or compressed biscuits. Americans are accustomed to eating bread or biscuits dipped in thick soup. If you're not very hungry, sometimes just ordering soup and salad is enough. In the United States, we don't say "eat soup", but eat soup, because soup is the same as other foods.