At the restaurant in France, the interaction with the waiter will often go off-script unexpectedly. That’s where you freeze and panic and lose your fluency. Don’t panic!
Today, let’s see how you can handle this moment.
C’est parti.
1) Pausing the conversation
→ Helps your brain stop and regroup and make sense of what the waiter said (or let them the opportunity to explain again.)
One useful one-word phrase when you didn’t understand something:
Pardon ? (= Sorry? Excuse me, what?)
It’s polite enough for any situation – with a waiter, your in-laws, your friends, even a stranger.
Longer sentences:
- Vous pouvez répéter, s’il vous plaît ? Tu peux répéter ? (= Can you repeat please?)
- J’ai pas tout compris. (= I didn’t get everything)
- Vous pouvez parler un peu plus lentement, s’il vous plaît ? (Can you speak a little more slowly, please?)
Asking French people to slow down is a tall order unfortunately. They’ll speak slowly for two phrases before getting back to speaking fast. It’s still worth it – you might understand the few words you needed in the first place!
2) Feed the conversation – Ask for recommendation
In France, waiters aren’t trying to be your friend. They won’t introduce themselves by name, ask you about your day, or anything. Some waiters are friendlier than others, of course, but they’re mostly professional trying to do their job well.
Which means they know their menu by heart, they know what’s going on in the kitchen, and they’re your nearest expert to get recommendations on what to order. It would be foolish to let that expertise go to waste!
→ Qu’est-ce que vous me conseillez ? (= What do you recommend?)
The waiter will tell you what’s fresh, what the chef is proud of, what the season is doing. Well, that can get you out of your awkward silence. And you’ll eat better than the table next to you who picked from the menu blindly. And you’ll be proud to have a real conversation, all in French.
But of course, you have to maintain that conversation, and you’ll face weird culinary words that you might not understand. In a lot of restaurants, this happens to native French speakers too! We don’t always know what’s in a regional dish or a special recipe. That’s when you can use your next lifeline:
C’est-à-dire ? (= Meaning?)
It’s a tiny phrase and it’s gold. You’re inviting the waiter to explain again, in simpler words. It’s like asking “Tell me more”. It doesn’t mean you didn’t understand the word – it simply means you’re not familiar with this version of the dish. It feels much better!
And now you’re basically ready to have a real conversation with the waiter!
3) Real questions the waiter will throw at you
OK, you have the tools to pause the conversation and to feed it. Now let’s look at the moments where the waiter is going to put you on the spot.
Questions about:
- L’entrée (starter dish)
Vous prendrez quelque chose en entrée ? (= Will you have a starter dish before the main dish?)
→ Oui, je vais prendre… (= Yes, I’ll have…) / Non, juste le plat, merci. (= No, just the main, thanks.)
- Les boissons (drinks)
Est-ce que vous prendrez à boire ? (= Will you have something to drink?)
Et en boisson ? (= And for drinks?)
→ Un verre de vin, rouge, s’il vous plaît. (= A glass of red wine, please) / Une eau gazeuse, merci. (= Sparkling water, please) / Juste une carafe d’eau. (= A pitcher of tap water, please)
De l’eau plate = “still water.” Une carafe d’eau is always free in French restaurants.
- La cuisson de la viande (Doneness of meat)
Comment vous voulez votre viande ? (How would you like your meat?)
Et la cuisson ? (And the cooking of the meat?)
It’s about “doneness”, how rare you want your meat to be.
→ Saignant (= rare), À point (= medium rare), Bien cuit (= well done.)
Just pick the one you like!
- Les formules / les menus (= menus)
Le plat du jour, c’est un magret de canard. (= The dish of the day is duck breast.)
On n’a plus de saumon. (= We don’t have the salmon dish anymore.)
D’accord, donc trois menus, c’est ça ? (= OK, so, three menus, that’s it?)
→ If you didn’t catch something, or if you don’t understand what’s in a given dish (this happens to me too at the French restaurant!), don’t forget your fallback phrases: Pardon ? C’est-à-dire ?
4) Allergies and restrictions
More and more restaurants have at least a few dishes that are végétarien or végan, and they’re often specifically noted as such.
Vous avez quoi en plat végétarien ? (= What vegetarian dishes do you have?)
Vous avez des plats végans ? (= Do you serve vegan dishes?)
Otherwise, the most useful word for restrictions is sans — “without.”
- Sans gluten. Without gluten.
- Sans lactose. Without lactose.
- Sans viande. Without meat.
- Sans oignon. Without onion.
If there’s some doubt, you can also ask whether a dish contains something:
Est-ce qu’il y a des oignons dedans ? (Is there [some oignons] in it?)
French restaurants aren’s as keen as others to radically change a dish to suite your taste, but they do take allergies seriously. So feel free to ask for changes when needed.
5) Practice
Alright! We’ve seen a lot, but we barely scratch the surface. The main point here is that you can take the leap, speak French, make mistakes – and you’ll still be able to fall back onto easier phrases.
So repeat after me:
- Pardon, vous pouvez répéter ?
- C’est-à-dire ?
- Je voudrais un menu entrée-plat-dessert s’il vous plaît. (= I’d like a full menu please, with a starter dish, a main dish and a dessert.)
- Je suis allergique aux fruits de mer. (= I’m allergic to shellfish.)
- C’est possible d’enlever les lardons ? (= Can we take out the bacon bits?)
That’s the unscripted part of a French restaurant conversation. You have it now.
À très vite !
