In theory at least, going to restaurants, pubs and cafes in Germany should not be too difficult. Many waiters and waitresses speak English, some menus are bilingual, and sometimes the communication can even be held in a third language: "Spaghetti Bolognese!" - "Subito!"

However, if you want to (or have to) talk German, it's good to know some of the phrases usually involved in a typical dialogue in a restaurant. The following ones may help you if you are just starting with learning German:

Ich möchte einen Tisch reservieren  I would like to book a table
für heute / morgen.... Abend.  For tonight / tomorrow night.
Wir sind zwei/drei/vier Personen.  There are two/three/four of us.
Kann ich / können wir die Speisekarte haben?    Can I / can we have the menu, please?

Important: Do not use the word "menu" instead of "Speisekarte".- "Menue" in German (or "French-German") means a set meal with at least 3 courses. Some restaurants offer e.g. "Tagesmenues" with starter and dessert – so you might be understood as ordering already and might have to face a higher bill than you had intended.

The ordering process can be introduced (especially if the waiter is not paying attention) by saying:

Kann ich / können wir bestellen, bitte?
(Leave out the "bitte" if you don´t feel like it.)

or:

Ich möchte / wir möchten gern bestellen. 

To order a dish, say:

Ich nehme / möchte / bekomme / hätte gern ... I'll have / I'd like ...

The waiter might say Das ist alles? (That's all?) to check if you have completed your order.

Do not use "Herr Ober" to address the waiter, unless you are in an elegant restaurant. (There is no corresponding form for waitresses, by the way.) Just waving your hand or saying "hallo" or "Entschuldigung" is fine.

After the meal, you will probably hear:

Hat es geschmeckt?   Did you like it? ("Schmecken" is only used for food and drink, by the way.)

When it comes to paying, there are several ways of saying that you would like to have the bill:

Ich möchte / wir möchten gern bezahlen.
Die Rechnung, bitte.
Kann ich / können wir die Rechnung haben?

 And often the reply is:

Zusammen oder getrennt? literally: "together or separately?" i.e. would you like to pay together or split the bill? (The latter is standard practice in Germany.)

A tip of about 10 percent is usually given by saying the amount you want to pay when you are handing over the money, like for instance by simply saying "ten" if your bill is EUR 9 and you want to give a one-euro tip. You can also hand over a EUR 10 note, saying:

Stimmt so!  Keep the change.

There are some strange habits with drinking. First of all, beer should be "vom Fass" (draught) -- which is no strange habit, I admit -- but you can also order a "Radler" (mainly in the south of Germany) or "Alsterwasser" (in the north): a mixture of beer and lemonade like a British shandy. Other popular drinks are "Spezi" (a mixture of cola and orange lemonade, usually Fanta) or "Diesel", which is beer with cola (Yum... - Ed.).

However, whatever your choice may be, if you have finished, please say: "Noch eins, bitte!" instead of "ein anderes" (a different one). If a waiter hears "ein anderes", he will probably ask: "Was ist nicht in Ordnung mit dem da?" ("What's wrong with that one?") – because the meaning is something different.

Wine is a different matter. There are categories like

trocken  dry
halbtrocken  semidry
lieblich  smooth
herb   tart
fruchtig  fruity
and many more.

But also with wine we have a "strange habit": You can order "Weinschorle", now also available in bottles (very strange), which is half wine and half (fizzy) water. "Schorle" is a word for a mixture with mineral water, so you can also have "eine Saftschorle". "Apfelsaftschorle" is very common, as well as overwhelmingly hip beverages like the "Kiba", which stands for "Kirsch-Banane", a mixture of cherry and banana juice (Highly recommended - Ed.).

I am not talking about cocktails now – most names are the same in English, but there are also some very fancy names in German, depending on the place. I have come across some pubs that offer "Katerfrühstück"  in the morning (meaning until about 3 pm). Kater (m) is a hangover, and a Katerfrühstück consists of  mineral water, salted herring and two Aspirins.

But this is not what you need if you are really hungry. In this case, we recommend the extremely popular döner kebab. You can often choose between:

Scharfe Sauce / Chilisauce   hot sauce
Knoblauchsauce    garlic sauce
Kräutersauce     herb sauce

And you may be asked Zum Mitnehmen? (to take away?)

I hope that this brief introduction to restaurant German has whetted your appetite to sample our national cuisine. Guten Appetit!

Renate Graßtat

Do you have questions about the German language? Ask Expatica´s expert under the Language category.

Copyright Renate Grasstat