At the Restaurant: Ordering Choose the correct words/phrases to complete the following conversation:

WAITER: Hi and welcome to Roberto's. Are you ready to order? YOU: Not yet, _____________, please

a. give us a second; b. more time; c. more time is needed

WAITER: No problem. I'll be back in a couple of minutes.... (AFTER A COUPLE OF MINUTES) What would you like to order? 

YOU: How big are your _____________?

a. foods; b. portions; c. plates

WAITER: Very big, you'll definitely get full. YOU: Perfect. And what does each order _____________ ( = include)?

a. come to; b. come by; c. come with

WAITER: Each order includes fries or a salad.  YOU: OK. ____________ the chicken breast, and for my wife... the trout.

a. Bring me; b. I'll have; c. Get WAITER: Great. And would you like fries or salad with that?  YOU: Fries _____________ and a salad for my wife. 

a. for me; b. I will have; c. Me

WAITER: All right. I'll be right back with your order. 

At the Restaurant: Eating a meal - bad service Choose the correct words/phrases to complete the following conversation:

WAITER: Is everything alright? YOU: Well, no, actually the soup is a little cold... Could you ask them to _____________ for me?

a. heat it up; b. make it hot; c. bake it up

WAITER: Sure. I'll be right back with that.  YOU: Oh, and I asked for a salad, _____________...

a. but fries came; b. not fries; c. instead it's fries

WAITER: I'm sorry about that, I'll get your salad as well.  YOU: One last thing, I asked for a Coke about 15 minutes _____________.

a. from now; b. time; c. ago

WAITER: Yes, I totally forgot about that. It's a very busy time now.  (10 MINUTES LATER)  YOU: ___________, I'm still waiting for my Coke.

a. You; b. Excuse me; c. Do you hear me

WAITER: Oh, right! I'll get that for you right away...  YOU: ___________ (= forget about it), we're leaving.

a. Never mind; b. Never before; c. Now or never

At the Restaurant: Finishing a meal/paying Choose the correct words/phrases to complete the following conversation:

WAITER: Can I get you anything else? YOU: _____________ check/bill, please.

a. Only a; b. The only; c. Just the

WAITER: Sure. I'll be right back with that... Did you want to pay separately?  YOU: No, you can _____________ on one check/bill.

a. everything; b. put it all; c. write for

WAITER: (BRINGS THE CHECK) There you go. Thanks.  YOU: Excuse me, do we pay here or _____________?

a. cash; b. near the cash register; c. at the cash register

WAITER: You can pay me.  YOU: OK, and the _____________ isn't included in the check, correct?

a. tip; b. tape; c. tipper

WAITER: No, sir, it isn't.  YOU: (YOU GIVE THE MONEY TO THE WAITER) There you go. Thanks. You've been very ________.

a. help; b. helpful; c. helpless

Read and translate the text and speak on your own food preferences Do you prefer to eat out or to eat at home?

Alan, Canada

Do I prefer to cook at home or eat out? I prefer to cook at home. I enjoy cooking. It gives me something to do. It's kind of like a hobby, and I enjoy creating different kinds of food. I enjoy eating them, and actually I

enjoy cooking for other people, cooking for them and watching them enjoy the food that I cook.

Jeff, Canada

Do I prefer to cook or eat out? I like cooking. Cooking is fun and it's a nice way to relax and get rid of some stress but eating out is also fun, especially when you have a couple of good friends or your with a good buddy of yours and you can go to a nice restaurant and have someone wait on you and serve you, so I like to eat out but I like to cook at home.

Lucinda, New Zealand

I was raised in the country, so we always cooked at home, so I prefer to eat out any chance I can get I wouldprefer to eat out than cook at home. Being a student, living on a student budget, we mostly have to cook at home so I pretty much would prefer to go out to a restaurant or a cafe to eat almost any night of the week.

Ruth, England

At home or eat out? There absolutely no comparison. If you ask me that every time, I would say, eat out. I love eating out. It's so good. I love going to different restaurants, especially if somebody else is paying, but the disadvantage is that it's often less healthy to eat out if you eat at home. You'd know exactly what you're eating so it depends if I'm on a diet or not: if I'm not eating out, if I am eating at home.

Simon, Canada

If I had the choice to eat out, or to cook at home, I would definitely pick eating out. Yeah, I don't mind cooking at home. I like cooking but going out is an event. I like to go to cool restaurants, fancy restaurants, any kind of restaurant that has a cool atmosphere. Yeah, going out is an event. It's fun, and yeah, that's what I choose.

Todd, the United States

Actually this is not a choice because every night I eat out. I pretty much never cook. I cook maybe three or four times a year. I guess because I'm a bachelor and I just hate cooking and I don't know how to cook very well so I just always eat out pretty much, every night and buy my dinner. It's just easy, you know. No preparation. No cleaning up afterwards, just buy it and eat. That's it.