024 eating out

Words
Waiter waitress wait staff order menu main course dessert drinks list wine list service tip
Chef table napkin starter
Phrases
Take an order
Make an order
Bring an order
Book a table
Order a dish
Return a dish
Eat out

Beginner
A: good afternoon. “ginger’s restaurant”. May I help you?
B: yes. I’d like to book a table for Friday evening please.
A: certainly. For how many people?
B; we’ll be eight or nine people. Could we book a private room?
A: I’ll just check. At what time on Friday evening?
B: about 7:30.
A: yes. That’s fine. We can book you a private room for up to ten people at that time. Could you give me your name please?
B: my name is Jenkins. My phone number is 75397382. that’s confirmed then. 7:30 on Friday.
A: yes. Do you intend to order a la carte or will you be having our seafood buffet?
B: oh, we’d like the buffet please. We’ve heard it’s very good.

Intermediate
A; how did you enjoy your family party at “ginger’s”? I hear that they have a lovely menu and buffet.
B: oh, it was great. We had seafood buffet. They do one every Friday. The waiters and waitresses are very good. They are very attentive, but don’t hang around the table.
A: I like the buffets they have, but if often order a la carte, because I don’t feel extremely hungry. I like the wine list there too.
B: yes, so do I. they have wines from all over the world. There is a good range of prices to suit every pocket. We ordered some Australian red wine, which tasted delicious and wasn’t expensive.
A: some restaurants allow you to take your own wine and just charge you corkage, but the don’t do that at “ginger’s”. what was included in the seafood buffet?
B: they had almost every kind of seafood. There were oyster, shrimp, prawns, crabs, and fish. I ate a lot of smoked salmon.
A: did they have lobster?
B: no, they didn’t. you could order it from the menu. I think that lobster is too expensive to be included in the buffet.
A: yes, it probably is. I don’t like ordering oysters in restaurants. You never know whether they are fresh.
B: I know. I didn’t eat any, but a few people in our group did and no one got sick.
A: when you eat out, do you usually eat from the buffet?
B: not usually. I usually just order a main course and have a dessert if I’m still hungry afterwards.
A: oh, you don’t usually have a starter?
B: no, I might have a soup if it’s a cold winter day