Eating in a Western restaurant in the U.S., everyone is very quiet, and there is rarely a loud noise or calling out to friends. Guests will also wait patiently for the waiter to come over if they have any requests. This is a big difference between the domestic restaurant scene and the bustling, here I would like to briefly introduce you to the U.S. restaurant culture and knowledge, to avoid the future of the restaurant due to cultural differences or etiquette problems make jokes.
Most of the restaurants in the United States is no single room, all the tables are in the lobby, which is related to the function of the single room. Some people say that this is because most of the United States dining is a small group of two or three people, seven or eight people relatively few, a separate single room to set up a disproportionate amount of input and revenue. Some people also believe that this is the United States? Equality? The idea of equality is a reflection of the fact that even if the president comes, he will eat in the lobby with everyone else.
Please wait to be seated
In the U.S. non-fast-food restaurant dining, generally by the lead waiter to lead the seat. This is the first time I've ever seen a restaurant that has a sign that says "Please wait to be seated." If there is such a sign, don't go in directly, but wait at the door. Even if you have a friend who is already seated at the restaurant, the waiter will usually find your friend's table before bringing you into the dining area. The waiter will ask the guest before bringing the table? How many? Sometimes they also ask if they would prefer a smoking or non-smoking area. Since more and more public **** places in the US are now non-smoking, there is much less chance of being asked this question. If there are any special needs for seating, such as wanting to sit by the window or wanting a quieter place, you can ask for it to make it easier for the waiter to find the seat you are most comfortable with. In case you are led to a seat you don't want, you can also ask for it and don't change it yourself. American restaurants are organized in this way because each waiter has his own area of responsibility. The waiter who leads the table will also try to balance the guests in charge of each waiter in order to meet the needs of the guests, so as not to be too busy in some places and too idle in others.
Are you ready to order?
Once guests are seated, the waiter in charge of the table will bring the menu, and sometimes free ice water. I'm used to drinking cold water at home, and when I first came to the US, I was very uncomfortable with ice water. I asked my American friend why all the restaurants in the U.S. add ice to the water. My friend's answer was that Americans believe that water or soft drinks are not clean and fresh if they are at room temperature, so the water will not only be kept in the refrigerator, but also with ice to keep it fresh.
Eating at home, often a large table with only one or two menus, while in the U.S. restaurant, everyone is pointing to their own share, so it is not difficult to understand a manual menu. Before ordering, the waiter will ask if you want any drinks, and if you don't decide, you can say?I?m not sure yet. Give me a couple of minutes. Give me a couple of minutes. The free drink in American restaurants is ice water, so if you can't decide what to order and want something to drink, you can say water. after the waiter brings up the drinks, he will leave to give you some time to look at the menu and choose the dishes you want to eat. Some restaurants have special recommendations for the day, and the waiter will introduce them to you before you order.
Menus in the US rarely have pictures, but the ingredients and how they are prepared are clearly written on the back of each dish. There are a lot of people with food allergies in the US, so it's easier to write down the ingredients clearly to make it easier for guests to choose. If you think about what to order, close the menu to indicate? I'm done reading, I can order now? The first few times I ate in an American restaurant, the waiter did not come, so I read the menu while passing the time, and the waiter never came. I wondered why the service was so bad. Later, after some observation, I realized that in America you have to close the menu to indicate that you are ready to order. If the waiter doesn't come after you decide what to order, don't try to greet the waiter. The American custom is to wait for the waiter to come forward and ask if it is ready. Raising your arms in the air and calling ?Hey, waiter/waitress? will be considered very rude. Usually, the waiter will quickly notice if the guest's menu is closed. If the wait does get a little long, you should generally wait until he meets your eye and give a little nod or smile to indicate that you are ready.
Occasionally, a waiter will come and ask before you close your menu, either because the restaurant isn't busy or the waiter just happens to be available. If it's not ready, politely say I need a couple more minutes, and if you have a question about a dish, ask the waiter at that point.
When ordering, try to be as concise as possible. In China, it's common to look at the menu and order at the same time. In the U.S., this is considered a waste of the waiter's time, and it also delays the other tables for which the waiter is responsible.
In American restaurants, ordering is a learning process. When I first came here, the thing I was most afraid of was ordering. In China, ordering food is to say the name of the dish, and unlike China, ordering food in the United States, many choices are not on the menu. For one thing, American Western food has different side dishes, so you can choose according to your own taste. Secondly, the United States focus on personal choice, even in the small matter of ordering food can also be reflected. For example, in the United States point breakfast, if you order eggs and bacon, the waiter will ask, How do you like your eggs cooked? The first time I heard such a question, I simply do not know how to answer, thanks to the help of my friends. There are many ways to cook eggs, the more common are: two sides fried but the yolk is soft (over-easy), two sides fried but the yolk is hard (over-hard), one side fried (sunnyside-up), and scrambled (scrambled); finished eggs, there is also bread, Do you want your bread baked or not baked? Do you want your bread baked or not baked?What kind of bread do you like?Whole wheat(whole wheat), white(white)? What kind of bread do you like? Whole wheat, white? There are so many choices that the waiters know by heart, but for us foreigners who don't, it's like a speaking test.
Salad dressing
For an appetizer, you can usually order a salad. Generally speaking, garden salad, green salad, and dinner salad are all without salad dressing. The waiter will ask you what dressing do you like? The most common choices are: ranch, caesar, blue cheese, Italian, and thousands of Island. Other specialty salads will be listed on the menu with the dressing they are served with.
?Eat soup?, not ?drink soup?
An appetizer that is often ordered with a salad is soup, which, unlike Chinese soup, is thick, often with a base of melted cream and cheese, and is often served with bread or crackers. Americans are used to dipping their bread or crackers into the thick soup. If you're not very hungry, sometimes ordering a soup and salad is enough. Not to say in America? soup? but rather eat soup, because soup is just like any other food.