Restaurant and food vocabulary in English: 12 essential words
A1–B112 words
Ordering food is where beginners meet real English first. These twelve words cover reading a menu, ordering, dietary needs and paying — enough to get through a meal anywhere in the English-speaking world without switching languages.
Where you will use it: Restaurants, cafés, menus and grocery shopping.
Food and restaurants — The word list
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| starter | A small dish served before the main course.“I'll take the soup as a starter.” |
| main course | The largest dish of a meal.“The main course comes with vegetables.” |
| the bill | The paper showing what you owe (US: the check).“Could we have the bill, please?” |
| takeaway | Food bought to eat elsewhere.“We ordered a takeaway instead of cooking.” |
| medium rare | Meat cooked lightly, still pink inside.“I'd like the steak medium rare.” |
| side dish | A smaller dish served with the main one.“Which side dish comes with it?” |
| book a table | To reserve a place at a restaurant.“I booked a table for two at eight.” |
| dairy-free | Containing no milk products.“Do you have a dairy-free option?” |
| refill | Another serving of the same drink.“Coffee refills are free here.” |
| tip | Extra money left for service.“We left a ten percent tip.” |
| course | One part of a meal.“It was a three-course dinner.” |
| leftovers | Food that remains after a meal.“I took the leftovers home.” |
How to study this list
Add five or six of these words a day rather than all twelve at once, keep the example sentence on the card, and review them when they come due. WordNest schedules each word across seven growing intervals — same day, then 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days — so the list is still with you months later. Read how spaced repetition works if you want the reasoning behind those numbers.
Studying food and restaurants pairs well with our travel English vocabulary, English collocations list and office English words, or browse all free English word lists.
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