Ordering Food at a Restaurant in Japanese: Phrases for the Full Dining Flow

Ordering food at a restaurant in Japanese rests on two short request patterns: 〜をお願いします and 〜をください. Both use です/ます-level polite speech.¹ What you say stays simple. Most of the difficulty is recognizing the staff's keigo, which is far harder to say than to understand.²

Overview

A restaurant exchange in Japanese has two voices and two registers. You speak polite 丁寧語 (です/ます-level speech). The staff speak 敬語, a layered honorific-and-humble register aimed at you as the customer.¹²

This article splits the language along that line: the phrases you say, and the keigo you only need to hear. Treating them as separate jobs is the fastest way to sound natural without getting buried in honorific conjugation.

What you say versus what you hear

Your safe default with staff is 丁寧語 built on two request patterns. 〜をください means "please give me N." 〜をお願いします is the standard alternative in commercial settings such as ordering food.¹

すみません、メニューをお願ねがいします。¹
"Excuse me, could I have a menu?"

水みずをください。¹
"Water, please."

The staff's side is keigo. You need to recognize it, not produce it. The clearest example is the greeting at the door.

いらっしゃいませ is built on いらっしゃる, the 尊敬語 (honorific form) of 来る・行く・いる, plus the polite auxiliary ませ. It signals "we acknowledge you as a customer." It is not a literal instruction, which is why staff say it even after you are already inside.³²

いらっしゃいませ。³²
"Welcome."

The polite default, and where casual fits

Customer-to-staff speech stays at です/ます by default. The grammar module treats 〜をください as appropriate when the speaker has equal or higher footing in the exchange. That includes a customer requesting something from staff. For a softer, more deferential ask, use 〜をくださいませんか.¹

すみません、水みずをくださいませんか。¹
"Excuse me, could you bring me some water?"

In casual shopping and casual eateries, the particle を is routinely dropped, giving the pattern 「N、ください」.¹ That drop bridges the polite textbook form and relaxed in-group ordering.

りんご、ください。¹
"Apples, please."

The plain in-group lines (これにする "I'll go with this," 〜頼む？ "shall we order 〜?") are for talking among your own party or at a very casual counter. Do not use them as the opening register with unfamiliar staff. The particle-drop above is documented in the grammar module. The specific plain set phrases are everyday colloquial usage, presented here as register variants rather than fixed forms.

One register rule covers the whole meal

With any staff you do not know, stay in です/ます plus 〜をお願いします or 〜をください. Save plain forms for your own group or a very informal counter.

The restaurant flow, step by step

A single visit moves through a fixed sequence: enter, get seated, read the menu, order, eat, pay, leave. The diagram below shows who speaks at each step: the staff's keigo on the left, and your polite lines on the right.

Entering: 何名様ですか and being seated

At the door, you hear いらっしゃいませ, the recognition greeting built on the 尊敬語 いらっしゃる.³² Staff then ask your party size with the 名 (mei) counter plus 様 (sama).

Staff count customers with 名 plus 様 because 名 reads as a more polite way to count people than 人 (nin), and 様 adds deference. 名 itself is politeness-tier (丁寧) rather than true honorific speech.⁴

何名様なんめいさまですか。⁴
"How many in your party?"

When you state your own party size, 〜人 is the neutral, unmarked choice. Staff use 〜名様 for you, but you answer with plain 〜人.⁴

三人さんにんです。¹
"Three people."

If you would rather sit at the counter, the same request frame handles it.

カウンターでお願ねがいします。¹
"The counter is fine, thanks."

Reading the menu and getting attention

すみません is the standard way to get attention before making a request to staff. The grammar module explicitly pairs the request pattern with すみません.¹ Raise a hand with it to call someone over.

すみません。¹
"Excuse me." (to call staff over)

To ask for a recommendation, use おすすめは何ですか. おすすめ (お勧め) carries the 勧める "to recommend" sense and takes the polite お- prefix.²

おすすめは何なんですか。²
"What do you recommend?"

To ask about an unfamiliar dish, reuse the same は何ですか frame.

これは何なんですか。¹
"What is this?"

Ticket-machine restaurants skip the spoken order

At 食券 (meal-ticket) eateries, you buy a ticket from a 券売機 (ticket vending machine) before sitting, so there is little to say out loud. You hand the ticket over and wait.

Ordering: the 〜をお願いします pattern

The core ordering frame is N を ください or N を お願いします. When you order a quantity, put the number between the noun and the request form: N を (number) ください / お願いします.¹⁵

コーラを二ふたつお願ねがいします。⁵
"Two colas, please."

The number takes a counter. Generic items use the native つ series (一つ, 二つ). Specific things take their own counter, such as 本 for long objects.

赤あかいばらを八本はっぽんください。⁵
"Eight red roses, please."

When pointing at a menu item, use これ plus a native-series counter.

これを一ひとつください。¹⁵
"One of these, please."

Staff acknowledge your order with かしこまりました, a humble-flavored "certainly." It is a hear-only phrase. You do not say it back.

かしこまりました。⁵
"Certainly."

The casual in-group variant drops を and adds ね, as in 「これ、二つね」 ("two of these, yeah?"). This matches the particle-drop documented for casual settings.¹ Keep it for your own party.

While eating: いただきます, refills, and small requests

いただきます is the set phrase said at the start of a meal. The verb いただく is the humble form of 受ける・食べる・飲む. The phrase expresses gratitude for the food and for everyone who brought it to the table.⁶

いただきます。⁶
"Thank you for the meal." (said before eating)

You say it to the table or to no one in particular. It is a ritual marker rather than a line aimed at staff. It is culturally expected, not an extra flourish.⁶

Small follow-up requests reuse the same frame, opened with すみません.

すみません、お水みずをお願ねがいします。¹
"Excuse me, could I get some water?"

For a refill, use お代わり in the same request pattern.

お代かわりをお願ねがいします。¹
"A refill, please."

Paying: お会計をお願いします

お会計 and お勘定 both mean the bill. お会計 is the everyday face-to-face term. お勘定 carries a slightly older, traditional-restaurant flavor, and its literal "count up" sense suits venues priced by counted plates. Either is safe with the request frame.

お会計かいけいをお願ねがいします。¹
"Check, please."

To split the bill, 別々で means "separately." 一緒で or ご一緒で means "together." The 〜で plus お願いします frame carries the request.

別々べつべつでお願ねがいします。¹
"Separate checks, please."

When staff state the total, listen for 〜になります, as in 「千円になります」. Recognize it as "that comes to 〜 yen." The construction is discussed in the note below.⁷

千円せんえんになります。⁷
"That'll be 1,000 yen."

Leaving: ごちそうさまでした

ごちそうさま(でした) is the interjection said in thanks after a meal. The dictionary glosses it as an aisatsu word, a set greeting or formula, said in thanks for having been treated, and tags it as an interjection.² The agriculture ministry's account adds that it extends gratitude to everyone involved in producing and preparing the food.⁶

ごちそうさまでした。²⁶
"Thank you for the meal." (said when leaving)

Polite and casual side by side

The two registers serve two audiences. The polite column is what you say to staff; the casual column is what you say among your own party.

Your output: polite versus in-group casual

The polite column rests on です/ます plus 〜をお願いします or 〜をください. The grammar module marks these as the standard commercial request forms. The casual column drops を and softens with ね, documented in the same module as the casual-setting variant.¹

To staff (polite, say)	Among your group (casual, say)	When it fits
ビールを一つお願いします	ビール、一つね	counter order
メニューをお願いします	メニュー、ちょうだい	asking for the menu
これを一つください	これにする	choosing an item
お会計をお願いします	会計、頼む？	settling up

The polite column is the safe default with any staff you do not know. The casual column is for your own party or a very informal counter. Never use it as the opening register with unfamiliar staff.¹

ビールを一ひとつお願ねがいします。¹⁵
"One beer, please."

ビール、一ひとつね。¹
"One beer, yeah?"

Staff keigo you only need to recognize

The "what you hear" set is built from honorific and humble forms aimed at the customer. This is the customer-service keigo of the service industry. The table below gives each phrase, its meaning, its keigo level, and the polite line you answer with. You recognize these; you do not produce them.

You hear	Meaning	Keigo level	You respond
いらっしゃいませ	"Welcome."	尊敬語 (いらっしゃる)32	a nod, or your party size
何名様なんめいさまですか	"How many people?"	丁寧 + 様 deferential4	三人です
かしこまりました	"Certainly."	謙譲語-flavored5	nothing needed
少々しょうしょうお待まちください	"One moment, please."	尊敬語 (お〜ください)2	はい
お待またせしました	"Sorry to keep you waiting."	謙譲語-flavored2	nothing needed
〜になります	"That comes to 〜."	service phrase7	pay the amount

召し上がる appears in staff questions such as こちらで召し上がりますか ("will you eat here?"). It is the 尊敬語 of 食う・飲む ("eat / drink"). The dictionary glosses it the same way.⁸

少々しょうしょうお待まちください。²
"One moment, please."

こちらで召めし上あがりますか。⁸
"Will you eat in (here)?"

All of these are comprehension targets. You answer staff keigo with your own です/ます-level lines. Producing keigo back is unnecessary and easy to get wrong.²⁹

お待またせしました。²
"Sorry to keep you waiting."

お通し: the izakaya seating charge

What お通し is and why it appears

お通し is an unrequested small dish brought to your table when you are seated at an izakaya. Japan's consumer-affairs center describes it as functioning like a 席のテーブルチャージ料 (a table or seating charge), and notes that the charge may be added at payment time.¹⁰

Encyclopedic sources define お通し as a small serving of dishes suited as a sake snack and served at the beginning. お通し is the Kanto-region name. In Kansai, the same thing is called 突き出し (tsukidashi) or 先付け (sakizuke).¹¹

お通し is a seating charge, not a free snack

The small dish that arrives with your first drink is a near-automatic per-seat charge bundled into food. It is not a complimentary appetizer. It commonly surprises first-time and foreign visitors, which is why the consumer-affairs hotline addresses it.¹⁰

No fixed price is given here because the amount varies by venue. If the amount is unclear, the consumer-affairs guidance is to confirm the charge with staff before paying.¹⁰

How to handle it

At venues that serve お通し, you generally cannot decline it. It appears on the お会計 as a per-person charge.¹⁰ Treat it as an automatic charge to confirm, not an item to opt out of.

For an allergy or a strong dislike, tell staff. The dish is small and varies daily. To check what it is, use the は何ですか pattern.

お通とおしは何なんですか。²¹⁰
"What's the otoshi?"

Treat any amount as venue-dependent. The takeaway is the structure: many izakaya have a seating charge, but there is no single standard price.¹⁰

Good to know

Why お願いします beats kudasai when ordering

Both 〜をください and 〜をお願いします are correct requests. The grammar module presents 〜をお願いします as the form used in commercial settings such as ordering food. 〜をください is the general "please give me" request, and the more deferential 〜をくださいませんか exists for softer asks.¹

In practice, お願いします reads as slightly softer and more natural for handing over an order. ください is also entirely fine and common. There is no need to over-formalize the choice.

〜になります is a service phrase to recognize, not to copy

Saying 「千円になります」 or 「こちら和風セットになります」 is widespread service speech. It draws criticism because なる properly means "to change into," and the dish or total is not changing into anything in front of the customer.⁷

The 文化庁 『敬語の指針』 treats such manual keigo, or scripted service keigo, as useful for studying typical examples, yet not always situationally appropriate.¹²⁹ NHK放送文化研究所, cited in the same discussion, counters that 〜になります also carries a "corresponds to" sense and can be legitimate.⁷

For a learner, the takeaway is recognition. Hear it as "that comes to," and do not adopt it as a model.

Staff keigo is hear-only

いらっしゃいませ, かしこまりました, 少々お待ちください, 召し上がりますか, and 〜になります are honorific, humble, and manual-keigo forms that staff direct at you.³²⁸ A customer answers in plain です/ます. Producing keigo back at staff is unnecessary and easy to get wrong. Keigo is formally a later study topic.¹²⁹

いただきます and ごちそうさまでした are not optional politeness theater

いただきます at the start and ごちそうさま(でした) at the end are set ritual phrases of gratitude. The former is a humble いただく form thanking the food and its providers. The latter is an interjection thanking those who prepared and produced the meal.²⁶

They are culturally expected mealtime markers, not extra flourishes to skip.⁶

Counting your own party with 名 the way staff do

Staff count you with the deferential 名 (何名様), but using 名 for your own headcount sounds stiff. Saying 私たちは三名です over-formalizes your own party. The neutral 〜人 is the natural choice.

三人さんにんです。¹
"Three people."

The basis for the 名-versus-人 split rests on a single teaching source. Treat this as a soft preference rather than a hard rule.⁴

Counting your order without overthinking

Generic items take the native series 一つ / 二つ, inserted as N を (number) ください / お願いします. Specific counters use the same frame: 本 for long objects, 〜人前 for portions, 人 / 名 for headcount.⁵⁴

For headcount, the customer's neutral counter is 〜人. Staff use 〜名様 toward you.⁴

Ticket-machine and conveyor restaurants change the script

At 食券 (meal-ticket) restaurants, you buy from a 券売機 before sitting. At conveyor or touch-panel sushi, you order via a panel. In both cases, little spoken ordering is needed. What still applies is the bookend etiquette: いただきます before and ごちそうさまでした after, plus paying.²⁶

See also

• Japanese Convenience Store Phrases: What the Clerk Says and How to Answer
• Self-Introduction in Japanese (自己紹介): はじめまして to よろしく
• Japanese Greetings: Time-of-Day, Workplace, and Seasonal Aisatsu (挨拶)
• 本 (Hon) Counter: Long, Thin Objects in Japanese
• Bikago (美化語): The お and ご Beautification Prefix in Japanese

References

Footnotes

1. 東京外国語大学 言語モジュール (TUFS Language Modules). 「Nをください／Nをお願いします：解説」. 日本語文法モジュール. https://www.coelang.tufs.ac.jp/mt/ja/gmod/contents/explanation/054.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷

2. 『デジタル大辞泉』小学館. 「いらっしゃい」「召し上がる」「御馳走様」項. コトバンク. https://kotobank.jp/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

3. 国立国語研究所 ことば研究館 (NINJAL). 「既にお店に入っているのに『いらっしゃいませ』と言うのはなぜですか」. https://kotoba.ninjal.ac.jp/qa/yokuaru/qa-82/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. 日本語教師の広場（凡人社運営）. 「人を数える名（めい）と人（にん）の違い」. https://www.tomojuku.com/blog/kanji/mei/ (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

5. 東京外国語大学 言語モジュール (TUFS Language Modules). 「Nを(数)ください／お願いします：解説」. 日本語文法モジュール. https://www.coelang.tufs.ac.jp/mt/ja/gmod/contents/explanation/055.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

6. 農林水産省 (MAFF). 「『いただきます』『ごちそうさま』に込められた本当の想い」. おいしい和食のはなし。 https://ouchidewashoku.maff.go.jp/article/14/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

7. ウィキペディア日本語版. 「バイト敬語」項. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%90%E3%82%A4%E3%83%88%E6%95%AC%E8%AA%9E ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

8. 『デジタル大辞泉』小学館. 「召し上がる」項. Weblio辞書. https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E5%8F%AC%E3%81%97%E4%B8%8A%E3%81%8C%E3%82%8B ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. 文化庁. 「敬語おもしろ相談室」第五話「間違いやすい敬語（2）～尊敬語あれこれ～」. https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/kokugo_nihongo/kokugo_shisaku/keigo/chapter5/index.html ↩ ↩² ↩³

10. 国民生活センター 訪日観光客消費者ホットライン. 「日本の居酒屋では『お通し』という文化があります」. https://www.cht.kokusen.go.jp/ja/food/post-4.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

11. 『日本大百科全書（ニッポニカ）』小学館. 「お通し」項. コトバンク. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%8A%E9%80%9A%E3%81%97-1283626 ↩

12. 文化庁文化審議会. 『敬語の指針』(文化審議会答申), 2007. https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkashingikai/sokai/sokai_6/pdf/keigo_tousin.pdf ↩ ↩²