español · A2 · vocabulary · 4 minutes
At a restaurant
Order each course and finish by asking for the bill.
Understand the choice
Move through a Spanish meal confidently: ask about the menú, choose a first and second course, order dessert, and request the bill. Learn the short waiter-facing phrases exactly as they are spoken rather than building every request from scratch.
Core rule: Use de primero, de segundo, and de postre to organize a meal order.
Notice it in context
De primero quiero sopa y de segundo, pescado.
For the first course I want soup and for the main course, fish.
Use de primero, de segundo, and de postre to organize a meal order.
La cuenta, por favor.
The bill, please.
A short request is polite with por favor.
Tenemos una reserva para dos.
We have a reservation for two.
Para dos gives the party size.
What to remember
- El menú often means a fixed-price set meal, while la carta is the full list of dishes.
- La cuenta is the bill; una propina is an optional tip, whose expected size varies by country.
Common trap: Do not use primero and segundo as bare labels for people. In an order, say de primero and de segundo to mean “as my first/main course.”