Restaurants

[FlagOnce]

To help you if it ever happens that you enter in a restaurant, I will try to familiarize you with some of the common idioms you use when you go to a restaurant, that means nothing in English but means something here.
Firstly, when you go into a restaurant and want to order, in French, it's "passer commande". So, for example, you can talk to the waitress and say "Monsieur, je voudrais passer commande", once you chosen what you wanted to order.

If you don't know what to order, you would like to get the "menu". A "menu" is a paper where all dishes sold from this restaurant is shown.
Okay, you start to eat, but now, what about the meat? How cooked should it be? There's bleue (almost not cooked, rare), saignant (medium), à point (well done).
Finally, you want to pay? You should ask for the "addition". The "addition" is the term you use when you talk about the restaurant's bill you will have to pay.

PS: "Renvoyer un plat" (when you send back a dish to the cuisine because it is not good enough/...) is rarely done in France, compared to U.S.

[ProNine]

That actually is important in terms of learning the language. Learn idioms and phrases in groups and categories. For example, use terms and phrases you'd use in various areas and sessions. For example, restaurants, airports, school, etc. A good way to learn these things is watch family movies in your target language. They won't be as childish but would be simple enough as they are meant for children and adults alike.

[FlagOnce]

That actually is important in terms of learning the language. Learn idioms and phrases in groups and categories. For example, use terms and phrases you'd use in various areas and sessions. For example, restaurants, airports, school, etc. A good way to learn these things is watch family movies in your target language. They won't be as childish but would be simple enough as they are meant for children and adults alike.

Not so bad advice, thanks for your input. That's why I'm talking about these idioms: it's like a shortcut to get your understood straight away and no longer be in position of the "foreign speaker that have to explain everything". In my opinion, however, people should take time to understand you even if it's not straight. I give it more as an help for taking shortcuts, taking less time and learning more the language, than as a endorsement of some of the bad behavior where, just because you don't use the right word, people are arrogant or pedantic. I'm and was always against that.

[cutiepie]

Is there a way to say to a waitress: What do you recommend?  

 

If you're looking at the menu, this seems to be an excellent way of not only getting a good recommendation, but the correct pronunciation of a phrase. 

 

The only downside would be if your waitress likes to play practical jokes, but I'm pretty sure I know what escargot means....and I would point to an alternate dish.

[polyglutton]

Thank you for sharing! My high school French teacher taught a lesson about ordering food in France, but it looks like she left some things out.