2.3 Making comments on food and Tips for good/bad service
Source: eslfast.com
Making positive comments on food
| A: What a wonderful dinner! | OR: – This is a great meal! – I really love this meal. |
| B: Thank you. I am glad that you are enjoying it. | OR: – Thank you. I am glad that everything turned out so well. |
| A: Where did you get your fantastic recipes? | OR: – Where did you learn to cook these amazing dishes? – Who taught you how to cook this well? |
| B: I grew up cooking. My mother shared her recipes with me. | OR: – I took a cooking class at the Culinary Institute. – I got a really wonderful cookbook for my birthday and decided to try out a few of the recipes. |
| A: I especially like the wonderful chicken dish. | OR: – The chicken is out of this world! – Wow, what is in this chicken dish? |
| B: That is a special coconut ginger chicken with rice dish. | OR: – Isn’t that great? That is coconut ginger chicken with rice. – I love that dish as well. It is coconut chicken with rice. |
| A: Is that shrimp in the soup? | OR: – I was wondering if there was shrimp in the soup. – Is the soup a shrimp soup? |
| B: Yes, do you like it? I added a little extra lemon grass and some sea vegetables. | OR: – Yes, there is shrimp in there along with sea vegetables and lemon grass. – Yes, that soup has a shrimp base. I also added sea vegetables and lemon grass. |
| A: I am happy that the wine I brought for you works well with this meal. | OR: – It worked out well that the wine that I brought to share seems to blend well with this meal. – I think I got lucky in choosing a wine that blends with this meal. |
| B: Yes, thank you for bringing the wine. It really complements the meal. | OR: – I appreciate you bringing the wine. It goes well with the chicken. |
Making negative comments on food
| A: George, how is your chicken? | OR: – Does your chicken taste all right? – George, is your chicken OK? |
| B: My chicken tastes all right, but it is pretty dry. How is your fish? | OR: – The chicken tastes wonderful, but it is kind of dry. Is your fish OK? |
| A: My fish is pretty dry too. | OR: – My fish has good seasoning but is a little dry. |
| B: It’s almost as if this food has been sitting a little too long. It doesn’t seem fresh. | OR: – I wonder if they left it sitting around too long before they served it. – It seems as if they got busy and left it sitting before it got to us. |
| A: Yes, it seems that way to me also. | OR: – Yes, maybe they are short-handed in the kitchen tonight. – That’s exactly what I was thinking had happened. |
| B: How are your vegetables? | OR: – Are your vegetables OK? |
| A: My vegetables are very soggy. | OR: – The vegetables are kind of mushy. – The vegetables seem to not be very fresh. |
| B: Mine are the same way. It seems like they’ve been overcooked. | OR: – Mine aren’t so good, either. – So are mine. I think they left them cooking too long. |
| A: I don’t usually complain, but I think that we should mention this to the waiter. | OR: – The food here is usually good, so I think that we should tell the waiter that there is a problem. – I usually enjoy the meals here, so I think that we should tell the waiter that there is something wrong with this meal. |
| B: I agree. Maybe they can bring us some better food. | OR: – I think that we should let someone know. They will probably want to fix the problem. – I think that you are right. Maybe they can give us a free dessert or something. |
Good tips for good service
| A: Do you want some dessert? | OR: – Would you like some more coffee? – Would you like to order anything else? |
| B: No thanks. We just need our check. Have you seen the waitress? | OR: – No, I’m good. All we need now is our check. – No thanks. I’m full. We need to find our waitress and get our bill. |
| A: Here comes our waitress with our check. | OR: – The waitress is bringing the bill right now. – The waitress is walking over here with our check even as we speak. |
| B: The service here has been really great, don’t you think? | OR: – I have never had bad service at this restaurant, but this time was really exceptional. – This waitress has really been on top of things, hasn’t she? |
| A: Yes, the service was quite good. | OR: – Yes, this waitress did a great job. – Yes, she really went out of her way to make this a pleasant dining experience. |
| B: So, let’s look at the check. The total is $36.00. | OR: – Let’s take a look at our bill. The total price for our dinner is $36.00. – OK, let’s see what the damage is. The total for our meal is $36.00. |
| A: How much do you think we should leave for a tip? | OR: – What do you think would be the right amount to leave for a tip? |
| B: Usually people leave 15 percent, but this was exceptional service. I am thinking that maybe 20 percent would be appropriate. | OR: – I know that 15 percent is a normal tip, but I really thought that this waitress went out of her way for us. What do you think about tipping her 20 percent? |
| A: I agree that 20 percent would be just about right. | OR: – Yes, 20 percent would be perfect. – She definitely deserves 20 percent for a tip. |
| B: OK, so that will bring her tip to $7.20. Add it to the $36.00 and the total is $43.20. | OR: – So we can add her tip of $7.20 to the bill of $36.00 and the total will be $43.20. |
| A: Yes, what a nice dinner that was! | OR: – Yes, that was one fantastic meal! |
| B: We’ll have to make sure to come back here again real soon. | OR: – It absolutely was a great meal. We’ll have to return here for lunch sometime. |
Little tips for bad service
| A: Do you want some dessert? | OR: – Would you like some more coffee? – Would you like to order anything else? |
| B: No thanks. We just need our check. Have you seen the waitress? | OR: – No, I’m good. All we need now is our check. – No thanks. I’m full. We need to find our waitress and get our bill. |
| A: Where is our waitress anyway? | OR: – Our waitress has been kind of scarce tonight, hasn’t she? – Good luck finding the waitress! |
| B: Yes, the service hasn’t been the best. Is that our waitress over there? | OR: – The service this evening has kind of sucked. Is that our server over there? – I think that is our waitress over by the bar. Boy, the service has not been good this evening. |
| A: I’ll walk over and get the bill, since I don’t think the waitress is coming over here any time soon. | OR: – She doesn’t appear to be headed this way, so I will go get the check. – I’ll go get the check, since our server doesn’t seem to be headed this way. |
| B: Good idea. Just bring it back and we’ll figure it out together. | OR: – Good. I’ll just stay here until you get back. |
| A: So the bill is $36.00. | OR: – So the total is $36.00 for our dinner. |
| B: How much do you think we should leave for a tip? | OR: – How much of a tip do you think our waitress deserves? |
| A: My first inclination is to leave nothing for a tip. | OR: – I kind of don’t want to leave any tip for the lousy service we received. – I wonder if no tip would be appropriate in light of the service. |
| B: I agree, but we don’t really know the whole story. There may have been problems in the kitchen beyond her control. | OR: – I kind of feel the same way, but they may have just been really short-staffed tonight. – I agree that it was bad service, but I heard one of the other waiters mentioning that it was our server’s first night on the job. |
| A: Let’s leave 10%, so that we at least leave something for the service. | OR: – I believe that 10% is just about right. |
| B: I agree. We will leave $3.60 for the tip. | OR: – $3.60 will be the right amount for the tip. |