50 restaurant conversation questions
50 engaging questions for students to ask and answer in the classroom. They can be used as pair work, group work, or as an entire class activity.
The first worksheet is a fairly straightforward discussion activity although for lower-level learners you may want to pre-teach some of the more difficult words. Check your students know terms such as – Serve, rude, dine, tip, eat out and complain.
The restaurant conversation questions are –
1 – Do you think it is rude to wear a hat in a restaurant?
2 – What foods do you eat with your hands?
3 – What is your favorite place to “eat out”?
4 – What do you call the person who cooks food in a restaurant?
5 – What do you call the person who serves food in a restaurant?
6 – Do you ever tip in restaurants? If so, how much do you tip?
7 – Have you ever sent a meal back or complained in a restaurant?
8 – What is the worst meal you have ever had in a restaurant?
9 – What is the most expensive meal you’ve ever eaten?
10 – Do you ever order takeaway food? What restaurants do you order from?
11 – What kinds of restaurants are in your city or town?
12 – Does your country have street food stalls? What kinds of food do they sell?
13 – What other nationality’s foods do you like to eat?
14 – Do you prefer busy restaurants or quiet ones?
15 – If you were going to a restaurant tonight, what would you order?
16 – What is your favorite dessert? When was the last time you ordered it?
17 – How often do you dine in a restaurant?
18 – Have you ever had to wait a long time to be served in a restaurant?
19 – Do you like to get dressed up before going to a restaurant?
20 – Have you ever worked in a restaurant? Would you like to?
21 – If you could open your own restaurant, what food would you sell?
22 – What is the best name for a restaurant you have seen or heard of?
23 – Does it cost a lot of money to go to restaurants where you live?
24 – Are you allowed to bring your own drinks to restaurants in your country? Why is this so?
25 – Are you planning on going to a restaurant in the near future? Where will you go?
The second restaurant conversation questions worksheet is somewhat harder than the first. It is best used for intermediate-level classes and above.
Challenging terms to go over with your students before starting the discussion include – skills, hygiene, dine, embarrassed, attention, buffet, dark, drive-through, cutlery, overcharge, sign, table manners, consider, wagyu steak, and lobster.
The restaurant conversation questions are –
26 – Do you prefer outdoor restaurants to indoor restaurants?
27 – What skills does a person need in order to be a waiter or waitress?
28 – Must restaurants in your country follow strict hygiene standards?
29 – What is the most expensive restaurant you have dined in? What did you eat there?
30 – Have you ever felt embarrassed in a restaurant? Why did you feel this way?
31 – If you were going on a romantic date, which restaurant would you choose?
32 – What would you say to a waiter if you wanted to order a bottle of wine?
33 – How do you get a waiter’s attention when you need them?
34 – Do you like buffet restaurants? Have you ever eaten so much you felt ill?
35 – Some new restaurants get diners to eat in the dark, what do you think of this?
36 – Does your country have any drive-through restaurants? What kind of food is sold?
37 – Do you know of any famous chefs? Who is your favorite?
38 – What would you do if your plate or cutlery were dirty?
39 – Do you think small children should be allowed to run around in restaurants?
40 – Do you always check the bill when you eat out? Have you ever been overcharged?
41 – What kinds of breakfast restaurants are open in your country?
42 – Is it more fun to eat with just a few people or a large group?
43 – What do you think are some signs that show that a restaurant is good?
44 – Have you ever heard a terrible story about a restaurant? What was it?
45 – What things do you consider good table manners? What are bad table manners?
46 – What would you do if you were abroad and couldn’t understand the menu?
47 – Have you ever been sick from eating in a restaurant? What did you eat?
48 – How many courses do you usually order when you go to a restaurant?
49 – If you had a choice between a Wagyu steak or lobster, what would you order?
50 – What is a restaurant that you regularly go to? Do you always sit at the same table?
Restaurant idioms
If you dine and dash, you run away from the restaurant without paying the bill.
A doggie bag is a bag or container given to you to take food home from a restaurant that you have not finished eating.
To wine and dine a person is to take them out to restaurants and pay for everything so they like you. This is typically done in romance or business.
When people talk about the back of the house in a restaurant they are referring to the kitchen. The front of the house is the dining area and bar.
