You are in a restaurant and the waiter inched closer and closer to you your heart would beat harder and harder and you would afraid to order.

When you are either practicing to learn in Spanish or are new to it practicing in your head over and over again how to give you order in Spanish. You kept thinking to yourself, “I do not want to be rude”. What if the waiter does not understand me?”. After few lessons in Spanish, and suddenly you are in Spain and ready to have an authentic Spanish meal. And you could not remember how to order the food.

In this post, you are going to know the only phrases one need to know when dining in a Spanish speaking country. If you are heading out on a trip to Spain, Mexico or any other place in Latin America, this blog is the vital guide to get the authentic taste you are looking for.

Let’s have a look.

Me pones

This is spoken in Spain to ask for anything while in a restaurant, in a bar, when you need to get some pintxos in Bilbao. Do not try to translate it literally, because it means something as “will you put in front of me”.  But let us say your brain stops functioning.  And you cannot remember any of the other phrases this phrase will get you what you want.

Me das

While you are in Latin America me das is all you will ever need. It stands for will you give me? It is uncomplicated. It is polite. And one will get exactly what they want.

Tomo

In Spain people mostly use the verb tomar means to take, typically when mentioning food and drinks.  When someone says tomamos un café, it means let us go have a coffee, think in your head I will take, rather than I will have.

Para mi

Once the waiter moves to you to order, you will say Para mi along with (what you need).

Quiero

In Madrid, everyone is quite straightforward. This is why los madrilenos use quiero to order a beer, more tapas. Whatever your stomach finds, it shall be granted. And not to worry, it is not rude to say. Actually, it was Shakespeare who once said brevity is the soul of wit. There is no easier way to tell someone what you want rather than to say “I want”.