Walking into a Chinese restaurant without the language can feel stressful — but 50 well-chosen phrases and one full scenario dialogue are all you need to order, customize, and pay like a regular. This guide gives you a complete restaurant survival kit: numbers 1 to 10, food-specific measure words, 30+ common menu items, 20 popular dishes you must recognize, and a full enter-to-leave dialogue you can rehearse before your next meal out.
The fastest way to feel confident at a Chinese restaurant is to memorize a small set of high-leverage phrases, not to learn the entire language. Food ordering is one of the most rewarding beginner scenarios because the vocabulary is concrete, the phrases repeat, and staff are usually patient with learners who try.
This guide is organized as a real restaurant flow — from the moment you walk in to the moment you pay and leave. Each section builds on the previous one, and every phrase includes pinyin so you can practice pronunciation with audio. By the end, you will have a complete 50-phrase toolkit plus a full dialogue you can rehearse in 15 minutes.
You will not be able to order anything without two building blocks: numbers (to specify quantity) and measure words (to count food and drinks correctly). Practice these first — they are short, and they repeat constantly.
Bowls of (rice, soup, noodles)
一碗面 (yì wǎn miàn) — one bowl of noodles
Cups of (water, tea, beer)
两杯茶 (liǎng bēi chá) — two cups of tea
Plates of (dishes, vegetables)
一盘饺子 (yì pán jiǎozi) — one plate of dumplings
Servings / portions (most flexible)
一份炒饭 (yí fèn chǎofàn) — one portion of fried rice
The first 30 seconds set the tone. These five phrases cover greeting, asking for a table, and asking for the menu — the three most common opening moves at a Chinese restaurant.
Menu items break down into simple categories: rice, noodles, vegetables, meats, drinks. Learning one or two words from each category gives you a working menu vocabulary in under an hour. Below is the 30-item starter list — every word here appears on virtually every Chinese restaurant menu.
米饭 (rice), 面条 (noodles), 馒头 (steamed bun), 包子 (stuffed bun), 饺子 (dumplings), 粥 (congee/porridge)
猪肉 (pork), 牛肉 (beef), 鸡肉 (chicken), 鸭肉 (duck), 羊肉 (lamb)
白菜 (cabbage), 西红柿 (tomato), 土豆 (potato), 胡萝卜 (carrot), 黄瓜 (cucumber), 茄子 (eggplant), 豆腐 (tofu)
鱼 (fish), 虾 (shrimp), 螃蟹 (crab), 海带 (seaweed)
水 (water), 茶 (tea), 啤酒 (beer), 可乐 (cola), 果汁 (juice), 牛奶 (milk)
酱油 (soy sauce), 醋 (vinegar), 辣椒 (chili), 盐 (salt), 糖 (sugar)
These 20 dishes appear on Chinese restaurant menus worldwide. You do not need to know how to make them, but recognizing the names means you can order confidently when you see them on a menu or hear them recommended by a server.
Kung Pao Chicken
Mapo Tofu
Egg Fried Rice
Yangzhou Fried Rice
Braised Pork Belly
Sweet and Sour Pork
Yu Xiang Shredded Pork
Peking Duck
Soup Dumplings
Wontons
Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles
Lanzhou Beef Noodles
Chongqing Spicy Noodles
Scallion Beef
Steamed Fish
Dry-Fried Green Beans
Garlic Broccoli
Hot and Sour Soup
Tomato Egg Stir-Fry
Cucumber Salad
Once you have picked your dish, the next steps are specifying quantity, customizing for taste preferences or allergies, and saying whether you are dining in or taking out. These 10 phrases cover almost every customization you'll need.
Here is a complete dialogue you can rehearse before going to a Chinese restaurant. Read it aloud three times, then try practicing with a friend or with audio. Knowing this 12-line flow by heart is enough to handle 90% of restaurant situations.
Knowing the cultural context turns a stressful meal into a smooth one. A few key norms catch almost every Western traveler by surprise — but once you know them, they are easy to navigate.
Tipping is not required in mainland China. A small round-up is appreciated for excellent service, but a 10% tip is generous, not expected. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, a 10% service charge is often added to the bill.
Hot tea is usually served for free as soon as you sit down — it is part of the meal, not an extra charge. If you do not want it, simply leave the cup full and no one will refill.
Restaurants usually have a 'minimum order' rule for hotpot and certain group-dining spots. If you are dining alone, look for '小份' (small portion) on the menu — most places offer half-portions of staple dishes.
It is normal for the bill to be brought without your asking once you have stopped ordering for a while. Asking for the bill is polite but rarely necessary.
If a dish takes longer than 20 minutes, you can politely check by saying '我的菜还没上' (My dish has not arrived yet) — staff will usually bring it out within minutes or offer a discount.
Save this section and review it the morning of your meal out. The 50 phrases are organized by scenario, so you can skim the part you need in under a minute.
你好 (hello), 早上好 (good morning), 晚上好 (good evening), 再见 (goodbye)
一位/两位/三位 (1/2/3 people), 请问洗手间在哪？ (where is the restroom?)
请给我菜单 (menu please), 有英文菜单吗？ (English menu?), 可以推荐吗？ (recommend?), 招牌菜是什么？ (what's the specialty?)
我要这个 (I want this), 少辣 (less spicy), 不要辣 (no spice), 不要香菜 (no cilantro), 打包 (takeout)
两杯茶 (two teas), 一杯咖啡 (one coffee), 一瓶啤酒 (one beer), 不要冰 (no ice)
请给我账单 (the bill please), 可以刷卡吗？ (card OK?), 可以微信支付吗？ (WeChat Pay?), 不用找了 (keep the change)
我过敏花生 (peanut allergy), 我不吃辣 (I don't eat spicy), 我是素食者 (I'm vegetarian)
很好吃 (very tasty), 谢谢 (thank you), 太好吃了 (so delicious), 还会再来 (will come again)
No. Most staff in Chinese cities are used to English-speaking customers, and they will appreciate any attempt at Chinese. A simple 你好 and 谢谢 go a long way, even if the rest of the conversation is in English.
Not necessarily — you can point to the menu or use a translation app. But learning the 20 most common dish names lets you order confidently, and many restaurants use spoken dish names more than written ones anyway.
Say '我吃素' (wǒ chī sù) or '我是素食者' (wǒ shì sùshí zhě). Most Chinese restaurants have vegetarian options marked with the character 素, but you should still ask — some dishes use animal-based broth or sauces that are not obvious from the menu.
In mainland China, WeChat Pay and Alipay are by far the most common payment methods, even more than cash. Credit cards are accepted in larger restaurants and hotels but not in smaller local spots. Hong Kong and Taiwan are different — cash and credit card are both widely accepted.
Ask for recommendations: '可以推荐吗？' (kěyǐ tuījiàn ma?). Servers at family-run restaurants love to share their favorites. You can also ask '招牌菜是什么？' (zhāopái cài shì shénme? — what's your signature dish?) for the safest choice.
Yes — even 10 to 20 of the most popular dishes give you a huge confidence boost. Practice with audio flashcards the week before your trip and you will be ordering like a regular by day two.
HSK Reviso turns every phrase in this guide into a tap-and-flip flashcard with native audio. Build the muscle memory once and the restaurant conversation sticks for life. Try the first 50 phrases free.
Practice Phrases with HSK Reviso