How to Order Drinks in English: 50 Essential Words and Phrases
A great way to meet new friends and practice your English is on a restaurant patio in the summertime, sharing some food and having a drink or two.
When you’re out at a bar or restaurant, it might seem stressful at first to order your drinks in English. But we’re here to help!
This article is going to help you sound like a native speaker and have a relaxed, fun time out with your friends.
Contents
- Inviting People to Go Out with You
- Getting Seated at the Location
- Asking About Types of Beer and Wine
- Ordering Your Drinks
- Paying for Your Drinks
- And One More Thing...
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Inviting People to Go Out with You
It’s quite easy to offer a friendly invitation to friends, coworkers, family or even new acquaintances (people you do not know very well). Here are some phrases you can use for different situations:
- “Fancy a drink on the patio?” (This is more British English, and less used in the United States.)
Getting Seated at the Location
In North America, people can be quite competitive to get seats on patios. It can seem unfriendly at first. Just try to remember: People have been indoors for three to four months of winter and when the sun is shining, they want to sit in it and enjoy it!
When you walk onto a patio, particularly on a very sunny day, it might be very busy. Some patios allow you to seat yourself. Some prefer that you let a server find a spot for you and your friends. There will usually be a sign telling you how it works on that patio. The sign might say:
A good way to avoid any confusion is to catch a server’s eye (get them to see or notice you) and ask:
It helps to tell the server how many people are in your group as well:
Servers love it when you ask this. They know what spaces are available, so they will be able to seat you faster and take your order sooner. For example, if there is only one four-person table open, then they will know that they have a perfect table for your group of four people.
In some parts of the world, it’s perfectly fine to sit with other people whom you do not know at large communal tables. North American patios are a little different and you’ll notice that the tables are set up mostly in twos and fours.
If you need to grab chairs and move tables so more people can sit at your table, it’s considered polite to ask your server—and the people sitting at the other tables—before you do this.
For moving tables or chairs, you may need to ask the people at other tables:
So now you’re all sitting down, it’s super hot outside and you’re thirsty… now what?
Asking About Types of Beer and Wine
In many English-speaking restaurants, you’ll find two options for beers: bottled and on tap. Beer on tap is poured from a keg instead of from cans or bottles. Which one to choose? That’s the fun part!
You’ll usually have the choice between a lager (light in color and quite refreshing) an ale (slightly darker with less fizz) and a stout or porter (very dark with very little fizz). To help you find out what your taste might be, try these “tasting” terms. Don’t be afraid to ask for a small sample or taste. Your server may pour you a small mouthful to taste to help you decide.
- “Is that beer accessible?” — A beer that is easy to drink (mostly light in color)
- “Does the beer have a strong aftertaste?” — A term for the taste left on the tongue after you have swallowed it.
- “Does it have a bitter taste?” — A bitter taste can be pleasant, but many people do not enjoy this.
- “Is this beer very fizzy or carbonated?” — Carbonation is what gives beer its bubbles or “fizz.” Some beers can be very carbonated, some can be quite flat.
- “Which is your most chocolaty beer?” — Chocolaty is a term most often used to describe rich brown beers such as porters and stouts. It describes the flavors and aromas associated with chocolate or dark malts.
- “Do you have a fruity beer?” — With some beers, you can really notice fruity characteristics, including but not limited to pineapple, apricot, banana, peach, pear, apple, mango, orange, raisins, plum, dates, prunes, figs, blackberry and strawberry.
- “Do you have a full-bodied beer?” — A term usually used for beer with heavy weight or “body,” it’s the opposite of light beer. It can also refer to a beer that’s full in flavor.
Here is some more descriptive vocabulary you can use to talk to your server about options or to describe the delicious beer you chose to your friends:
- Head — This refers to the foam on the top of the beer after it’s poured into a glass. The foam head should be thick and dense for most beer styles. When there’s a lot of foam on top of your beer, you can call it heady.
- Hoppy — A beer with the smell and taste of hops (the plants used in beer brewing). Hops in beer can smell like flowers, herbs or fruit.
- Mouthfeel — Try using your imagination with this term. When you drink the beer try to describe the “feel” of it in your mouth. Is it creamy, smooth, silky, velvety, tingly, warming, oily, thin, watery or heavy?
Finally, if you have the bad luck of getting a beer that just doesn’t taste good it may have spoiled (gone bad). This is commonly referred to as skunky which is a very negative term.
When you’re trying to learn English it can be a good conversation starter to ask about the local beer available in the area. Some of this beer will be on tap, again just meaning that it’s pumped from a barrel or keg and poured into your glass. Many local beers on tap are fresh and taste a bit different than the big companies’ beers and are always worth a try.
If your favorite drink is wine, your server will ask if you want white or red. The patio will probably have a house red and house white (which is always the cheapest). If you don’t care about what other wines they may have just ask:
If you want to get a bit more information from your server about the wine you have chosen, try these flavorful questions when you ask about the wine:
- “Is the red full-bodied?” — Mostly used to describe wines that are strong tasting.
- “Is the white clean?” — Used to describe wine that leaves a fresh taste in your mouth.
- “Is the white crisp?” — A wine that has a taste of fruit.
- “Is the white dry?” — Describes a wine that seems to have no taste of sugar.
- “Is the wine sweet?” — A wine that is high in sugar and quite sweet tasting.
Ordering Your Drinks
Beer generally comes in bottles pints or pitchers. Pitchers are for sharing, and bottles and pints are for individuals. One bottle is 341 ml, a pint is 500 ml and a pitcher (large jug) holds 1500 ml or just around 3 pints.
Your server may ask you if you want a glass with your bottle, so you can pour your drink into the glass. They may also ask how many glasses you want with your pitcher.
Some handy phrases for ordering beer are:
When ordering wine, you can say:
If you feel like you may have more than two glasses, it can save you some money to get a carafe.
Carafes are really just nice-looking jugs for wine. While a full carafe holds four glasses, you may be able to order a half carafe that will hold two glasses.
When the server comes back, if your whole table wants exactly the same drink again you can ask for:
Or if you’re alone and want the same drink you could say:
If your server comes and asks you if you want another drink but you don’t need one at that moment, it’s okay to say:
Paying for Your Drinks
If you order drinks and food for the whole table, the server may only bring one check after you’re all done or ask if you want a separate check.
Just in case, you may want to decide with your friends and let the server know before you order that everyone will need a separate check. This is the simplest way to do things. This is entirely up to you and your budget, but try to make sure your server knows which you prefer before they put the order into the computer.
When it’s time to pay, you can try one of these phrases. They all mean the same thing—that you would like to pay. You can replace “we” with “I” in every sentence:
If you’re feeling generous and want to pay for everything, including your friends’ drinks, you can say:
If you’re staying for a year or two in a foreign country, your local bar and the people who work in it may become your best friends (or at least will be a great source of information).
Smaller neighborhood pubs and bars tend to attract more local people, so you can really immerse yourself in the culture quickly by going to them. In North America too, if you’re polite, you’ll be remembered and treated better than if you were rude.
To learn more about how to interact with your server as well as more vocabulary words and phrases you can use, it helps to watch natural interactions. And if you can’t go people-watching, or struggle to understand spoken English, then you can use the FluentU program.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Click here to check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
Most bars often serve tourists, so don’t be shy—try out some of the phrases you’ve seen here and enjoy the summer. Chances are you’ll make some new friends, buddies, mates, peeps or homies. Whatever you call them, they may be friends for life.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing...
If you like learning English through movies and online media, you should also check out FluentU. FluentU lets you learn English from popular talk shows, catchy music videos and funny commercials, as you can see here:
If you want to watch it, the FluentU app has probably got it.
The FluentU app and website makes it really easy to watch English videos. There are captions that are interactive. That means you can tap on any word to see an image, definition, and useful examples.
FluentU lets you learn engaging content with world famous celebrities.
For example, when you tap on the word "searching," you see this:
FluentU lets you tap to look up any word.
Learn all the vocabulary in any video with quizzes. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.
FluentU helps you learn fast with useful questions and multiple examples. Learn more.
The best part? FluentU remembers the vocabulary that you’re learning. It gives you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You have a truly personalized experience.
Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or from the Google Play store.
