List of restaurant terminology

This is a list of restaurant terminology. A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money, either paid before the meal, after the meal, or with a running tab. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearance and offerings, including a wide variety of the main chef's cuisines and service models.

Restaurant terminology



 * 86 – a term used when the restaurant has run out of, or is unable to prepare a particular menu item. The term is also generally used to mean getting rid of someone or something, including the situation where a bar patron is ejected from the premises and refused readmittance.
 * À la carte
 * All you can eat
 * Bartender
 * Blue-plate special
 * Brigade de cuisine
 * BYOB – an initialism standing for "bring your own bottle", "bring your own beer", "bring your own beverage", or "bring your own booze"
 * Charcuterie
 * Chef
 * Chef de cuisine - also called "head chef" or "master chef"
 * Chef's table
 * Combination meal
 * Cooked to order – food that is cooked to a patron's directions
 * Counter meal
 * Counter service
 * Dine and dash
 * Early bird dinner
 * Entrée
 * Family meal
 * Fast food
 * Free lunch
 * Garde manger
 * Ghost restaurant – a restaurant that operates exclusively via food delivery
 * Gueridon service
 * Happy hour
 * Kids' meal
 * Main course
 * Maître d'hôtel
 * Meat and three
 * Meat and two veg – a British dish consisting of meat served with two varieties of vegetables
 * Menu
 * Mise en place
 * Monkey dish – a small (3" or 5 cm) bowl used for sauces, nuts, or as a repository for bones or citrus peel
 * Omakase
 * On the fly
 * One bowl with two pieces
 * Online food ordering
 * Plate lunch
 * Platter (dinner)
 * Rôtisseur
 * Saucier
 * Serving cart
 * Signature dish
 * Sous-chef – the chef who is second in command within a kitchen; sous meaning "under"
 * Table d'hôte – a menu in which multi-course meals with only a few choices are charged at a fixed total price
 * Table reservation
 * Table service
 * Table sharing
 * Take-out
 * Three-martini lunch
 * Value meal