Complaining at a Restaurant

Hello English learners! Welcome back to another great podcast here at EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

And I’m Erica.

And today we’re gonna be talking about one of our favorite topics as always.

Food.

Food! We’re gonna be at a restaurant.

And, you know, one of the most difficult or embarrassing things to deal with at a restaurant is, um, what to say when you don’t like the food or when it’s bad quality food.

Right, so, maybe we’ll have to complain about the food or maybe even the service, right?

That’s right, and in this lesson we’re going to be learning some… some really wonderful, um, words and phrases that you can use when you need to complain about the food or the service in a restaurant.

Okay, so, before we listen to what happens in this restaurant with this food, let’s take a look very quickly at “vocabulary preview”. Voice: Vocabulary preview.

Okay, we’re only gonna do one word today, uh, and this you’ll hear in the dialogue, um, an establishment.

Establishment.

This kind of establishment.

Okay, so, when I say “an establishment”, that’s a noun.

Uhu.

What is an establishment?

It’s basically a fancy word for a business or a restaurant in this case.

In this case it’s a restaurant.

Yeah.

But in general you can say it’s a business.

Uhu.

So, you have a very fine establishment.

That’s right, so, an establishment – a type of business, uh, a place of business, really.

Very good. Alright, so, now it’s time for us to listen to our dialogue. We’re gonna find out what’s going on here. Apparently, there is a very angry customer and we’re gonna find out why.

Well, I guess, that’s one lesson, hey? If you’re in a restaurant, uh, don’t be too rude to the waiter, you never know what’s gonna happen.

The waiter and the cook.

Uhu.

Right?

Yeah, you don’t wanna offend that… those, uh… that kitchen staff.

Hehe. Alright, so, uh, we’ll talk about that a little bit later on, but, uh, now I think we had some really interesting vocabulary of how to describe food that is not well prepared and we can take a look at that now in “language takeaway”. Voice: Language takeaway.

Alright, so, the guy in this… in this dialogue, he ordered a mushroom soup and he complained that the mushroom soup was too runny.

Okay, the soup is too runny.

Runny.

So, he wanted a cream of mushroom, so, it should be a little bitthicker.

Yep.

But in this case it was runny.

So, when something is runny, it’s too liquid.

Too liquid. And I think we can relate it to a runny nose, right?

Exactly, uhu.

Okay, so, when liquid is coming out your nose - a runny nose. In this case the soup is runny.

Alright, and another thing that he was complaining about – the food was over- seasoned.

Over-seasoned.

The food is over-seasoned.

Okay, so, if the food is over-seasoned…

It’s too salty.

So, it’s another way of saying “It’s too salty”.

Yeah, it’s kind of a fancy, um… a cooking term.

Now, can I say if there’s too much pepper in the food… can I say it’s over-seasoned?

Well, um, technically, no. When… when a cook says something is over-seasoned, he’s talking salt only.

Only salt, okay.

Uhu.

So, this… the cream of mushroom is very runny, it’s over-seasoned and he said it’s completely inedible.

Inedible.

It’s inedible.

Inedible.

Now, this word edible…

You can eat it.

You can eat it, so, we add this prefix inedible…

You cannot eat it.

This is not possible.

Yeah. And it… it doesn’t mean that physically you can’t eat it. It just means it’s pretty disgusting.

Okay, this food is inedible.

Uhu.

And then he started to complain about the other dish and he said that it’s rubbery.

Rubbery.

The… the foie gras was rubbery.

Alright, so, I think we noticed the word rubber.

Uhu.

So, obviously, if… if a food is rubbery, it tastes… or it… it… it’s too chewy, it… it’s like chewing on the bottom of your shoe, right?

Okay, so, it’s… it’s too hard to chew or to swallow.

Exactly.

Alright. Apparently, the food was rubbery, because it’s completelyovercooked.

Overcooked.

Alright, we have overcooked.

So, when something is overcooked, uh, I mean it’s… it’s easy to understand that it’s cooked too much.

Uhu. But it doesn’t mean that it’s burnt, right?

No, so, maybe you’ve ordered your steak to be rare, but it comes to you well-done. So, it’s not burnt.

Uhu.

But it’s cooked too much.

So, also I guess we can say like chicken, sometimes if you overcook chicken, it comes out too dry.

Yep.

Alright, so, to overcook something.

Uhu. And… and finally he was complaining about the size of the dish and he said, um, “This is a sliver of duck liver”.

Okay, a sliver.

A sliver.

Alright, now, this word sliver is like a slice, right?

A very small tiny little slice.

Okay, so, we can say “Okay, I just want a sliver of bacon for breakfast”.

Alright, why don’t we hear [a] few more examples of how we can use sliver? Voice: Example one.

No, John’s on a diet. He’ll just have a sliver of cake and no ice-cream. Voice: Example two.

I’m really full, but it looks so delicious. Can you just cut me a sliver? Voice: Example three.

You call this sliver of beef on my plate a meal? There’s almost nothing here!

And those are all the words we had for language takeaway. Now, you have… So, we’ve given you different adjectives of describing food that is not well prepared. So, now let’s move on to some other phrases that the customer used to complain in “fluency builder”. Voice: Fluency builder.

Okay, so, before we get to the customer complaining language I wanna look at a phrase that the waiter used to apologize. He said I doapologize.

I do apologize.

I do apologize.

Now, why is this phrase so, ah, interesting?

Well, I mean it… it’s pretty easy to understand the meaning, but I wanna look at why he added this, uh, verb do.

Uhu.

Well, he added the verb do, uh, in… to this phrase to make it, um, seem a little bit stronger, to give a little more power to his apology.

Right, so, if you have an affirmative phrase like…

Uhu.

I apologize.

Yep.

It… it’s good.

Yeah.

But if you wanna give it a little bit more emphasis, you can say Ido apologize.

Why don’t we give an example? Um, so, I might say this “Marco, I didn’t know we had a party tonight”.

And I might say “What? I did tell you about it last week”.

Right, so, you’re just giving a little bit more power to this statement that you told me.

Uhu, so, this do, did, does k… becomes an auxiliary to make it more powerful, to give it more emphasis.

Yeah, exactly, so, an… a neat little phrase, uh, something you can use if you wanna make your apology sound maybe a little bit stronger.

Alright, now, moving on to the next phrase. He was complaining about the food and it was terrible and he said I’m shelling out my hard earned bucks.

Okay, let’s div[ide]… let’s break this one down into two sections. We’ll start with shelling out.

Alright, so, to shell out.

So, when you shell out, you pay for something.

Alright, but this gives you the sensation that you are… that you don’t really want to pay, so…

You’re a bit unhappy about it.

Right, so, you wanna shell out your money.

Uhu. Why don’t we listen to some examples to show us how we can use this phrase to shell out? Voice: Example one.

Great! It’s my girlfriend’s birthday this month, so, I’m gonna have to shell out for a present. Voice: Example two.

I really want those shoes, but I can’t really afford to shell out four hundred dollars. Voice: Example three.

I can’t believe it! Ella shelled out the eight hundred bucks for the tickets! I thought I would have to pay.

Alright, so now that we understand shell out, let’s move on to the second part of that sentence - my hard earned bucks.

Hard earned bucks.

My hard earned bucks.

Okay, so, bucks are dollars, right?

Dollars, only dollars, right?

Yeah, no… not Pounds, not Euros, um, but his hard earned bucks is money he had to work really hard for.

Uhu. So, I can also say “My hard earned money”.

Uhu.

Right, or “My hard earned cash”.

Exactly.

Very good, so, you work hard to get it.

Alright, so, three… three great phrases that can be used when you complaining in a restaurant and why don’t we hear them one last time in context by listening to the dialogue?

So, complaining in a restaurant and actually sending food back…

Uhu.

Is not uncommon in the U.S.

Yeah, of course, uh, if the food’s bad, of course, you’re gonna send it back.

Uhu, but maybe in other cultures I think people would be a little bit more reluctant to do something like this.

Yeah, but hey, you know, it’s an interesting thing about the way Americans eat in restaurants is sometimes at the end of the meal if they haven’t finished everything, they might ask for a doggy-bag.

A doggy-bag, yeah.

Yeah. So, what is that a doggy-bag?

Well, usually, if you order a big meal or, you know, have your steak is left over on your plate…

Yeah.

Uh, you would ask for a doggy-bag and they would bring you a little box or a bag and you would take it to supposedly give it to your dog.

Right, so, it sort of like… like you s… tell the waiter “Oh, you know, the… steak was so good, I couldn’t finish it, can I take some home to my dog?”

Right, so, you would just ask “Where can I have a doggy-bag?

Right, but you…

Right?

It’s… it’s sort of like code for “I’m gonna eat this tomorrow for lunch”.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Because people wouldn’t really give it to their dogs, I mean…

Yeah. You know, that… that steak wrapped up in a fancy sort offoil swan is gonna be, ah, pretty delicious the next day.

Right, yeah, it’s actually very common in the U.S., but in other countries people will leave…

Yeah.

Entire plates of food on the table.

It could be totally impolite to ask the waiter to pack up the food for you.

Exactly.

Yep.

So, a little bit of cultural differences, but we wanna know what you think and how things are done maybe in your country with complaining or sending food back or even this whole doggy-bag situation.

That’s right, why don’t you visit our website englishpod.com and tell us about it?

Alright, we’ll be there to answer any questions or comments, but we gotta go now, so, until then…

Good bye!

Bye! ***