Ordering at the elegant restaurant, an interactive excercise.
Every few days my lovely wife ( a Spanish native speaker, and fluent in English ) and I will sit here at my computer and do an interactive script as a translation exercise. She will dictate to me in English and I must translate it to proper Spanish as I correct her English.( with great difficulty and much scolding for me) I may add!.
These posts do not require an answer unless you wish to answer. But if you do not answer, please comment and vote.
Download them and modify them to your intent if you wish. Practice with a friend or several friends, The grammar is correct for daily speech.
This was the script of a few days ago. And please note this is Spanish of northern México, as we would use it in ordinary conversation.
This one is a lot longer and quite a bit more complex.
This is a four person script
We do these with the intention of coming as close as possible to a real world dialogue, not a studied, structured script.
Note the personality differences between client 1 and 2 both are polite but they are two distinct personalities.
I thought I would share this as it may be useful to any of you who wish to practice interactive Spanish and also use it as a reading and pronunciation exercise, there are several difficult words in it. You may even want to record it and add your recording here. The names may be changed to protect the innocent! Enjoy!
Ordering at the Elegant Restaurant
Host: Buenas noches, bienvenidos.¿ Dos personas?
Client 1: Buenas noches. Sí, somos dos. Queremos una mesa para dos personas
Host: ¿Tienen reservación?
Client 2: No, no tenemos.
Host: Permítanme un momento.
(Él va a checar con el jefe de camareros)
Host: Adelante, por favor.
(Los lleva a una mesa con vista al jardín)
Client 2: Ahh..! buena vista, gracias.
Host: De nada. Su camarero les atenderá en un momento.
Camarero: Buenas noches, mi nombre es Gabriel. Con gusto les atenderé esta noche, ¿ Les gustaría un aperitivo para empezar?
Client 1: Sí. Para mí, un martini en las rocas. “ Absolut” por favor.
Client 2: Para mí, un tequila, también en las rocas. “Don Julio”, si es tan amable.
Camarero: Muy bien, regresaré con sus bebidas en un momento.
(Pasan unos minutos y el camarero regresa)
Camarero: Aquí están sus bebidas. Desean ver el menú?
Client 1: Sí, por favor. Y también la carta de vinos.
Camarero: Aquí tienen.
(El camarero les presenta el menú y también la lista de los vinos)
Camarero: Regresaré en unos momentos a tomar su orden.
Client 2: Bien, gracias. (Pasa un rato)
Camarero: ¿ Están listos para ordenar?
Client 2: Sí, estamos listos.
Camarero: ¿Desean iniciar con un entremés?
Client 1: Yo no, gracias. Yo quiero el corte ribeye, medio rojo, con papa al horno.
Client 2: Yo tampoco. Yo quisiera la pechuga de pollo mediterránea.
Camarero: ¿ Les gustaría una ensalada antes?
Client 2: Sí, para mí, una ensalada César.
Client 1: Para mí la ensalada de la casa. Y tráiganos el merlot chileno “ Casillero del Diablo”
Camarero: ¿ Dos copas ó una botella?
Client 1: Queremos una botella .
Camarero: Perfecto. Regresaré con su orden en unos momentos.
(Él regresó con la orden quince minutos después )
Camarero: ¡Está listo! Permítanme.
(Empieza a servir la comida)
Client 2: ¿Puede traerme una botella de agua mineral y un vaso con hielo?
Camarero: Enseguida. ¿Algo más?
Client 1: Tráigame agua natural, al tiempo, por favor. Es todo.
(El tiempo pasa, los clientes terminan sus platillos)
Camarero: ¿Está todo bien? ¿Puedo retirar sus platos?
Client 1 and 2: Sí, todo bien. Puede retirarlo. ( ambos responden).
Camarero: ¿Desean un postre?
Client 2: No, gracias. Estoy satisfecho.
Client 1: Para mí, un helado de vainilla
Camarero: ¿ Café? ¿ Licor?
Client 2: Yo quisiera un capuchino.
Client 1: Quiero un café americano con crema. Traiga Splenda, por favor.
Camarero: Correcto. Vuelvo en un instante.
( Él regresa con el café y el postre)
Client 1 and 2: Gracias. (ambos responden )
(El tiempo pasa, los clientes disfrutan sus postres.)
Camarero: ¿Algo más?
Client 1: No, gracias, es todo. La cuenta por favor.
Camarero: Claro que sí
(El camarero les lleva la cuenta. Los clientes pagan y se van.)
¡ Fin !
24 Answers
I asked Paco if I could share this with you all. I hope it is helpful.
Hi all I am bumping this in answer to HCA students conversation post- this is anactual event.
I didn't think that anyone but I and a few friends used "chequear" for to check out something. Also, although "regresaré" is cien por ciento correcto, Estoy más acostumbrada al "vuelvo pronto" or better "ahorita vuelvo" ¿Qué tal les parece? Maybe it's a "girl thing."
Well done Paco and Gintar !
Being a Mexican, I see this as a realistic representation of daily speech.
Dear Paco, I have one question: does the phrase 'en las rocas' mean the same as 'in the rocks' or is it sth different? Alguien sabe que significa 'al tiempo' en esta conversación?
The last time my wife and I had rare steaks at a restaurant, the waitress said "¡La vaca vive!" when she brought them to the table.
Delete-see this thread under Proofreading.
Thank you so much Frank and your good lady wife.
I was amazed that I was able to read it right off just like a script .
I understood everything , the only word i was unsure about was
retirarlo, I guessed it but had to check it out , it has given me
much needed encouragement to venture forth myself into the
dining scene en español . 
Thank you so much for this Frank. I understood the vast majority of it without having to resort to the dictionary!! Some words I wasn't too sure of but could give a good guess within the context of the conversation.
However, if I was listening - or actively taking part in conversation here, I would probably be dumb struck lol.
Will these eventually become reference articles (with translations for beginners)? I think that they would make a great series. Or the transcript for a listening exercise if readings (like gintar's) can be acquired? Perhaps questions about the reading to test your listening understanding?
Wait! Maybe we'd better start talking about book rights? Videos? Which superstar do you want to play your part?
In a elegant restaurant you would say carta instead of menu
Very helpful and practical dialogue. Thanks for sharing.
This is great Frank! Thank you. 
This is a great little script , very useful thanks, Pacofinder
I always thought that spanish was a more direct language than english and at times I feel it is rude to ask for things by saying Dame. Digame Tráigame . The line below it a more polite way of asking for something.
¿Puede traerme una botella de agua mineral y un vaso con hielo?
Is client2 an extremely polite person or is it normal to ask for things in this less direct way. ?
Great script Paco,I was able to understand much of it's content.Thank you.
