Learning to order food in Chinese is the first real conversation most travellers have, and it is a kind one — the stakes are low, the other person wants you to succeed, and pointing counts. Learn about ten lines and you can walk into almost any restaurant in the country and eat well.
This page covers the whole arc of a meal: calling the waiter over, reading or dodging the menu, asking what is good, saying how spicy you want it, getting a second round, and paying. If you want to cook the dishes rather than order them, our Chinese recipes give you the name of every dish and ingredient in Mandarin too.
12 ways to order food in Chinese
The whole arc of a meal, in order — catching the waiter, ordering, handling spice, and paying. Tap any line to hear it.
Reading a Chinese menu
Most Chinese menus are a grid of dish names, and a dish name is usually cooking method + main ingredient. Learn eight characters and you can read the shape of almost any line on it.
Put them together and the menu opens up: 蛋炒饭 is egg + stir-fried + rice — egg fried rice. 牛肉面 is beef + noodles. And any dish carrying 辣 will be, so if that is not for you, 不要辣 is the line you want.
At the table
The lines that come after the ordering is done.
慢用 (màn yòng, “take your time eating”) is what staff say as they set the dish down — the same warm construction as 慢走 to a leaving guest. And 干杯 literally means “dry the glass”, which is sometimes meant literally.
点菜 means “to point at dishes”
点菜 (diǎn cài) is 点 (“to point, to dot, to select”) plus 菜 (“dish, vegetable”). The verb is literally what a nervous beginner already does — pointing at a menu is not a failure to order, it is ordering, and it always has been.
The other thing to know is that a Chinese meal is shared. You do not each order your own plate; one person orders several dishes for the table and everyone eats from all of them — the shared-plate habit that shapes so much of Chinese table manners. A good rule is one dish per person plus one extra, with a staple like rice or noodles alongside. If you order a main each, you will be brought far too much food and the table will find it funny.
Do not wait to be handed a bill. In most Chinese restaurants nobody will bring one until you ask, and hovering politely reads as “still eating”. Say 买单 (mǎidān) across the room, or catch someone’s eye and draw a small square in the air with your finger — that gesture is understood everywhere. And when they ask 几位 (jǐ wèi, “how many?”) at the door, just hold up fingers.
Which phrase, when?
| Situation | Say | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Getting a waiter’s attention | 服务员 | Normal, not rude |
| You can’t read the menu | 我要这个 | Point and say it |
| You want the best thing | 推荐什么 | Ask what they recommend |
| You can’t take chilli | 不要辣 | Say it when ordering |
| You’re ready to pay | 买单 | Nobody brings it unasked |
| There’s food left | 打包 | Leftovers get boxed |
Common mistakes to avoid
The slips that make ordering harder than it needs to be.
✕Ordering one dish each
A Chinese meal is shared from the middle of the table. One dish per person plus one extra is plenty — order a main each and you will be buried.
✕Waiting for the bill to arrive
It will not. Say 买单 (mǎidān) or draw a square in the air. Waiting quietly can leave you sitting for a very long time.
✕Trusting 不辣 completely
In Sichuan and Hunan, “not spicy” is a relative term. If you really cannot take heat, say 一点辣都不要 (yìdiǎn là dōu bú yào) — “no chilli at all”.
✕Saying 谢谢 for every dish
Thanking staff constantly reads as oddly formal, almost distant. Once at the start and once at the end is warmer than once a plate.
Quick check
1. You’re ready to pay. You say…
2. How do you get a waiter’s attention?
3. “I’ll have this one” (while pointing) is…
FAQs
More essential phrases
Short, everyday Mandarin you can use from your first conversation.
You can order dinner — now order the conversation
Ordering is the easy half. Learn to actually talk to the person bringing the food, 1-on-1 with a native teacher. Your first lesson is free.
Book a Free Intro Call