Everyone has restaurant stories — favorite places, terrible service, or meals worth remembering. These questions work well for practicing ordering vocabulary, describing experiences, and discussing how dining out culture varies around the world.
Questions are organized by level from beginner to advanced. A printable PDF of all the questions is available at the bottom of the page.
Beginner (A1-A2)
- What is your favorite restaurant near where you live? What do you usually order there?
- Do you prefer to eat at your parents’ house or a restaurant? What is good about each?
- What is the worst restaurant you have eaten at? What made it so bad?
- What is the strangest restaurant you have heard of? What makes it so strange?
- What is the best restaurant you have ever eaten at? What made it so good?
- Who do you like to go to restaurants with? What do you usually do together?
- How often do you eat out in a typical week? What is your favorite thing to order?
- Do you look at photos of food before you choose a restaurant? How do you pick where to eat?
- What is the biggest portion you have ever been served at a restaurant? Could you finish it?
- Have you ever eaten at an outdoor restaurant? What was it like?
Elementary (A2)
- What types of foreign food restaurants have you eaten at? Which type is your favorite and why?
- Have you ever eaten at a restaurant abroad? What was it like?
- Do you prefer sit-down restaurants or buffets? What is good about each?
- What do you usually drink when you go to a restaurant? Why?
- What is the most expensive meal you have ever had at a restaurant? What made it so expensive?
- What is the most popular restaurant in your city? What makes it so popular?
- Have you ever worked at a restaurant? What did you think of it?
- What kind of restaurants don’t you like? Why?
- Have you ever sent food back at a restaurant? Tell me about it.
- What dishes from your country often confuse tourists? Why do they find them strange?
- Do you prefer ordering appetizers or just a main dish? Why?
- What do you do if you don’t like something you ordered? Why do you do that?
- What is the noisiest restaurant you have been to? What made it so loud?
- What is the longest you have ever waited for a table at a restaurant? Was it worth the wait?
- Have you ever tried a dish at a restaurant that you didn’t know how to eat? What did you do?
- What makes a restaurant kid-friendly? Give me some examples.
Intermediate (B1)
- What (besides good food) makes a restaurant great?
- How do you feel about theme restaurants?
- Do you prefer darker or brighter interiors for restaurants? Why?
- Do you like to try new restaurants or go to the same ones? What’s good about your choice?
- Should restaurants be required to list calories on their menus? Why or why not?
- Do you think tipping is a good system? Why or why not?
- Do you think restaurant food is getting healthier or less healthy? Why do you think so?
- How do you feel about restaurants that don’t take reservations? What are the downsides of that policy?
- Do you think all restaurants should offer vegetarian options? Why or why not?
- If you could open your own restaurant, what kind of food would you serve and what would the atmosphere be like?
- If a restaurant has great food but terrible service, would you go back? What would it take for you to give them another chance?
- Do restaurants in your country use a lot of plastic? What can be done to reduce that?
Upper-Intermediate (B2)
- Do you think restaurants should show photos of the food on the menu? What are the upsides and downsides of that?
- Do you think chain restaurants are killing small, family-owned restaurants? How so?
- How has the rise of food delivery apps changed the restaurant industry? What do you think about those changes?
- How do restaurant reviews and social media affect where people choose to eat? How much do they affect you?
- Compare how restaurants in your country treat customers versus restaurants abroad. How is it different?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of restaurants putting their full menu online? How has this affected the way you choose where to eat?
- How is the experience of eating at a restaurant different from eating the same food at home? What are you really paying for?
- Some restaurants are now using robots or tablets instead of waiters. What are the benefits and drawbacks of removing the human element from dining?
- In many cities, certain neighborhoods become known for their restaurant scenes. What effects does this have on the neighborhood — both good and bad?
- What responsibilities do restaurants have when it comes to food waste? What can be done to improve the situation?
- How do celebrity chefs and food media shape what people think of as ‘good’ food? What are the upsides and downsides of this influence?
Advanced (C1)
- What role do restaurants play in gentrification? How can they both revitalize and displace communities?
- Restaurant dress codes and atmosphere expectations often keep certain people out. Who benefits from these unstated rules, and is this ever justified?
- How do restaurant trends spread globally while still being shaped by local tastes and economics? What does this reveal about globalization?
- Restaurants are closing at higher rates than ever while new ones keep opening. What does this constant turnover say about how we eat and what we value?
- How do restaurants shape the identity of a city or neighborhood? Can a restaurant scene change a place more than the other way around?
- Social media has turned some restaurants into tourist attractions where people go more for photos than for the food. How does this change what restaurants prioritize, and is something being lost?
- Some people argue that food from other cultures gets changed so much in restaurants that it stops being authentic. But is ‘authenticity’ even possible when food has always evolved through trade and migration?
- Michelin stars and food critics have enormous power over which restaurants thrive or die. Should a small group of experts have that much influence over an industry, or should popularity be the real measure of a restaurant’s value?
- Many restaurants now promote themselves as ‘farm-to-table’ or ‘locally sourced,’ but some critics say this is mostly marketing. How can consumers tell the difference between genuine sustainability and restaurants that are just using the right words?
- Restaurants are under growing pressure to serve food faster and turn tables quicker, but many cultures treat dining as a slow, social experience meant to last for hours. How is the push for speed and efficiency changing the role that restaurants play in our social lives, and what are we giving up?