Quick answer
Un café con leche, por favor. La cuenta, cuando pueda.
A white coffee, please. The bill, when you can. Ordering in Spanish is shorter than in English — one noun and por favor is enough.
The words of this lesson
Sitting down: the first thirty seconds
The waiter comes over and says ¿qué van a tomar? You do not need a full sentence. Un café con leche, por favor is a complete, polite order. If you want to sound more formal, use para mí, una caña or ¿me pone un café, por favor? — literally "would you put me a coffee", which is what people actually say in Spain.
Avoid quiero on its own. Quiero un café is grammatically fine but sounds blunt, like "I want a coffee". Querría or me pone lands much better.
The menu has a shape
A Spanish lunch menu is built in courses: el primer plato (often soup, salad or vegetables), el segundo plato (meat or fish), then el postre. A menú del día bundles all three with bread and a drink for one price on weekdays, which is the cheapest way to eat well.
Useful asks while you read it: ¿qué me recomienda?, ¿lleva carne? (does it contain meat?), soy vegetariano / vegetariana, soy alérgico a los frutos secos (I am allergic to nuts).
Paying
Ask with la cuenta, por favor or, more softly, ¿nos trae la cuenta, cuando pueda? In Spain the bill does not arrive until you ask; the waiter leaving you alone is politeness, not neglect. ¿Se puede pagar con tarjeta? asks whether cards are accepted.
Tipping is small and optional — rounding up or leaving a euro or two is normal, and there is no percentage expected.
Where you are matters
A small draught beer is <span class="es-inline">una caña</span> in Spain, <span class="es-inline">una chela</span> in Mexico and <span class="es-inline">un chopp</span> in Argentina. Free tapas with a drink are normal in Granada and León, rare elsewhere.
Memory trick
One noun plus por favor is a complete order — you never need a full sentence.
A short dialogue
Typical mistakes
Quiero tener un café.
Un café, por favor.
Spanish does not use tener for ordering, and quiero alone sounds abrupt. The bare noun with por favor is the natural form.
Puedo tener la cuenta?
¿Me trae la cuenta, por favor?
"Can I have" translated word for word does not work. Spanish asks the waiter to bring it with traer or poner.
Un agua con gas fría.
Un agua con gas fría, por favor.
Agua is feminine but takes un for sound reasons; the adjective still goes feminine, so it is fría, not frío.
Practice
Practise these food and ordering
0/8 matched — tap a Spanish word, then its translation
Check yourself
How do you politely order a coffee?