Top 50 phrases to get by Japan: Dining out

💬 [ください] means "please give me," so [これをください] is literally "this, please." You can swap in other things the same way: [水をください] for "water, please."

💬 This wording is unnatural in Japanese for food requests; [ないでください] is usually for asking someone not to do an action. For "not spicy, please," you're more likely to hear something like [辛くしないでください] or [辛くないものをお願いします].

💬 [お願いします] is a very useful polite add-on: it softens a request without changing the main word. You can use the same pattern in lots of places, like [水お願いします] or [フォークお願いします].

🇯🇵 [お会計お願いします] is the standard polite way to ask for the bill in restaurants. In many places in Japan, you pay at the register near the exit rather than at the table.