Polish phrases
for restaurants

Short answer. The key Polish restaurant phrases are Poproszę kawę z mlekiem. (a coffee with milk, please), Nie jem mięsa ani ryb. (I don't eat meat or fish) and Poproszę rachunek. (the bill, please); this page has 31 phrases, from getting a table to the bill and tipping. Be careful with Dziękuję when you hand over the money: the waiter may take it to mean "keep the change".

The café round the corner, a weekday lunch and dinner with friends are where you need Polish from your very first week in Poland. You can read a menu with a translation app, but the waiter asks questions out loud and fast: for here or to go, together or separately, is everything all right. The good news: restaurant conversations almost always follow the same script. Learn a few answers in advance and you can order on your own instead of pointing at the menu.

Below, the phrases follow the course of a visit: getting a table, ordering, special requests, at the table and the bill. They all come from Talkfirst's Polish decks, so you can practise them out loud straight away. If you're just starting out, read the guide Polish from zero: first phrases first: it covers greetings, polite forms and the reading rules.

Phrases for restaurants and cafés

Getting a table

Ordering food and drinks

Special requests

At the table

The bill and the tip

The waiter talks to you in the third person, using pan and pani: a man hears Co dla pana?, a woman Co dla pani? and a group Co dla państwa?. The payment question works the same way: Płaci pan gotówką czy kartą? It's not over-familiar, just the ordinary polite form.

Dialogue: at a café

The most common conversation is a quick order at the counter: a coffee, something to go with it, for here or to go and how you'll pay. The barista's lines come from the "At a café" scene, which Talkfirst's AI conversation partner plays out loud with you. Notice Gorąca, proszę: here proszę simply means "please", while poproszę means "I'll have", the order itself.

Tips for restaurants in Poland

Order with Poproszę… It's the simplest polite way to ask for anything: Poproszę kawę, Poproszę rachunek. Feminine words ending in -a change the ending to -ę after it: kawa becomes kawę, herbata becomes herbatę. If you want what the person next to you is having, Dla mnie to samo is enough.

Booking times use ordinal numbers. Na dziewiętnastą literally means "for the nineteenth", that is, for 7 pm. Poland normally uses the 24-hour clock, so you'll see and hear times this way in announcements and on opening-hours signs too.

On weekdays, look for the lunch set. Many restaurants offer a zestaw dnia or lunch dnia at midday: soup and a main course for one price. That's why you'll hear Jakie jest danie dnia?, the way to ask what's cooking today.

Try a bar mleczny. A "milk bar" is a cheap canteen serving simple Polish food: soups, pierogi, pancakes, cutlets. It works differently from a restaurant: you order and pay at the till first, wait until your dish is called out, then collect it from the hatch yourself. The same Poproszę… and Na miejscu czy na wynos? come in handy here. Pierogi, by the way, are filled dumplings, while cake is ciasto.

Be specific about water. If you just ask for water, you'll usually get a bottle, and it will be on the bill. Still is niegazowana, sparkling is gazowana.

The bill, the receipt and the invoice are different things. Ask for the bill with Poproszę rachunek. A paragon is the till receipt, which you should be given after paying. If your company is paying and you need a faktura, give the company's tax number, the NIP, before you pay: without it on the receipt, an invoice for the company can't be issued afterwards.

Careful with "thank you" when paying cash. In a restaurant with table service, a tip of around 10 % is usual if you enjoyed it, but it isn't compulsory. If you hand over the money and say Dziękuję, the waiter may take it to mean "keep the change". If you want to leave the change, say it plainly: Reszty nie trzeba; if you want your change, say thank you once you have it. When paying by card, tell the waiter the total including the tip before they key it into the terminal. Some restaurants add a service charge, serwis, for large groups; this is usually stated on the menu.

How to learn these phrases

There's no phonetic spelling on this page on purpose; the reason is explained on the phrasebook page. Listen to each phrase on its flashcard and repeat it out loud; the reading rules are in the guide Polish from zero. Stress in Polish almost always falls on the second-to-last syllable.

Learn whole phrases rather than single words, and swap the details. Once you know Mam alergię na orzechy, say the same about whatever you're allergic to. From Poproszę sałatkę bez cebuli you can build any order "without something". Food words are on the page Polish words for beginners, and more topics are in the phrasebook by topic, for example Polish for shopping. If you need Polish for official paperwork, B1 exam preparation is the next step.

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