LIFE019 · Collocations at the Table: Restaurant and Hospitality English

🍷 Collocations at the Table: Restaurant Vocabulary

Level: B2  |  Time: 5 min  |  Focus: Lexis — word combinations and collocations

📖 From Sourov’s world: As a sommelier at some of Sydney’s finest restaurants — the Ivy, Uccello, Establishment — I learned that wine vocabulary is mostly collocations. You don’t “make” a reservation, you “make” one at the restaurant. You don’t “do” a booking, you “take” one. The right verb makes the difference between sounding competent and sounding lost.

🔑 Restaurant Collocations

Verb	Noun	Example
make	a reservation / a booking	I’d like to make a reservation for two.
set	the table	Could you set the table for six?
take	an order / someone’s coat	Are you ready to take your order?
ask for	the bill / the menu	Could we ask for the bill, please?
split	the bill	Can we split the bill?
pair	wine with food	I’d pair this Shiraz with the lamb.

🍾 Wine Vocabulary (B2 bonus)

full-bodied · light · dry · sweet · crisp · tannic · oaky · fruity · complex · smooth
“This Chardonnay is quite oaky with a crisp finish.” — two collocations in one sentence.

✏️ Quick Activity

Complete with the correct verb: make · set · take · ask for · split

1. I’d like to _______ a reservation for Saturday evening.
2. The waiter came to _______ our order.
3. Excuse me, could we _______ the bill?
4. Can you _______ the table for the guests?
5. We decided to _______ the bill three ways.

👀 Show Answers

1. make   2. take   3. ask for   4. set   5. split

⭐ Takeaway: Collocations cannot be translated. You must learn them as pairs — verb + noun. “Make a reservation” is one unit. Memorise the pair, not just the word.