How to Order Food at Restaurants

This month, we’re exploring health and wellness strategies. This week, we are eating well and enjoying food. So far we’ve checked out healthy foods we loved and identified some cooking skills we want to learn. But today, we’re going to think through how to order food at restaurants.

This seems obvious, right? Like, you just…. Get what you want, right? WRONG. I thought I knew how to order food at restaurants until I dined with a few people (these happen to be amazing people still in my life--and maybe I had to keep them around because I respect their food choices). My girlfriends and I go to On the Border with a STRATEGY. This strategy might involve several orders of guacamole life, rice and beans a la carte, and lots of tortillas with honey and butter. But ordering a lot of all of the same food is a surprising joy to share together. 

My other half and I also have a strategy for ordering fast food. If we’re making the rare choice to hit up a drive through, we skip combo meals and instead order the family meal or multiples of individual entrees that will keep in the fridge. Think a dozen tacos or four chicken sandwiches with a large mac and cheese. I’ll sometimes sub in leftover veggies as a side and have a meal, or sometimes I just snack on them over the course of a few days. 

Either way, I’ve realized that the purpose of ordering food at restaurants shifts if we’re eating in community with others. Sometimes we want to savor the moment and talk about how delicious the shared meal is with each other. Sometimes we want to snack and watch football.

When I order at a restaurant alone, I want to eat delicious food that doesn’t leave me feeling heavy after the meal. I look for the option with the leanest meat and the most vegetables. My biggest takeaway from being a vegetarian for a decade (I haven’t been for about a year and a half now) is that you can substitute items from other dishes on the menu to make it fit your dietary needs. So right now, if I see a salad that looks really delicious but I would rather have grilled chicken than bacon because it just fills me up better, I can scan their menu to see if they offer grilled chicken elsewhere and ask if they’ll sub it in. I have had literally one negative experience asking for food accommodations when ordering at restaurants--because I’m nice. I also make sure I tip well, because it is more effort to make sure an order with subs comes out correctly. Take care of the people who take care of you.

So if you’re going to order from a restaurant, think of what you really want from that experience, think of what your overall goals are with eating at the moment, and proceed creatively! You can do it, I can help.

​I would love for you to share about any ridiculous food orders you make on Instagram or Twitter and tag the show @nowthatimnotyourteacher. If you haven’t left a rating and review on your podcasting app of choice, I would really appreciate your taking two minutes to do so--it helps others find the show faster. I’ll be back tomorrow to talk about staying inspired with your cooking.