How to Order Take-Out in Japan (お持ち帰り) – Japanese Essentials

Looking to Order Takeout in Japan?

In Japan, many chain restaurants offer a takeout option on their menu. When almost everyone’s busy working, ordering takeout can be pretty convenient for the vast majority who’d like to grab a quick meal. In this article, we will learn how to order our food in a natural-sounding way.

I’d like Takeout!
Entering the Restaurant…
How to Communicate in Japanese to Order Take-out
Food Portion Sizes

I’d like Take-out!

お持（も）ち帰（かえ）りで（お願（ねが）いします）。
Takeout (please).
持（も）ち帰（かえ）り translates to takeout. It comes from the verb 持（も）ち帰（かえ）る, meaning “to bring back” or “to carry home”.

The prefix お makes the noun sound more polite. As for the particle で, in this context, indicates a mean or a method. This particle literally translates to “by”, “with”, “by means of” or “in”. It implies that you make a choice from a series of options. Here, you’ve opted for a takeout instead of dining in at the restaurant. Adding “お願（ねが）いします” makes you sound more polite. However, this phrase is often skipped by the Japanese themselves so time’s wasted when ordering food! Click here for more phrases that make you sound more polite!

What to Expect When Entering the Restaurant

When entering a restaurant you’ll often be asked:
いらっしゃいませ、こちらでお召（め）し上（あ）がりですか。(Waiter: Welcome. Are you eating in?)
Or
いらっしゃいませ、店内（てんない）でお召（め）し上（あ）がりですか。(Welcome. Would you like to eat in (the restaurant)).

召（め）し上（あ）がり is a noun coming from the verb 召（め）し上（あ）がる a very formal/honorific way to say “to eat”. Using honorifics is one of the ways staff show respect for the customer they are serving. Here again, お is added to the noun so as to sound more polite. If you are confused with the difference between お and ご, click here 

How to Communicate In Japanese to Order Take-out

If you want to order a takeout you can answer the counter staff with a いいえ、お持（も）ち帰（かえ）りで（お願（ねが）いします）(No, takeout please).
If you’d like to eat in instead, you can say はい、ここで (Yes, here) or はい、店内（てんない）で (Yes, here).
At a fast food restaurant, the waiter might ask directly if you’re ordering takeout:
店員: いらっしゃいませ、お持（も）ち帰（かえ）りですか。
Waiter: Welcome, would you like a takeout?
You can then answer : はい、お持（も）ち帰（かえ）りで（お願（ねが）いします）(Yes, takeout (please)).
The waiter will follow up asking you for your order: ご注文（ちゅうもん）をどうぞ. (May I take your order?)*
*The literal translation would be closer to “place your order”. However, the phrase here is a polite way to ask if the customer is ready to order their food.

Ordering your food is the easy part. Even if you can’t really speak or read Japanese, simply point on the menu to indicate what you want. You can use the counter つ (ひとつ (one of…)、ふたつ (two of…) etc.) to indicate the amount you want. Sizes in Japan can also be known as エス (S for small), エム (M, medium) or エル (L, large).

Food Portion Sizes

Some restaurants might use the Japanese sizing system too:
Big Sizes: 大盛（おおも）り
Regular Sizes:  普通（ふつう） (normal) or 並盛(なみも)り
Small Sizes: 少（すく）なめ (small) or ミニ (Mini)
Sounds simple, doesn’t it!
店員：ご注文（ちゅうもん）をどうぞ。
ジョン：チーズバーガーとコーラ、お願（ねが）いします。
店員：コーラのサイズは？
ジョン：エムで。
Waiter: May I take your order?
John: I’ll have a cheeseburger and a cola, please.
Waiter: What size would you like for the coke?
John: Medium.
As the context matters a lot to the Japanese, sentences can often be omitted. For example, the waiter asked for the desired size of coke, without specifying it in the sentence. In this case, he merely mentioned “サイズは?” (Saizu wa?) which was only asking for the size. As such, the intonation is raised on the sentence’s ending and we’d assume that he’d be referring to the size of coke we’d like. Check out this blog for more food sizes in Japanese!
Check out some other commonly used words below!

Vocabulary:

• ホット ー Hot (for drinks)
• アイス ー Cold (for drinks)
• ポテトフライ ー French fries
• ケチャップ ー Ketchup
• マスタード ー Mustard
• ハンバーガー ー Hamburger

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If you would like to find out more about how you can make a purchase in Japanese, check out this blog!

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