Startling Different Restaurant

Looks fine on the outside

Last week, I was astonished by the various differences between American and Japanese restaurants. Some of my group members and I went to Rock City Grill, which is an American Italian restaurant, to learn about American restaurant in Conversation class. First, we had to wait until the waiter came to our table to decide what we wanted to order. In this case in Japan, we always call the waiter, but it is rude in America. I felt it was a long time until waiters come to our table and I wanted them to come sooner, because I am used to Japanese restaurant. I thought Japanese, of course including me, are impatient. This is one thing difference between restaurants in the USA and Japan.

The second surprising difference is the meal. I could choose light and normal size. I ordered light size, but the meal I was served was too big. Maybe that size is large in Japan. I thought I could not eat all the meal, but there are extremely useful things in American restaurants. One is a doggie bag!!! A doggie bag is for taking out the leftover food we do not eat. We do not have such a custom in Japan. If you ask the waiter to wrap the meals, they would do it. We can take out like this. It is an excellent custom in America, because we can reduce garbage. I like this custom. I want Japan to incorporate this custom in Japanese restaurants.

A third difference is payment. It was in troublesome for me at the restaurant in downtown Spoken, because how to pay is entirely different than Japan. The common payment style in America is putting the payment on our table, and waiters come to get it. We don't have to pay at a cash register like we do at Japanese restaurants. We also have to pay tips in America. We do not have this custom in Japan. Generally, we pay 10~15% of the total prices. If you like your waiter attitude, you could pay more. I felt American don' t care very much about small change, because most of them pay by credit card.

Through this experience I could learn plentiful differences between American restaurants and Japanese restaurants. Now I can eat meals at the restaurant without difficulty.