To order food in Korean, get the staff's attention — press the table call button or call out yeogiyo (여기요), "over here!" — then name what you want and add juseyo (주세요), "please give me." So "bibimbap juseyo" means "bibimbap, please." That one pattern, plus a few table words, handles almost every meal in Korea.
Korean restaurants are fast, loud, and friendly, and nobody hovers at your table. Here is the whole arc, from the door to the check.
Walking in
The welcome comes first: eoseo oseyo (어서 오세요), "welcome!" You do not need to answer it. Then someone asks how many are in your party, and you hold up the number in words.
두 명이요
du myeong-iyo
Two people
여기요
yeogiyo
Excuse me! (calling staff)
이거 주세요
igeo juseyo
This one, please
Getting the server's attention
Here is the thing that surprises first-timers: you are supposed to call the server. Many tables have a little call button — press it and someone appears, no waiting, no hovering. Where there's no button, a clear "yeogiyo!" across the room is completely normal and completely polite. It is not rude; it is how it works.
Once they arrive, point and order. Igeo juseyo (이거 주세요) — "this one, please," with a finger at the menu or the neighboring table's dish — is a full, polite order all by itself.
Korean BBQ, step by step
At a barbecue place, meat is ordered by the portion, and portions are counted with Sino-Korean numbers plus inbun (인분), "servings." Two orders of pork belly is samgyeopsal i-inbun.
삼겹살 이인분 주세요
samgyeopsal i-inbun juseyo
Two portions of pork belly, please
이거 더 주세요
igeo deo juseyo
More of this, please
물 어디예요?
mul eodiyeyo?
Where's the water?
The staff often grill for you, or start the first round and hand you the tongs and — yes — scissors, the normal tool for snipping meat. When it's ready, wrap a piece in a lettuce leaf with a dab of sauce. That little parcel is called ssam (쌈), and the rule is to eat it in one bite.
Two habits mark a thoughtful guest: bookend the meal with gratitude. Say jal meokgesseumnida (잘 먹겠습니다), "I'll eat well," before your first bite, and jal meogeosseumnida (잘 먹었습니다), "I ate well," as you leave. It's the closest thing Korea has to a tip — and it costs nothing.
Water, banchan, and the check
Two things at almost every table are free. Water is often self-serve — look for a station with cups and a dispenser rather than waiting to be poured. And the little dishes that arrive unasked, the banchan (반찬) — kimchi, seasoned greens, pickles — are free side dishes, usually refillable. Want more? Igeo deo juseyo, "more of this, please." Our Korean food words guide decodes what's actually in those dishes.
When you're done, you pay at the counter by the door, not at the table.
잘 먹었습니다
jal meogeosseumnida
I ate well (said on the way out)
계산서 주세요
gyesanseo juseyo
The check, please
카드 돼요?
kadeu dwaeyo?
Do you take cards?
Hand over cash or a card at the register — and remember, there is no tip to add, at the counter or anywhere else. Our guide on tipping in Korea explains why the number on the bill is the whole number.
Keep learning Korean
Order once and the nerves vanish; the pattern is always the same. Practice the full menu with our free Korean food and dining phrases, then rehearse them out loud with audio and spaced repetition in the Pretalk app so "juseyo" rolls off before you reach the front of the line.
