HOW TO ORDER FROM THE MENU’ in an Italian Restaurant

The best aspect of your travel to Italy, that comes with cultural visits, art museums, and architectural masterpieces, is Italian restaurants. Food is in fact the one reason for booking an international flight for many of you, I know. And after spending many years abroad, and most recently in the US, I totally get it! hahaha.

I imagine you packing your luggage (btw, if you need advice for what to pack and what you shouldn’t forget, check out my post here) and anticipating that wonderful moment in which you will take your seat at the table of a real Italian restaurant (not the ones in your home country that are supposedly Italian, but always feel a bit “mixed culture” – LOL).

You will then be welcomed by a kind waiter/waitress who will hand you a menu. Here, your daydream gets interrupted by the pragmatic question… “How do I order from a menu in an Italian restaurant?” I know, it can be challenging, especially if you don’t speak or understand a single Italian word.

No need to panic, anyway, as you landed in the right place. Keep on reading and I will help you feel better, if not absolutely confident, about ordering your most desired food in an Italian restaurant.

Ordering from a menu in an Italian restaurant can be a delightful experience, especially if you know what to expect and how to navigate the various courses. Italian cuisine is famous for its simplicity, fresh ingredients, and genuine flavours. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you confidently order your meal and enjoy the authentic taste of Italy.

Table of Contents

• Italian restaurant: Understand the Menu Structure
• Italian restaurant: Choose Your meal composition
• Italian restaurant: Antipasti
• Italian restaurant: Primi
• Italian restaurant: Secondi
• Italian restaurant: Contorni
• Italian restaurant: Dolce
• Italian restaurant: Now you are ready

Italian restaurant: Understand the Menu Structure

Italian menus are typically divided into sections (see one here), as we usually eat a sequence of dishes rather than a unique, single dish with everything inside. Normally, in our menus, you will find:

• Antipasti (Appetizers): Small dishes to start your meal, like affettati (cold cuts), caprese (red tomatoes, mozzarella, oregano and olive oil), mixed fish salad or small vegetables dishes.
• Primi (First Courses): Usually pasta, risotto, or soup dishes.
• Secondi (Second Courses): Main courses, often meat, fish, or poultry.
• Contorni (Side Dishes): Vegetables or salads served alongside the main course (in some Italian restaurant the main course can include a side dish, so you won’t need to order it separately).
• Dolci (Desserts): Sweet treats like a slice of cake, gelato, or panna cotta.
• Bevande (Drinks): Wine, beer, water and other beverages.

Don’t freak out here (LOL): we never eat every dish in the same meal, unless it’s a wedding, a celebration, or something very special. In normal life, even when on holiday, we select our meal composition.

Italian restaurant: Choose Your meal composition

A normal meal in an Italian restaurant can be made from a different combination of the list of categories that you’ll see on the menu. For example, you can have an antipasto and a primo; or an antipasto and a secondo; you can have a primo and a contorno or a secondo and contorno; if you feel very hungry, you might want to order a primo and a secondo with contorno.

If you are used to big portions, like in the US, you will notice that in Italy we have smaller quantities of food in every single dish. This is to avoid food waste, which is so painful, but also because we don’t usually share dishes at the table. Every single person orders for themselves; what we normally do is to offer a taste of our dish to the others, if we want, but we don’t order a dish to share, as it can be commonly done in the US.

Italian restaurant: Antipasti

Antipasti are designed to stimulate your appetite without filling you up. Antipasto literally means “before the meal“. Popular choices include olives, cured meats, or a small plate of seafood or vegetables. Generally, you will find a lot of interesting uncommon dishes as antipasti that are not always proposed in the foreign “Italian restaurants”, (where you get a lot of lasagne). Therefore, as you will be in Italy to meet our culture and authentic Italian cuisine, my suggestion is to try as many antipasti as you can.

One of the main misunderstandings of our culture is bread with olive oil. Despite you having seen that in many of the “Italian restaurants” in your country, that is not an Italian thing. We don’t have pieces of bread with olive oil on top (even less with balsamic vinegar) as a starter. Therefore, please, don’t ask for it if you don’t find it on the table; also, this can be a way for you to spot if you are in a touristy place (where they are forced to offer what the tourists expect even if it’s not authentic) or an authentic Italian restaurant.

Italian restaurant: Primi

The primo (literally, “first“) is the first course, considering the antipasto as not being a real dish. Often it can be the heart of your meal, if you are not up for a main dish after it. Primo features pasta, risotto, or soup. If you’re unsure which pasta to try, you can ask the waiter for recommendations. My suggestion is to try something that you normally eat in your home country and focus on how much different it tastes.

After doing it once or twice, I would suggest you to try as many and different pastas as you can. Regional specialties, are my go-to when travelling around Italy. I know, you are a foreigner so, how can you understand what is regional and what is not? Don’t worry, I have your back. I’m going to write a detailed post about this very soon.

Italian restaurant: Secondi

If you’re very hungry or want a full Italian dining experience, order a secondo (literally, “second“). This could be a steak -if you are in Tuscany it’s a thick one, and it’s called Fiorentina. It can also be chicken (pollo) or pork (maiale) and they all can be cooked on the grill (alla griglia), in the oven (al forno), roasted (arrosto) either in the oven or in a pan, or breaded and fried (impanato). Our list of meat can easily include rabbit, duck, turkey and lamb.

If you are in a seaside destination, don’t miss our fish. The way we cook it is so different from the anglo countries (US, UK, Australia). We say pesce for fish, but the word pesce as a food here in Italy, also includes crustaceans and shellfish. As a secondo in an Italian restaurant you can have a full fish cooked in the oven or fried in a pan or a grigliata mista di pesce (mixed grilled fish and crustaceans) or a fritto misto di pesce (mixed fried fish, crustaceans).

Keep in mind that secondi are not to be considered as your main courses, therefore they are usually smaller portions than you might expect if you think of it as a main.

Italian restaurant: Contorni

The Contorni (literally “frames / something that stays around“) complement your secondo, but can also be ordered separately and eaten after the primo. Normally in Italian restaurants, you can choose from sautéed greens, roasted potatoes, or even a simple green salad.

In some restaurants, especially for lunch, you can have an insalatona (literally “big salad”), which is a salad similar in size and ingredients to the US salads. It is a piatto unico here (single dish) which means that it is the only dish that you eat for lunch.

Still, despite the fact that it is a big dish, you normally don’t share it with your table. However, sometimes we can share our contorno with our table (especially french fries).

Italian restaurant: Dolce

The Dolce (literally “sweet“) also called dessert is something that we don’t eat daily, but as you will be on holiday, I feel you will want to add a dessert at the end of all your meals, which is perfectly fine (just remember to leave a little space for it). Italian desserts are a wonderful way to end your meal. We have a big tradition and regional desserts are all different and incredibly delicious.

Among our desserts I feel that tiramisù is the least interesting, the least artistic and the least “treat”. I know that abroad it is a classic, but, as I suggested before, take advantage of being in an Italian restaurant in Italy to really try different flavours, not only the ones that you are used to or that have a name that resonates with you.

Please, stop ordering tiramisù as a dessert, especially if the waiter/waitress just spelled out to you a long list of amazing different choices… If you’re unsure, don’t hesitate to ask the waiter. They will be so delighted to see a traveller who is genuinely interested in our varied cuisine and happy to help you choose the dolce that suits your taste.

I would say the same thing about gelato, which in Italian restaurants is normally offered to children. When we are not kids any more, we eat a dolce (cake, pastries or pudding) at the end of a meal, and we can have gelato in the afternoon while strolling in the main pedestrian street downtown. Of course, this is not a rule, and you might see Italians eat a gelato at the end of a meal, and I have nothing against it. I am here just trying to help you live a cultural experience, rather than going home only able to compare the 100 ice creams or tiramisù that you tried on vacation.

You can normally pair your dessert with an espresso or drink it after. Please don’t order a cappuccino at the end of your meal, that’s one of the five huge mistakes you don’t want to make during your holiday in Italy (if you are curious to know the other four mistakes to avoid, see my detailed post about it here).

If you are into Italian wines, and you are in a medium-high level restaurant, you can order a glass of dessert wine or passito (aged dessert wine) with your dolce. After the dolce and possibly the caffé (espresso) you can order an amaro (herbs-based alcoholic drink) or a limoncello.

Italian restaurant: Now you are ready

I am sure that, after carefully reading all my suggestions, you will feel more confident, and will enjoy ordering from a menu in an Italian restaurant, making for many memorable dining experiences. If you still have any doubts about how to say things and what words to use, I have written a post about the most useful words and expressions for food and drinks that you need in an Italian restaurant.

At the end of the day, ordering from a menu in an Italian Restaurant is not just about the food; it’s about savouring the culture and tradition. Take your time, enjoy each course, and appreciate the flavours!