96601
I was at a fancy restaurant that served kaiseki (懐石) and I wanted to ask the
chef

> How long have you worked at this restaurant?

I was about to use the word レストラン, but I knew that wasn't the right word. I do
know that Japanese tend to add 〜や after food to denote "a place that sells ~"
like 寿司屋 or うなぎや. But that doesn't apply to 懐石.

So what are the words for the following?

  * Western-style restaurants: レストラン
  * Cafe: カフェ？
  * Cafeteria: ?
  * Generic Japanese-style restaurants: ?

Or any other useful words for eating locations.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-11T16:43:48.310
96599
2022-10-12T03:44:41.640
2022-10-12T03:16:11.750
3310
3310
question
word-choice
Words for restaurant
"Cafeteria" on its own is simply 食堂, but a cafeteria-style restaurant could
also just be called ファミリーレストラン (with maybe a 食べ放題 at the beginning).

A Japanese-style restaurant is (most?) commonly お食事処. I have never been to
one, so I can't describe it from experience, but these probably serve the more
traditional Japanese food. This [chigai.site](https://chigai.site/9740/) entry
says they can often serve 懐石料理, so this may be closest to what you're looking
for.

And while definitely not the word for your context, there are also 立ち[食]{ぐ}い
"restaurants", though these are often little more stalls/storefronts that are
standing-room only (hence the name), accommodating little more than a few
customers at a time. #IYKYK

One final thought as related to you question: keep it simple! Instead of
fumbling for the correct word for "restaurant", why not simply ask the chef, "
_How long have you worked **here**?_". My ¥2...
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-11T17:19:28.957
96600
2022-10-12T03:44:41.640
2022-10-12T03:44:41.640
78
78
96599
answer
(この/こちらの) **お店** is the most suitable and natural word in this context. It can
be used safely regardless of whether the restaurant is causal or expensive,
Japanese-style or Western-style.

You can also use 料理店 or 懐石料理店 (see: [What is the difference between 食堂 ,
レストラン, 料理店, 料理屋 and 飲食店?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/91556/5010)) if
you really want to be specific. If you know the restaurant is categorized as
[料亭](https://savorjapan.com/contents/discover-oishii-japan/ryotei-and-kappo-
restaurants-even-japanese-would-struggle-to-differentiate-and-where-to-find-
them/) (the most expensive type), you can use it, too. But in my opinion,
(この)お店 is the most natural when you just want to say "(this) restaurant"
generically without worrying about details. See [this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/39172/5010), too.

(お is a "beautifying" prefix which isn't strictly necessary, but most people
keep it when they want to speak politely.)

**EDIT:** "Generic Japanese-style restaurants" is perhaps 和食のお店 or 和食屋, but
people usually don't imagine sushi restaurants, unagi-ya and ramen shops with
this word. If you want to refer to everything like these, you may have to say
日本の料理を出すお店全般 or something.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-11T19:52:09.553
96601
2022-10-12T01:10:04.463
2022-10-12T01:10:04.463
5010
5010
96599
answer