Italian restaurants-what do you do-order everything at once or as you go?
 

During our travels I've noticed some clientele in restaurants order as they progress through their dinner instead of everything at once. Curious as to what Fodorites do and if there is a "correct" way were you to ask the Italians?

Assuming we're having dinner we order a primo and a secondi, possibly with some vegatables - depending on the dish. But we typically don;t eat a full meal - primo, pasta, secondi, salad, cheese and dessert. If we are having a larger meal we generally order the first two courses and then move on from there - based on how much food there is and how tempted we are by the other courses. Also - when ordering mulltiple courses we often share something (but not the main course).

If it's lunch we sometimes just order a pasta and a salad - and we order these at once. We sometimes even just have a pizza or stop at a sandwich shop (many of them have really beautiful sandwiches - esp love the homemade mayo).

I don't think there is any correct way. I've never thought about this but I order the first 2 course together - an antipasto and either a pasta course or a meat/fish course. Dessert is ordered after the meal. This is what I do at home and in Italy.

If not too radical a suggestion, why not try it once - and see how you get on?

A great cure for over-ordering (and whilst getting accustomed to portion sizes, maybe) however a series of dishes all prepared individually can take a while... risking that the last whatever will have gone before you ask for it!

Here, when out for an evening by ourselves, we'll order 2-1-2 straight off.... sharing a pasta and later choosing, or skipping, dessert.

But amongst Italians what happens will usually be decided by whoever's paying the bill!

Peter

We usually order the first and second at the same time and do it "family style" and share. In short, one first course and one second course. Except for the more expensive places that tend to fill the plate with decoration rather than food, sharing it is plenty for two.

The only time we don't do this is when my food finickiness (is that a word?) interferes with something my husband wants. Meaning anything with mushrooms or olives or uncooked tomatoes!

We generally order an entree and either a salad or contorno. Depending on the restaurant, portions can be HUGE and you may find little room for more. Dolce and coffee are always ordered after everything else is finished.

One things that Italians do NOT do is order coffee with dessert. Coffee is last - alone - if you want to have it.

IMHO portions in Italy are much smaller than in the US - and I don't think sharing one primo and one main course is going to be enough for most couples - unless they have very tiny appetites.

(I usually do finish my dinner in Italy - while I almost never do in the US - or come even near.)

There's no "correct" way.

Most restaurants expect you to order:

- all your savoury food at one go, then
- after you've finished that, your pudding course (if you want any), then
- after you've finished that, they'll ask you if you want coffee, infusions or digestivi.

If you've some oddity (like Americans' thing about coffee with pudding, or mine about a slice of solid Parmesan or Grana with a glass of red at the end), you've got to ask - and there's no "correctness".

In a few, unshowoffy, places - especially with short menus - they'll sometimes take your order course by course. Though this is the most civilised way of reasonably casual eating (it was the norm in all the sit-down places near our office where you'd rarely volunteer take a client to, but most clients preferred eating, and in neighbourhood trattorie near our flats), it's not really practical in some places where secondi are prepared lengthily to order. Pity, because it's not just uncertainty about your appetite: often you don't really know what second course you want till you've tried the first.

If you're unsure, it is sometimes worth saying something like "per primi,vorrei gli spaghetti. Posso decidere il secondo dopo la pasta?"

Generally, the natural propensity of Italian waiters to please, and the relatively civil relations (by the standards of the barely concealed mutual contempt in so many English-speaking or French urban places) between Italian kitchens and front of house, mean they'll agree. But not always.