Hi,

Anyone know of a good Spanish phrase to use when paying for tapas? "La cuenta, por favor" seems wrong since you're not really getting a check.

Thanks,

-- Chad

As a more or less fluent Spanish speaker, I don't understand why "la cuenta, por favor" would be inappropriate. (Then again, I have not been to Spain, and my tapas experience is limited to Spanish tapas restaurants in southern California.) How about "Cuanto es?", "Cuanto cuesta?" or "Cuanto le debo pagar?"? In any case, you'll get your point across. You're just ordering food, not mediating an arms treaty. ;-)

i've always found that the "writing a note in the air" is almost universally understood as calling for a check.

while it is not necessarily appropriate for upscale dining, it works just great in the local pizzaria or tapas bar.

subcon makes a good point with the first comment. Two things I'm really good at -- charades and getting the check -- oops, sorry, I guess those two are really the same thing the way I do it!

Chadl
"La cuenta, por favor"
"Que le debo"
Both are proper ways of asking for the check. And if you want the actual check just add "El ticket, por favor".

I will add some tips about tapas bars:

1)You fisrt ask for the drinks, while you do the thinking about what to order.
This has a double purpose, first you do the actual thinking and you take your time to see what it is on offer and what others are having, as it feels better to know that if you are going to get sick there will be others also and your case will get better medical attention.Second you have a chance to get a free Tapa with your drinks.
I will add here a brief historic note
about the word "tapa". Madrid a dusty city in the past, not so much now as ecological dust has been substitude by CO2. So whenever someone in the old days was ordering a glass of wine, "un Chato" by the way, The bartender will cover the glass with a small dish, so that the dust will not get to the wine. Once the dish was on place, the bar will offer a small piece of food, usualy the day before leftover.

2) Second step, ordering: Once you know more or less what you want order, but VERY IMPORTANT, change your mind two or three times while you are ordering, it is elegant and it shows you don't really care what you are having as far as it is good. When the waiter is a couple of meters away call him back and change your mind again. I don't recommend this late one unless you are already used to tapas ordering, remember, NOT FOR BEGINERS.
A trick I have used, by the way I am an expert, a sort of black belt for Tapas if you know what I mean, the trick is to think about the tapa you want with your drink,and then without saying it look intensively at the bartender and wait until he gets it.It is a mental connection, and it works specialy in Sevilla and no more than one item at a time.
3)Once you get your order you look severely to the waiter, with a look like, Did I order this? then after a few seconds you take it. You are not only elegant but also gracious.
4)Check time comes, and here is were the waiter or the bar owner gets his revenge to your stupidity, specialy if it is a group of 8 which have asked for 15 different Tapas and a confusing amount of beers "Cañas" and "Chatos",
No matter what you do they will charge more than what you order. So the general rule is to share the bill.
You can argue a little bit and then you may get a glass of wine off the bill, but this is not elegant.

Chadl
In the second to last sentence I mean shared the bill between your group, not with the bartender.

Interesting suggestions, Car. Does a "black belt" in Tapas mean a large than average belt, due to all the tapas you've eaten?

Car that is the funniest thing I've read all day.....but it's still early on the west coast!

LOL

I wouldn't call myself close to fluent, but I've studied Spanish 3-4 years, and I think the confusion is that Chad may not know the root of the word "cuenta" or what it really means. The use of the word "check" to mean restaurant bill is kind of an American thing, I think, and so you'll see it translated that way in traveler's phrasebooks, etc, because that's the general meaning (to Am. speaker). It's like the words "l'addition" in French. That doesn't literally mean check, either.

It just means an accounting or counting up or sum, etc., as does l'addition, and it comes from the verb contar, to count.

I would use that word also in Spanish if I wanted the restaurant bill. Maybe there's something else to this question I am not getting in reference to tapas, as I haven't been to Spain but in Spanish restaurants in other places where I've had tapas, what you owed was presented as a bill just like if you had anything else to eat.

Thanks, Car (and everyone else). I really like your suggestions. I'll have to brush up on my phraseology to get across my allergy to ham, hatred of seafood, and restricted fat diet -- that should win lots of friends in tapas bars

Christina, thanks for the etymology. That really helped. I was thinking of a cuenta as a physical (ie paper) bill. Since you don't typically receive a paper accounting in a tapas bar, I didn't think cuenta was correct.

-- Chad