美國的酒大致可分為啤酒、雞尾酒、威士忌和葡萄酒。啤酒有淡啤酒和啤酒之別；包裝采用瓶裝、聽裝和壺裝。雞尾酒和“混合飲料”含有很濃的酒精成分，飲用方式一般有加冰和不加冰兩種，其配制方式各種各樣。威士忌也是一種烈性酒，而且呈油狀，分為黑麥威士忌和蘇格蘭威士忌。葡萄酒分為紅、白兩種，但值得注意的是：標有“Chablis”商
標的葡萄酒并非法國所產的無甜味的白葡萄酒，而是美國加利弗尼亞州生產的白葡萄酒，該酒在美國享有盛譽。

　　Beer
　　American beer, with very few exceptions, varies from the mediocre(普通的) to the terrible. There are not many types of beer in the US—'light' and 'dark' are two terms commonly used.
　　It is therefore normal to order beer simply by brand name. In a restaurant, in fact, it is quite all right to order 'a beer', and they will tell you what they have.
　　It is not necessary, either, to specify quantity when ordering beer. If it comes in bottles or cans, you will get a bottle or can, and if it's 'on tap'(可以隨時取用的) you will get a glass, unless you order a 'pitcher'(有嘴和柄的大酒罐 i.e.a jug). The latter is very convenient thing to do, since you can then take the jug and glasses to your table and keep filling up without going back to the bar. (It is harder, however, to know how much you have drunk.)
　　Some beer comes in bottles with tops that look as if they need an opener, but you can, in fact, screw(擰開) them off by hand—though you have to be very careful not to hurt yourself. It is possible, in some stores and bars, to find a wide selection of beer from all over the world, especially Western Europe and Australia, and it is good fun to experiment with these.

　　Cocktails
　　Cocktails and 'mixed drinks' are much more popular and rather stronger in the USA than in Europe, and visitors may not be familiar with some of the terminology(術語). 'On the rocks', as you probably know, means with ice, while 'straight up' or 'up' means neat and without ice.
There are hundreds of different cocktails, and there is no space here to list all the different names.

　　The Hard Stuff
　　In America 'whiskey' means bourbon(一種烈性威士忌酒，最初為美國肯塔基州Bourbon地區所產) unless otherwise indicated. Bourbon is a rather oily spirit made from maize(玉米). Rye(黑麥威士忌酒) whiskey is called 'rye' and Scotch whiskey 'Scotch'.

　　Wine
　　In bars wine can often be bought by the glass. Don't be misled by names such as 'Chablis' is used to refer to white wine, and 'Burgundy' to red—Americans seem never to have heard of white Burgundy..
　
中國菜著重色、香、味， 西餐講究實惠。初到美國餐館用餐，應該注意如下事項：
1）選擇合適的餐館（如：家庭式餐館、特色餐館以及自助式餐館等）；
2）餐館營業時間（上午11：30開門營業，直到夜晚）；
3）一般都應事先預訂餐位：
4）到達餐館后，不能徑直地到餐桌旁入桌，除非餐廳有“隨意就坐”的告示；
5）付款時，別忘了留給服務員一定比例的小費（一般為實際總額的10%～15%）。
　
Eating out is one of the joy of being in the USA. The food is usually good and often excellent; the prices are reasonable ; and the service is mostly fine.

Choosing a Restaurant 選擇餐館
Some restaurants are open for breakfast; others are open twenty-four hours a day. A number of restaurants call themselves 'family restaurants'. Many of these serve no alcohol and have fairly restricted menus which include steaks, hamburgers, omelettes(炒蛋) and sandwiches, and all are at very reasonable prices. They may also serve smaller and cheaper children's portios(份餐). Note that many American restaurants are 'speciatly' restaurants . They may serve only, or mainly , steaks , seafood, etc.

When to Eat 供餐時間
Many restaurants, especially the more expensive ones, open at about 11：30 a.m.(midday, rather than 1 p.m. , is the most normal time for lunch in the USA), and some remain open until the evening, so it is possible to order a meal throughout the afternoon.
In many areas it is usual for people to leave work and go out for an evening meal at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. , than waiting until later.

Reserving a Table 預訂餐位
Eating out is rather popular in the USA. And it is often necessary to make a reservation. You will sometimes see short queues of people waiting for tables at restaurants-it's more pleasant to wait in the bar , of course, if there is one-but there queues more quickly.

Arriving at Restaurant 到達餐館
When you arrive at most restaurant, you should not just go in and sit down-unless you see a sign saying 'Please seat yourself' . Usually you will have to wait for a 'hostess' or 'captain'(領班) to escort(陪同) you to a table . Often there will be a sign that reads 'Please wait to be seated'.
Do not expect to share a table with other parties, even if the restaurant is crowed . It just isn't done.
Many restaurant have a no-smoking section, in some place by lows.
One excellent American custom is that after you have sat down your waiter or waitress will often bring you a glass or water(with ice naturally) and will keep on refilling it throughout the meal. (Most American are incapable of eating a meal without drinking something at the same time.)
When your waiter or waitress takes your order, it is not very normal for one person to order for the whole table. Each person orders separately , except in the most expensive restaurants.

Summoning a waiter 召喚侍者
You may find your waiter unusually friendly. He may ask you how you are (You're supposed just to say 'Fine'), inquire whether you have a good day and , later on say that he hopes you will enjoy your meal.
To summon a waiter in a American restaurant you may call 'Bill', or 'Mary', or 'Claude', or whatever. Waiters and waitresses often actually introduce themselves when they first come to your table or wear name tags, you are permitted to use their first names.

Paying the Bill 付款
The bill (often called the 'check') comes usually with tax added but no service chare-though some restaurant do now add a service charge. The etiquette(規矩) books say that you should leave a ten per cent tip(小費) for lunch, fifteen per cent for dinner. The tip should be calculated on the basis of the total before the addition of tax.
At many restaurant you can ask the waiter to bring the bill and than pay at a cash desk on the way out.

美國人吃午餐和吃晚餐之前通常要喝點雞尾酒，但在加利福尼亞州，人們大都喝葡萄酒。吃主食之前，一般都要吃一盤色拉。炸磨茹和炸洋蔥圈可作為開胃食品，牛排、豬排和雞（腿）為主食，龍蝦、貝殼類動物以及各種魚類甚至包括淡水魚被統稱為海鮮。炸土豆條是深受人們喜愛而且幾乎成了必不可少的食物。另外應特別注意的一點，如有吃剩的食物，一定要打包帶回家，以免浪費。

　　Cocktail雞尾酒
　　It is quite usual to drink cocktails before lunch and dinner in America and somewhat less usual, except in California, to drink wine with a meal. You can either have a cocktail in the bar, if there is one, while you wait for a table or for friends, or you can have one served before your dinner comes. At some restaurants the waiter/waitress will come to your table as soon as you sit down to ask if you want a cocktail, and you can then drink this while deciding what to order to eat. At others, there may be a separate cocktail waiter or waitress. In this case, you do not normally order wine from him or her but from the normal waiter- or the wine waiter is there is one.
　　Do not hesitate to order Californian wines. They can be excellent and in many parts of the country are cheap.

　　Salad　色拉
　　It is usual to have a salad with your meal, and a separate plate is provided for this purpose. The normal practice in America is to eat the salad before the main course. A wonderful American invention is the salad bar. In restaurants that have these salad bars the waiter does not bring your salad. You go to the salad bar and help yourself, usually to as much as you want. This is normally done after you have ordered your meal; you eat the salad while the main course is being cooked.

　　Choosing from the Menu　選菜
　　American menus can look rather confusing at first sight, for they may use some terms which are unfamiliar to most vistors. Here are some points which may be useful.
　　Fried mushrooms, fried onion rings (洋蔥圈) and fried zucchini (小胡瓜) are sometimes served as starters (第一道菜).
　　Potatoes most often come 'French-fried' or baked. If you order a baked potato, the waiter will ask you what you want on it. The choice is butter and/or sour cream and sometimes chives (細香蔥).
　　Very often vegetables do not come automatically with the meal, and you have to pay extra for them.
　　'Scrod' (小鱈魚), 'red snapper' (嚙龜) and 'mahi hahi' are all name of fish. 'Seafood'means lobster (龍蝦), shellfish and fish, including,funnily enough, freshwater fish! Prawns (對蝦) are known as 'shrimp'.
　　American beef is usually good and often wonderful.
　　American salt and pepper (糊椒粉) pots are confusing until you realize that the salt pot may look like a pepper pot except that the salt pot's holes are bigger. Pepper is normally black rather than white. American mustard (芥末) is mild and normally eaten with hot dogs or hamburgers rather than meat.
　　And that stuff in a dish that looks ice cream is actually whipped (攪拌過的) butter.

　　Leftovers　吃剩的食物
　　You have probably heard that in American restaurants, if you can't finish your meal, you can put the remains in a 'doggy bag' and take them home. This is quite true. If you leave some meat, in particular, your waiter may ask you if you'd like him to put it into 'a little bag', or you can ask him to do this.