Intermediate 29: Self-Service Restaurants

Língua da Gente - Portuguese Podcast: Dialogs

Have you ever been to one of those restaurants where you pay by weight. They are extremely popular in Brazil. However, the question in today’s lesson is whether or not is makes sense to pay for food by weight. Some think it’s convenient and logical, others find it inconvenient and illogical. Either way, we learn some great Portuguese verbs to talk about the self-service restaurants.
Dialogue
A: Sabe o que eu detesto, restaurante que tem comida a quilo.
B: Por quê que não gosta? Sempre achei que os restaurantes self-service são bem convenientes.
A: É que o fator que determina minha comida deve ser o sabor e não o peso.
B: Entendo, eu já escolhi uma salada quando de verdade eu queria a lasanha, porque a lasanha pesa mais.
A: Exato, a ideia que lasanha pesa mais e daí custa mais, está errado viu?
B: É, pode ser que você tem razão. E pra falar a verdade, acho que a gente acaba gastando mais nesses por quilo também.
A: Sei, agora a única vantagem é que esses de self-service têm uma boa variedade de comidas diferentes.
B: Mas mesmo assim, essa mesma variedade está no cardápio também.
A: You know what I hate, the restaurants that sell food by the kilo.
B: Why don’t you like them? I always thought that the self-serve restaurants are really convenient.
A: It’s that the factor that determines my food should be the flavor and not the weight.
B: I get it. I have chosen a salad when what I really wanted was lasagna, because lasagna weighs more.
A: Exactly, the idea that lasagna weighs more and therefore costs more is just wrong, you know?
B: Yes, you could be right. And to tell you the truth, I think that we end up spending more at these by the kilo places too.
A: I know, now the only advantage is that these self-service restaurants have a nice variety of different foods.
B: Even so, the same variety is also found on the menu.