Menu in Spanish: words, examples and a bilingual English-Spanish menu

"Menu" in Spanish is menú, and in Spain a restaurant's full menu is usually la carta. A Spanish menu is normally split into entradas (starters), platos fuertes or platos principales (main courses), postres (desserts) and bebidas (drinks). The words change between Mexico and Spain, so write for the customers you actually serve. If your restaurant is in the US, the simplest setup is a bilingual menu: English dish names with the Spanish name underneath, and a language button that switches the rest of the menu to Spanish.

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Spanish menu words: Mexico and Latin America vs Spain

Cooking words you'll use often: a la parrilla (grilled), frito (fried), al horno (baked or roasted), asado (roast), empanizado (breaded, in Mexico; rebozado or empanado in Spain), picante (spicy), sin gluten (gluten-free), vegetariano (vegetarian).

How to write a menu in Spanish

• Use the accents. Menú, jalapeño, pequeño, limón. Without them some words read differently, and customers notice.
• Sentence case, not Title Case. Spanish capitalizes only the first word of a dish name: Pechuga de pollo a la parrilla, not Pechuga De Pollo A La Parrilla.
• Make adjectives agree. The ending follows the noun: pollo frito, but papas fritas; pan tostado, but tortillas tostadas.
• The dish comes first. Spanish puts the main ingredient before the description: Tacos de pescado (fish tacos), Sopa de tortilla (tortilla soup).
• Keep dish names that are already Spanish. Tacos al pastor, tres leches and horchata don't need translating, in English or Spanish.
• Prices follow the country. The US and Mexico write prices with a decimal point (US$12.50, $120.00). Spain and Argentina use a decimal comma (12,50 €; $ 4.500 in Argentina, where the point separates thousands).

Example: an English and Spanish menu section

A short sample for a US grill with Mexican dishes, written in Mexican Spanish.

Writing for Spain instead? Papas fritas becomes patatas fritas, pastel becomes tarta, and platos fuertes becomes platos principales.

Who needs a Spanish menu

Your own menu has 0% commission on every Menuthere plan, whatever language customers read it in.

Set up a Spanish menu in Menuthere

There are two ways, and most US restaurants use both.

1. Add Spanish names under your dishes (every plan). Edit Grilled chicken breast in Menu, tap Add secondary name and type Pechuga de pollo a la parrilla. It sits on a second line under the English name, in the layouts that show it, and on the cart and order. That's a bilingual menu, even on Free.
2. Offer Español on the language button (Lite). In Settings → Store details → Currency & Language, enable Offer other languages and choose Español. Customers who pick it read the rest of the menu in Spanish, translated automatically.
3. Set the opening language. If most of your customers read Spanish, set Primary language to Español. Anyone can switch back, and their choice is remembered on their next visit.
4. Read the Spanish menu on your phone. Machine translation can misname a dish. If one reads wrong, rename it in plain English ("Grilled chicken breast" rather than a house nickname) so it translates cleanly.

Two things to know about Spanish:

• Your Spanish second name doesn't replace the dish name. Spanish uses the same alphabet as English, so Menuthere can't tell the two apart. On the Spanish menu, customers see the translated dish name with your Spanish name on the line below. For languages with their own script, such as Arabic or Japanese, the second name takes over.
• There's one Spanish. The menu is translated into a single, general Spanish, not Mexican or Spain Spanish. If regional words matter (papas or patatas), put them in your second names, which show exactly as you typed them.

Spanish menu checklist

• One variety of Spanish across the menu (Mexican or Spain), matching your customers.
• Accents and ñ on every word that needs them.
• Sentence case for dish names.
• Spanish second names on your best sellers.
• Allergens and calories tagged on each dish, so they don't depend on translation.
• A Spanish speaker on your team has read the menu on a phone.

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