Authentic Restaurants in the US where the staff speak a language other than English?

Has anyone been to a restaurant, not a fast food joint, where the staff speaks a language other than English?

I have not just curious. If so what language did the staff speak. Did it add to the ambiance? How authentic was the food?

There are a lot of restaurants like that in San Francisco…basically any restaurant that makes foreign food and is owned and operated by a family from the foreign country. But, here where we are we love to go to the taquerias. There are also great Thai, Vietnamese, and Italian restaurants in Santa Rosa that are that way, among others.

That would be cool. I know in San Francisco you can go to the Russian district and go into the bakeries and they will speak Russian to you if they don’t know you speak English. I went there with my family just after moving home from St. Petersburg and I LOVED it! I need to go back, it’s not that far away but often a chore to go to the city just for my favorite poppy seed bread LOL

I have been to one french restaurant for business in Manhattan…their waitstaff speaks in French
Chez Jacqueline located in the village…excellent food.

There are many restaurants in LA where you can definitely practice your Spanish! :)

(Not sure if that’s what you meant or not…)

There’s a great little restaurante here with a great back story. Most of it was funded by several Mexican field laborers who gathered up their $$ and put together this amazing restaurant. It’s an amazing restaurant with great food and I’m told that they’re all very successful with it now. The best part is that you can request a Spanish-speaking waiter.

Wow! I know there are a lot of restaurants in California that have staff/owners who speak Spanish and a few languages of the orient. I have never been to a French restaurant though, that would be neat!

Tina

I once stayed at a little hotel in Boucherville, Canada, ordering breakfast in French the next morning. I’m so lucky that I got what I ordered, because my French is not good.

Here in Denver, in the art district on Santa Fe, El Noa, Noa, serves Mexican fare and most of the staff members speak Spanish.What atmosphere… with the courtyard and a stage for the mariachi band. The food was terrific!

There’s also a Thai restaurant in Boston called Brown Sugar, and the wait staff there spoke mostly Thai. (great atmosphere because no cell phones were allowed) The food was wonderfully prepared. I have to return there someday!

No cell phones allowed? Now that’s a slice of heaven!

lol

Parma Restaurant in Fresno:
Look at my article for an italian newspaper:
http://parma.repubblica.it/dettaglio/Nel-ristorante-californiano-dove-si-serve-il-sapore-di-Parma/1444259?edizione=EdRegionale

In the San Francisco Bay Area there are many taquerias and mexican restaurants in which you can have a dining experience entirely in spanish if you want…most of the time people have been pretty nice about letting students struggle to get the spanish order out!

I was previously in Philadelphia….one of my italian teachers had the entire class go out to dinner to an italian restauant with native italian waiters..she knew one of the waiters, and arranged ahead of time so that we all HAD to order and carry on a conversation in italian only..let’s just say the waiter was really really patient! this was a great “mini-immersion” exercise
jeff

Jeff sounds like fun. I remember as a first semester Russian student my teacher had us take a field trip to the food court and we had to order in Russian and our classmates had to translate to the cashier what we wanted. It was embarrassing but sure made it fun and stick into our heads.

That is Great Marco V. My brother and his family live in Fresno, and my parents each live about an hour outside of Fresno. Yet I have never heard of Parma! I had no idea Fresno was so cultured, lol.

Jeff that sounds like a really great experience! I think that would be great once I get comfortable in my Spanish lessons!

For some great Peruvian food, you can go to El Rocoto in Cerritos, CA. All of the waiters do speak Spanish. It definitely adds to the ambiance. For example, I’ve been to Japanese places where all of the waiters were Korean and didn’t speak Japanese. It did not add to the “authentic” Japanese feel.

Well at least not for those who knew better, lol.