Words for restaurant


I was at a fancy restaurant that served kaiseki (懐石) and I wanted to ask the
chef

> How long have you worked at this restaurant?

I was about to use the word レストラン, but I knew that wasn't the right word. I do
know that Japanese tend to add 〜や after food to denote "a place that sells ~"
like 寿司屋 or うなぎや. But that doesn't apply to 懐石.

So what are the words for the following?

  * Western-style restaurants: レストラン
  * Cafe: カフェ？
  * Cafeteria: ?
  * Generic Japanese-style restaurants: ?

Or any other useful words for eating locations.




(この/こちらの) **お店** is the most suitable and natural word in this context. It can
be used safely regardless of whether the restaurant is causal or expensive,
Japanese-style or Western-style.

You can also use 料理店 or 懐石料理店 (see: [What is the difference between 食堂 ,
レストラン, 料理店, 料理屋 and 飲食店?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/91556/5010)) if
you really want to be specific. If you know the restaurant is categorized as
[料亭](https://savorjapan.com/contents/discover-oishii-japan/ryotei-and-kappo-
restaurants-even-japanese-would-struggle-to-differentiate-and-where-to-find-
them/) (the most expensive type), you can use it, too. But in my opinion,
(この)お店 is the most natural when you just want to say "(this) restaurant"
generically without worrying about details. See [this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/39172/5010), too.

(お is a "beautifying" prefix which isn't strictly necessary, but most people
keep it when they want to speak politely.)

**EDIT:** "Generic Japanese-style restaurants" is perhaps 和食のお店 or 和食屋, but
people usually don't imagine sushi restaurants, unagi-ya and ramen shops with
this word. If you want to refer to everything like these, you may have to say
日本の料理を出すお店全般 or something.




(この/こちらの) **お店** is the most suitable and natural word in this context. It can
be used safely regardless of whether the restaurant is causal or expensive,
Japanese-style or Western-style.

You can also use 料理店 or 懐石料理店 (see: [What is the difference between 食堂 ,
レストラン, 料理店, 料理屋 and 飲食店?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/91556/5010)) if
you really want to be specific. If you know the restaurant is categorized as
[料亭](https://savorjapan.com/contents/discover-oishii-japan/ryotei-and-kappo-
restaurants-even-japanese-would-struggle-to-differentiate-and-where-to-find-
them/) (the most expensive type), you can use it, too. But in my opinion,
(この)お店 is the most natural when you just want to say "(this) restaurant"
generically without worrying about details. See [this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/39172/5010), too.

(お is a "beautifying" prefix which isn't strictly necessary, but most people
keep it when they want to speak politely.)

**EDIT:** "Generic Japanese-style restaurants" is perhaps 和食のお店 or 和食屋, but
people usually don't imagine sushi restaurants, unagi-ya and ramen shops with
this word. If you want to refer to everything like these, you may have to say
日本の料理を出すお店全般 or something.

