As a native Dutch speaker, whenever I go out to a restaurant (perhaps one of the best pancake restaurants in town) with my non-Dutch friends, someone will inevitably turn to me at the end of the meal with a timid request: « Can you … ask for the invoice? And, before you pay that bill, find out how to order food in Dutch and how much to tip in Dutch restaurants!
While most waiters in Amsterdam will perfectly understand ‘can I have the check / bill please?’, Some diners find it more polite and appropriate to ask in Dutch.
To ask “Can I have the check, please?” say Mag ik of rekening alstublieft? ( pronounced mahkh ik də raykəning ahlstoobleeft).
For a simpler way to ask for the check, simply say to rekening alstublieft. In this case, the words mag ik (“I can [have]”) are implied, as one would say, “Please check”, in Dutch it is common practice to abbreviate the phrase “de rekening alstublieft”.
In a situation where you will have to go to the counter to pay, you can also say: Ik wil graag betalen ( ik vil khraakh betahlən) which means ‘I would like to pay’.
Mastering pronunciation can be difficult, so it is best to write down the phonetic spelling of each word and phrase on note cards and practice before leaving, and also bring them in for an update / cheat sheet.
