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When I want to take the food out of a restaurant so that I can eat it at home ( not in the restaurant), how can I ask this to a waitress? I heard people ask me " for here or to go ?" a lot, so I assumed I have to use "to go" to ask this question but I'm not sure how to use it in a sentence if I'm the one who's asking about it first.

What I came up with are those:

" Can I take out the food to go?" " Can I have the food to go?" " Can I order the food to go?"

Do they sound okay? Is there any better way to ask this?

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  • I've never heard ..for here or to go... at least in India. The commonest way to ask is (and now I think a clear way as well!) - 'Sir, here or parcel?' or 'Sir, here or take away?'
    – Maulik V
    Apr 9, 2016 at 5:17
  • A sandwich to go, please
    – Yuri
    Apr 9, 2016 at 9:39
  • @MaulikV It is common in the US.
    – user3169
    Apr 9, 2016 at 16:05
  • For the record, we say 'to take away' in England, and I believe the Scots say 'carry-out'.
    – Kate Bunting
    Oct 20, 2021 at 16:55

2 Answers 2

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Can I order the food to go?

is a very common usage. Normally you would make such request at the time of ordering, so using order is better than have.

In:

Can I take out the food to go?

take out and to go basically mean the same thing so this statement comes across as repetitive.

However, take out is often use as an adjective describing a kind of food:

Maybe we should eat take-out food tonight.

This form is usually hyphenated.

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If you are at the time of ordering, drop the "can." Remember: you are the customer, and customer is the king; that doesn't mean we will get anything for free.

However, if you want to sound more polite, use it. But I never say it.

Say:

Two medium mushroom-and-cheese pizza, two large coke. Please pack it.

Or the way you want it:

Two medium mushroom-and-cheese pizza, two large coke, to go.

Just present your list of food and say "to go" at the end. That's how it usually works.

You can also say, "can I take this away with me?"

With a hyphen, "to go" can also be used as an adjective, as follows:

Hey, can you please get me a to-go burger?

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