I am very confused. I prefer the latter, but I did saw the former in many cases.
Which one is more appropriate?
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8Not enough characters to edit, but it should either be "I saw" or "I did see".– thumbtackthiefCommented Aug 30, 2017 at 15:05
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5 Answers
Chinese restaurant is correct.
There is nothing like a china restaurant. If you have come across that, it is incorrect.
However, if China Restaurant is the actual name of an establishment, then it stays unchanged because it is a proper noun.
Examples:
We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant.
We had dinner at China Restaurant.
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3It's worth noting, too, that "China House" seems to be a common name for Chinese restaurants in the USA, so "dinner at China House" might not be unusual. I also know of a Caribbean restaurant which is actually called Caribbean Restaurant, which makes talking about a bit awkward sounding: "do you want to come with me to Caribbean Restaurant?" Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 16:15
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Minor addition, if China Restaurant is the name of a chain of restaurants (i.e. multiple locations for the same company), then it would also be correct to say "We had dinner at a China Restaurant" (similar to "We had dinner at a McDonald's"). The article is optional, but allowed if more than one China Restaurant franchise exists.– FlaterCommented Aug 31, 2017 at 15:58
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Oddly enough, native bilingual English/Mandarin speakers in Singapore use "China" as an adjective, rather than "Chinese", and so would say China Restaurant Chins girl, etc . Wrong, but common– MawgCommented Sep 2, 2017 at 21:57
When describing a restaurant, you use an adjective. Thus, the adjective Chinese describes the nature of the restaurant. Similarly Indian Restaurant, Thai Restaurant etc.
China in this usage is a noun and so is not appropriate in this type of phrase.
(Although another meaning of China is an adjective describing something made of ceramic)
There is an alternative description for restaurants that uses a noun phrase rather than an adjective. This is when a specific food is served, rather than a style of food. Examples are Burger Restaurant or Pizza Restaurant.
answered Aug 30, 2017 at 12:54
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German "Chinarestaurant" and Swedish "Kinarestaurang" both use the noun form, but only when talking about Chinese restaurants. Both use adjective forms for e.g. Indian and Thai restaurants. Languages are weird. Commented Aug 31, 2017 at 19:35
If this is a restaurant that serves Chinese food, then indeed call it a Chinese restaurant as chinese is the adjective and restaurant is the noun.
As some have noted, there are sometimes exceptions for certain food like "California wine" or whatever, but when you are talking about cuisine, the adjective form is almost always used.
Chinese is the correct one!
Because China is the place and Chinese describes the authentic food and culture of the place called China.
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4It is more complicated. Cuisines are described with the adjective form, but many food products themselves use attributives— California wine, not Californian wine, Oxford sausage not Oxonian sausage. Likewise, New York culture is somewhat different from New Yorker culture.– chosterCommented Aug 31, 2017 at 3:17
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@choster Would it be wrong to say Californian Wine or Oxonian sausage? What exactly is the difference between New York culture and New Yorker culture? For example, the definition of California Wine seems to be just wine made in California. Commented Aug 31, 2017 at 10:11
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@Trilarion My cellar is full of Sonoman Pinot wouldn't be ungrammatical, but the convention in the wine world is to use locales attributively, so Sonoma Pinot would be preferred. Sonoman Pinot would suggest that the wine was not actually produced in the Sonoma Valley region but linked in some other way, or that the speaker was uneducated about wine. Oxford sausage, on the other hand, is the name of a particular dish; it is not just any sausage associated with Oxfordshire.– chosterCommented Aug 31, 2017 at 14:34
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@Trilarion California wine would be a type of wine that is made only in California or a type that originated there, even if this particular bottle were made somewhere else. Californian wine is any type of wine that happened to be made in California. Commented Aug 31, 2017 at 14:35
Either is correct, but it becomes dependent on the clientele. Are you going there to 'eat' Chinese food...or do you need Chinese atmosphere.
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1This doesn't seem correct. In what case does "China Restaurant" mean "Chinese atmosphere"? Is there even a restaurant that has "Chinese atmosphere" but not Chinese food?– equesCommented Sep 5, 2017 at 18:22
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yes...there are plenty of diners filled with buddhas that do not know how to make stir fry in a wok. They prefer to offer hamburgers and French fries. The owners are Chinese, but they work for US dollars. Commented Sep 6, 2017 at 19:59
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sorry, but the fact that some Chinese restaurants aren't good Chinese restaurants is not reflected in the term used in English.– equesCommented Sep 7, 2017 at 13:08