Learn Hardcore Chinese: zhè jiā fàndiàn de cài hěn hǎochī. - The dishes at this restaurant are delicious.

这家饭店 literally = “this classifier restaurant/hotel”
In natural Chinese you almost always need a measure word between a demonstrative like 这/那 and a noun:
- ✅ 这家饭店
- ✅ 这个人 (this person)
- ❌ 这饭店 (very colloquial, often considered incomplete/unnatural in standard Mandarin)

You might hear 这饭店 in fast casual speech, but 这家饭店 is the correct and safe form to learn and use.

What exactly does 饭店 (fàndiàn) mean? Is it “restaurant” or “hotel”?

Historically, 饭店 could mean an inn or hotel with food, but in modern Mainland Mandarin, 饭店 usually means:

a restaurant, often a bit more formal or sit-down style
sometimes a (big) hotel, especially in names (e.g. 北京饭店 “Beijing Hotel”)

In everyday speech:

饭店 / 饭馆 / 餐馆 → usually “restaurant”
酒店 / 宾馆 → usually “hotel”

In your sentence, 这家饭店的菜很好吃 is most naturally understood as “The food at this restaurant is very tasty.”

What does 的 (de) do in 饭店的菜?

的 links a modifier/owner to the thing being modified/owned. Here:

这家饭店 (this restaurant) = the modifier/possessor
菜 (dishes/food) = the thing possessed
这家饭店的菜 = “this restaurant’s dishes / the food of this restaurant”

So the structure is:

modifier/owner + 的 + noun

e.g.

我的书 = my book
中国的文化 = Chinese culture
学校的老师 = the school’s teachers

Without 的, 这家饭店菜 sounds ungrammatical or at least very odd.

Does 菜 (cài) only mean “vegetable”? Why is it used for restaurant food?

菜 has several related meanings:

Vegetables
- 我不爱吃菜。= I don’t like eating vegetables.
Cooked dishes (especially in a meal or at a restaurant)
- 这家饭店的菜很好吃。= The dishes at this restaurant are very tasty.
A type of cuisine / style of food
- 四川菜 = Sichuan cuisine
- 中国菜 = Chinese food

In this sentence, 菜 means dishes / food (that you order and eat), not just vegetables.

Why do we say 菜很好吃 without 是 (shì)? Why not 菜是很好吃?

In Chinese, adjectives can function like verbs (“stative verbs”). To say “X is Adj”, you usually use:

Subject + (degree adverb like 很) + Adjective

So:

菜很好吃。 literally = “The dishes are very tasty.”

You do not normally say 菜是很好吃 for a simple “The food is tasty.”
菜是很好吃 is used only for special emphasis or contrast, like:

菜是很好吃，可是太贵了。
→ The food is tasty, but it’s too expensive.

So the basic descriptive pattern is:
[Subject] + 很 + Adjective (no 是).

Does 很 (hěn) really mean “very” here? Is the speaker saying “very tasty” or just “tasty”?

Grammatically, 很 means “very”, but in this common pattern:

Subject + 很 + adjective

很 often works mainly as a linking word to make the sentence sound complete, and it does not always sound strongly emphatic to native speakers.

So:

菜很好吃。 is usually understood as:
- natural, neutral “The food is tasty.”
- maybe a slight sense of “quite tasty” but not strongly “veryyyy tasty”.

If the speaker really wants strong emphasis, they might say:

菜非常好吃。 (extremely tasty)
菜特别好吃。 (especially / really tasty)
菜好吃极了。 (tasty to the extreme)

For now, just remember: in simple “X is Adj” sentences, 很 is often required but may sound less strong than English “very”.

Can I drop 很 and just say 这家饭店的菜好吃?

Yes, you can say:

这家饭店的菜好吃。

This is grammatically correct, and often sounds a bit more emphatic or evaluative, like:

“The food at this restaurant is tasty (as opposed to not tasty).”

Rough nuance:

菜很好吃 → natural, descriptive, mildly positive
菜好吃 → can feel a bit more definite/contrastive, like you’re judging or confirming that it is tasty

In everyday conversation, both forms are used. If you’re unsure, using 很 is always safe and sounds very natural.

What exactly does 好吃 (hǎochī) mean? Is it literally “good eat”?

Yes, 好吃 is literally “good to eat,” and it means:

tasty / delicious / yummy

Structure:

好 = good
吃 = to eat

Similarly:

好喝 = good to drink (tasty drinks)
好看 = good to look at (looks good / good-looking / good to watch)
好听 = good to listen to (pleasant-sounding)

So 很好吃 = “very tasty / really delicious.”

Why is the order 这家饭店的菜 and not something like 菜的这家饭店?

In Chinese, the modifier/owner comes before the thing it modifies, linked by 的:

[Owner / Modifier] + 的 + [Noun]

So:

这家饭店的菜 = this restaurant’s food
我朋友的手机 = my friend’s phone
中国的历史 = China’s history / Chinese history

Putting 菜 before and the owner after, like 菜的这家饭店, is wrong here. That would sound more like “the restaurant belonging to the dishes,” which is backwards.

Is there any difference between 这 (zhè) and 这个 (zhège) here? Could I say 这个饭店?

这 (zhè) → “this”
个 (gè) → a general measure word

So you often see:

这个人 (this person)
这本书 (this book)

For restaurants, the natural measure word is 家, not 个, so:

✅ 这家饭店 (this restaurant)
❌ 这个饭店 (understood, but sounds less natural/wrong to many speakers)

You don’t normally use 这 alone right before a noun in careful speech; you use 这 + measure word + noun. So here:

✅ 这家饭店
❌ 这饭店 (very casual, not standard)

Why isn’t there a plural marker for “dishes” in 菜? How do we know it’s plural?

Chinese usually doesn’t mark singular/plural on nouns the way English does. Context tells you whether it’s singular or plural.

菜 can mean “dish” or “dishes” depending on context:
- 我要一个菜。= I want one dish.
- 这家饭店的菜很好吃。= The dishes/food at this restaurant are very tasty.

No -s or special ending is added. You only know from:

number words (一个, 三个)
measure words
the situation and common sense.

Is there any tone change in 很 and 好 when I say 很好吃?

Yes. Both 很 (hěn) and 好 (hǎo) are third tone, and Mandarin has a third-tone sandhi rule:

When one third tone is followed by another third tone, the first one changes to a second tone.

So:

written: hěn hǎochī
pronounced: hén hǎochī

Details:

很 (hěn) → becomes hén (2nd tone) because it’s before 好 (hǎo), another 3rd tone.
好 (hǎo) stays 3rd because 吃 (chī) is 1st tone, so no sandhi there.

Natural pronunciation: zhè jiā fàndiàn de cài hén hǎochī.

Can 的 ever be left out in something like 这家饭店的菜?

In this specific phrase, you should keep 的:

✅ 这家饭店的菜
❌ 这家饭店菜 (unnatural / incorrect in standard Mandarin)

Chinese sometimes drops 的 when:

the relationship is very tight/fixed (e.g. 我妈, 学校门口)
the modifier is short and sort of forms a set phrase with the noun

But for place/business + 的 + thing they serve, like:

饭店的菜 (the restaurant’s dishes)
学校的食堂 (the school’s cafeteria)

you normally keep 的. For learners, it’s safest to always say 这家饭店的菜.

How would I make this sentence stronger, like “The food is really delicious”?

You can replace or add to 很 with stronger degree words:

这家饭店的菜非常好吃。
→ The food at this restaurant is extremely tasty.
这家饭店的菜特别好吃。
→ The food at this restaurant is especially / really tasty.
这家饭店的菜好吃极了。
→ The food at this restaurant is extremely delicious.
这家饭店的菜太好吃了。
→ The food at this restaurant is so delicious. (often with a sense of amazement)

All of these are stronger than just 很好吃.

How would I say “The food at that restaurant is tasty” instead?

You just change 这 (this) to 那 (that):

那家饭店的菜很好吃。
→ The food at that restaurant is very tasty.

Everything else (家, 饭店, 的, 菜, 很好吃) stays the same.