special dish vs specialty (2025)

Good day, members!

I'm a waiter and I want to recommend a dish to the guests. The dish is our best dish and is what the restaurant is famous for. Can I say "Try the marbled steak. It's our special dish." (I made this up)

I've read several posts here about "special dish" and learnt that it can mean a discounted dish, a dish available for a limited time, or a special(i)ty of a restaurant.

Is "special dish" and "special(i)ty" interchangeable in this context? I wonder if one of them is better than the other. Maybe "specialty" is better because the guests might think the dish was discounted if I said "our special dish"?

Thank you!

If the restaurant is really actually known for that dish and people come specifically for it, you could call that their signature dish.

If you are a steak restaurant, steaks are your specialty. If you are particularly known for one specific kind of steak that's famous, then that specific menu item is your signature dish.

Myridon said:

I don't think we say "our special dish" to mean either thing.
This dish is our special for today. (It's offered at a lower price).
This dish is our specialty. Of the dishes that we serve, we are proudest of this dish. The version of it we make is very good.

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Thank you Myridon! I'll use specialty then.
If "our special dish" doesn't mean our specialty, I can't say "Try our special marbled steak" if I intend to tell the guests that the steak is our specialty, right?

autumnwater said:

Thank you Myridon! I'll use specialty then.
If "our special dish" doesn't mean our specialty, I can't say "Try our special marbled steak" if I intend to tell the guests that the steak is our specialty, right?

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No, it doesn't mean that it's your specialty, just that it's special in some way.

autumnwater said:

If "our special dish" doesn't mean our specialty...

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In your restaurant context, your specialty is the dish which is most well-known and popular with your customers. It's a dish that you do well, and perhaps your restaurant is well-known because of it. In my opinion, "special dish" works as a synonym for "specialty", though we'd normally use the latter term.

autumnwater said:

... I can't say "Try our special marbled steak" if I intend to tell the guests that the steak is our specialty, right?

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You wouldn't say "Try our special marbled steak, it's our specialty", because that's too repetitive. Just omit the word "special" in that sentence and it's fine.

By the way, American English prefers "specialty" (3 syllables), while British English prefers "speciality" (5 syllables).

CaptainZero said:

In my opinion, "special dish" works as a synonym for "specialty",

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From my BE perspective that doesn't work. In a restaurant here a "special" is a dish that is not on the normal menu. I have never seen "special dish" and I could not understand it to mean "speciality".

CaptainZero said:

By the way, American English prefers "specialty" (3 syllables), while British English prefers "speciality" (5 syllables).

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See previous threads, particularly this post which is probably more accurate: Speciality - Specialty

Andygc said:

I have never seen "special dish" and I could not understand it to mean "speciality".

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I've never seen it written, but I can imagine a waiter occasionally saying "that's our (most) special dish", if he got tired of repeating "that's our speciality".

Andygc said:

See previous threads, particularly this post which is probably more accurate: Speciality - Specialty

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