"여기요!" — The First Phrase You Should Learn at a Korean Restaurant

여기요! (yeogiyo!)

Picture a restaurant scene from a Korean drama. The main character raises a hand slightly and calls out “여기요! (yeogiyo!),” and from across the room a server answers “네~ (ne~)” and comes over. This short little phrase is a survival essential in Korea — you’ll use it several times a day when you eat, shop, or call out to someone on the street. Today, let’s take a deep dive into this all-purpose phrase, “여기요! (yeogiyo!)”

When do you use it?

Broken down literally, “여기요 (yeogiyo)” is “여기 (yeogi, here) + 요 (yo, a particle that adds politeness).” In other words, it’s a super-compact way of saying “Please look over here” or “There’s someone here.” You use it when you don’t know the other person’s name, or when you want to politely get the attention of someone who’s busy.

The most common setting is, of course, a restaurant. In Korean restaurants, it’s completely natural for a customer to call out “여기요! (yeogiyo!)” first to get a server’s attention. It isn’t rude at all — in fact, it’s a culture of respecting each other’s time.

Meaning and nuance

There are two key things about “여기요 (yeogiyo).”

Calling out (getting attention): for grabbing someone’s attention — “Excuse me, you over there, just a moment!”
Politeness: the “-요 (-yo)” on the end makes it softer and more polite than plain, casual speech.

It means almost exactly the same thing as the similar phrase “저기요 (jeogiyo),” but there’s a subtle difference. “여기요 (yeogiyo)” carries a strong sense of “Please come to this spot where I am,” while “저기요 (jeogiyo)” feels more like calling out to “you over there,” so it’s used more often when speaking to someone you’re meeting for the first time.

Example sentences by situation

① Calling a server at a restaurant

여기요, 물 좀 주세요! (yeogiyo, mul jom juseyo!)

When you run out of water during your meal, just raise your hand and say this. “물 좀 주세요 (mul jom juseyo)” is the relaxed version of “물 좀 주시겠어요 (mul jom jusigesseoyo, could you please give me some water).”

② When you want to pay

여기요, 계산해 주세요. (yeogiyo, gyesanhae juseyo.)

This is how you call a server and ask for the bill after you’ve finished eating. In Korea, you usually either call out from your seat or go up to the counter to pay.

③ Telling someone they dropped something on the street

여기요! 이거 떨어뜨리셨어요. (yeogiyo! igeo tteoreotteurisyeosseoyo.)

If the person ahead of you drops their wallet, you can run up and call out like this. It’s really handy for quickly getting a stranger’s attention.

Comparing polite and casual speech, and similar phrases

“여기요 (yeogiyo)” is already a polite expression, so you can safely use it with someone you’ve just met or with a server. If you want to be even more formal, you can lengthen the sentence, like “여기 좀 봐 주시겠어요? (yeogi jom bwa jusigesseoyo?, could you please look over here?)”

On the other hand, between very close friends, people sometimes drop the “-요 (-yo)” and call out casually, like “야, 여기! (ya, yeogi!, hey, over here!)” — but this is only for really comfortable relationships. Other similar ways to call out include the “저기요 (jeogiyo)” we saw earlier, and when you know the person’s title, you’ll also often hear address terms in restaurants like “사장님! (sajangnim!, boss/owner!)” or “이모님! (imonim!, literally “auntie,” a friendly way to address a female server).”

Cultural background

At Western restaurants, customers often wait quietly for the server to come, or make eye contact to signal them. In Korea, by contrast, it’s not against etiquette for a customer to call out “여기요! (yeogiyo!)” out loud. These days many restaurants have a call button on every table, but this one phrase is still the very rhythm of daily life in Korea. Scenes where actors sit down at a restaurant and immediately shoot their hand up while shouting this phrase — in dramas and variety shows — are an all-too-familiar everyday sound to Koreans.

Today’s quiz

You’re eating at a restaurant and want more side dishes. To politely call the server and then ask for more banchan, what should go in the blank?

______, 반찬 좀 더 주세요! ( ______, banchan jom deo juseyo!)

The answer is today’s very own expression, 여기요 (yeogiyo)! Now go ahead and raise your hand with confidence at a Korean restaurant.