CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Maid Marian’s Diner in Charlottetown may not have the United Nations of menus quite yet, but it’s getting closer.
A couple of weeks ago, the popular restaurant on Ellis Road began offering French and Mandarin menus translated from English to its customers. These are in addition to the Spanish menus that have been available since February.
The menus are bilingual, meaning that each has menu items in the alternate language as well as English. The new menus were developed to accommodate French and Mandarin customers, including international students, tourists as well as Island residents.
“We definitely understand that Charlottetown is becoming more and more diverse every year. And, we definitely want to make everyone feel welcome,” said Gabrielle Richard, the diner’s marketing co-ordinator.
“It’s been good so far. We’ve found that it is now easier, and it has fixed a bit of the ordering miscommunication,” she said.
The Spanish/English menus were developed to accommodate customers working on the Island for the summer that were more comfortable ordering in their native language. But the bilingual menus are also helpful for the servers.
“It made it easier for our customers to understand what they were ordering but there is still a barrier in communication when actually ordering. Now, with the bilingual menus, it’s much easier for our servers who only speak English to be able to understand the language or what the customer is ordering.”
Richard said the diner hasn’t seen a demand for menus in other languages, but they are open to providing those if that becomes the case.
The diner first opened on Feb. 9, 1987. In 2017, it was bought by Stephanie Drake and her husband Robert MacLellan.
