Abstract Two hundred and eighty-five hedonic acceptance evaluations of whole meals and their components were carried out in a student training restaurant. A multiple regression analysis of the results produced the following equation linking the total meal acceptance to the component acceptance ratings: Whole Meal = 0.57 + 0.43 (entree) + 0.21 (sweet) + 0.14 (starter) + 0.14 (potato). This showed that the entree had a dominating effect in determining the overall meal acceptance. Menu item scores were partly dependent upon the customers and varied according to the age, occupation, and the frequency of visits to the restaurant. A preference survey carried out prior to the acceptance survey showed that anticipated preference scores were lower than the acceptance scores for 34 out of 36 menu items.