dish envy 邻桌嫉妒

Dish envy is the sudden, intense longing and regret derived from watching a particularly appetizing dish being delivered to a nearby table, and realizing that one has made an inferior menu selection.

“邻桌嫉妒”就是看到一盘特别美味的菜肴被服务员端到旁边一桌而无比垂涎，同时不无后悔地意识到自己并没有点到好菜。

When we go to a new restaurant we are not familiar with, we always choose to order food we are interested in instead of those that are more delicious, which more often are delivered to a nearby table. A better solution would be to study the restaurant before going to it, checking out the popular dishes in order to avoid “dish envy”.

来到一家不熟悉的新餐厅，我们一般会点自己感兴趣的菜，而不是那些最美味的菜，而这些美味常常在邻桌和你“相见恨晚”。较好的应对之道是，在去那家餐厅之前做足功课，看看哪些菜肴人气最高，这样就不会出现“邻桌嫉妒” 啦。

Example:

Hank was eagerly anticipating his scallops when the waiter brought the stuffed pork chops to the man at the table next to him. Unable to avert his gaze, Hank began to feel the anguish of dish envy.

汉克正焦急地等待着他的扇贝。这时服务员给邻桌端了一盘夹馅猪排让他久久移不开目光。汉克开始感到强烈的“邻桌嫉妒”。