¿Le podría encargar un........?

[Bobbert]

¿Le podría encargar un taco de carnitas?

I heard “¿Le podría encargar un taco de carnitas?” used when ordering food at a food stand/food truck, and I am wondering if this can only be said when it’s obvious that the employee is the one who is going to prepare the food?

Does it more closely translate to “Will you please make me a..........?”

Would “¿Le podría encargar........?” ever be used when ordering food from the menu at a sit-down restaurant where it’s obvious the waiter is not going to be the one preparing the food?

Where else would I hear “¿Le podría encargar........?”

I heard that said in a predominantly Mexican/Central American neighborhood.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I don't know where else that construction is valid, but it's Mexican 100%.

Since we are afraid of using the imperative, we always find a way to go around. We use this for everyone, and we're just asking someone to do something for us.
"Encargar" should imply that someone (often a third person) is bringing something to us from somewhere else, but here it's just that we don't want the other person to feel we're authoritarian. That's why the conditional conjugation is used too.


To a house keeper: Rosita, ¿te puedo encargar que limpies la cocina, por favor?
We just mean: "Please clean the kitchen."
To the waiter: ¿Le encargo un vasito de agua, por favor?
"Can we have a glass of water, please?" (Notice the diminutive for sounding more polite.)
To the pizza delivery call center operator (where the verb is more appropriate): ¿Le podría encargar un paquete de pizza, refresco y roles de canela?
A third person is actually going to bring the thing to me from a place where I am not.

My neighbor calling the cab service: "¿Le puedo encargar que el chofer no se vaya a los edificios? Es en la calle de la escuela."
The cab drivers, for some reason, often confuse both streets (even if the address is not the same) and end up in front of a big multifamily building complex instead of her small house cluster.
So, as you see, it seems we use "encargar" as to ask someone to see that something is done.

[Bobbert]

Because of where I live, I focus on Mexican Spanish, so I'm glad to know this is Mexican 100%.

Thank you for taking the time to think of and write out such great examples. They really help me.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Anytime.