It Doesn’t Taste Good in Spanish | Kind Ways To Say It

To say food does not taste good in Spanish, you can use “No sabe bien” or soften it with phrases like “No es de mi gusto”.

You search for “It Doesn’t Taste Good in Spanish” when a dish lets you down and you still want to stay kind and clear. The aim is simple: share honest feedback without sounding rude or ungrateful.

Spanish offers several ways to say that something does not taste good, from blunt comments to gentle hints. Some phrases fit a close friend, others work better with a waiter, a host, or a colleague at a work dinner.

Core Ways To Say Something Tastes Bad In Spanish

There is no single sentence that covers every situation. Spanish speakers combine short patterns to say that food does not taste good, that they do not like the flavor, or that the dish is not for them.

• No sabe bien. – It does not taste good.
• Sabe mal. – It tastes bad.
• No me gusta el sabor. – I do not like the taste.
• No me gusta. – I do not like it.
• Está feo. – It tastes nasty / it is unpleasant.
• No está rico. – It is not tasty.
• No es de mi gusto. – It is not to my liking.

All of these can describe food or drink on the table. The verb saber (“to taste”) and the noun sabor (“flavor”) sit at the center of many such lines. The Diccionario de la lengua española explains that sabor covers the sensation produced in the mouth by what we eat or drink.

Direct Phrases For Clear Feedback

If you need a straight answer, these options work well:

No sabe bien. This line stays neutral. It states that the dish does not taste good, without blaming the cook. In many cases, the subject is the dish itself, so you might say, La sopa no sabe bien (“The soup does not taste good”).

Sabe mal. This sounds stronger. You might use it when the taste is off, the food seems spoiled, or seasoning went wrong. For instance, El pescado sabe mal hints that the fish may be wrong and deserves closer attention from the kitchen.

No me gusta. This puts the reaction on you. Instead of judging the food as bad, you say you do not like it. Language resources on likes and dislikes, such as guides for Spanish learners, often start with this pattern because it works with any object, including meals, snacks, or drinks.

Softer Phrases To Stay Polite

At a family dinner or a business lunch, you may want a soft landing instead of a blunt line. These phrases help you signal that the dish does not work for you while still sounding kind:

• No es de mi gusto. – “It is not to my taste.”
• No es mi favorito. – “It is not my favorite.”
• No estoy acostumbrado a este sabor. – “I am not used to this flavor.”
• Está un poco fuerte para mí. – “It is a bit strong for me.”
• Prefiero algo más suave. – “I prefer something milder.”

Each line keeps the focus on your personal taste, not on the person who cooked. Phrases such as no es de mi gusto appear in guides that talk about Spanish politeness, including articles on how to state dislike without sounding harsh, like the ones you can find on specialized phrase sites.

Written advice from language teachers, for instance on Instituto Cervantes, also stresses how much context, gestures, and tone influence how a phrase sounds.

It Doesn’t Taste Good In Spanish: Handling Real-Life Moments

Knowing textbook phrases is one step. The next step is using them in real settings: at a restaurant, at a friend’s table, in a cooking class, or when someone asks for feedback on a recipe.

Saying It To A Waiter Or Server

In a restaurant, clarity matters because staff needs to decide whether to send the dish back, replace it, or check food safety. You still want to stay calm and respectful. A few starter lines:

• Perdón, este plato no sabe bien. – “Excuse me, this dish does not taste good.”
• Creo que el pollo sabe mal. – “I think the chicken tastes bad.”
• El pescado tiene un sabor raro. – “The fish has a strange flavour.”

You can follow up with what you would like next:

• ¿Podría cambiarlo, por favor? – “Could you change it, please?”
• Preferiría otro plato. – “I would prefer another dish.”

If you suspect a safety issue, do not keep eating. Lines with sabe mal or tiene un sabor raro help staff understand that the problem might go beyond seasoning. Articles about the verb saber, such as a note from Castellano Actual at the Universidad de Piura, explain that this verb once meant “to have taste” before it took on the sense of “to know”.

Reacting To Home Cooking Without Hurting Feelings

Turning down food from a host can feel harder than sending back a plate at a restaurant. You may want to keep the relationship smooth even when the dish on your plate does not appeal to you. Here, softer lines help:

• Está bien, pero no es de mi gusto. – “It is fine, but it is not to my taste.”
• Gracias, aunque este sabor no me convence mucho. – “Thank you, though this flavour does not convince me so much.”
• Creo que prefiero algo menos picante. – “I think I prefer something less spicy.”
• Me gusta más el plato de ayer. – “I like yesterday’s dish more.”
• No suelo comer tanta sal. – “I do not usually eat so much salt.”

Big Picture: Saying Something Tastes Bad Without Sounding Harsh

Once you know the main phrases, the art lies in how you shape them. Three elements matter most: how strong the word is, how much you own the opinion, and how you adjust volume, facial expression, and body language.

Choosing Word Strength: From Mild To Strong

Each Spanish phrase sits on a sort of scale from mild to harsh. The table below gives a quick way to see that range at a glance.

Spanish Phrase	Natural English Sense	Strength Level
No es de mi gusto.	It is not to my taste.	Mild, tactful
No es mi favorito.	It is not my favourite.	Mild, casual
No me gusta mucho.	I do not like it much.	Medium
No sabe bien.	It does not taste good.	Medium, neutral
No está rico.	It is not tasty.	Medium, slightly negative
Sabe mal.	It tastes bad.	Strong, clear complaint
Está feo.	It tastes nasty.	Strong, blunt

Some lines place the focus on you: no es de mi gusto, no me gusta mucho. Others pass judgement on the dish: sabe mal, está feo. When you want to stay gentle, choose the first group. When health or safety is at stake, the blunt group has a clear role.

Softening Your Opinion With “Para Mí”

A simple way to lower the temperature is to add phrases that show the opinion belongs to you, not to some fixed rule. A few handy add-ons:

• Para mí, sabe raro. – “To me, it tastes strange.”
• En mi opinión, no combina bien. – “In my opinion, it does not go well together.”
• Para mi gusto, está un poco soso. – “For my taste, it is a bit bland.”

Letting Tone And Body Language Help

Spoken Spanish carries a lot through tone and facial expression. Soft volume, eye contact, and a slight smile can all help a direct phrase land in a kinder way. A stiff posture, raised voice, or eye roll can make even a mild sentence sting. It often helps to start with something positive, then add your concern:

• Me gusta la textura, pero el sabor es un poco raro. – “I like the texture, but the taste is a bit strange.”
• El plato se ve bien, aunque para mí está demasiado salado. – “The dish looks good, though for me it is too salty.”

Practical Dialogues Using “It Does Not Taste Good” Phrases

To make the phrases above feel natural, it helps to see them inside short dialogues. The scenes below show how you might use them in day-to-day talk.

Situation	Spanish Line	English Meaning
Sending back a dish	Perdón, este plato no sabe bien. ¿Podría cambiarlo, por favor?	Excuse me, this dish does not taste good. Could you change it, please?
Hinting at a salty stew	Para mi gusto, está un poco salado.	For my taste, it is a bit salty.
Turning down spicy food	No estoy acostumbrado a este sabor, prefiero algo menos picante.	I am not used to this flavour, I prefer something less spicy.
Comment on a recipe online	La receta está clara, pero el resultado no me gustó mucho.	The recipe is clear, but I did not like the result.
Warning about odd fish	El pescado sabe mal, tal vez no esté fresco.	The fish tastes bad, maybe it is not fresh.
Answering a friend	Está bien, pero no es de mi gusto.	It is fine, but it is not to my taste.

Linking Taste Phrases To Wider Spanish Learning

Learning how to say that something does not taste good fits into a wider skill: sharing likes and dislikes in Spanish. Resources on this topic, such as phrase guides and articles on likes and dislikes, often suggest practising patterns like no me gusta and me encanta with many nouns.

You can connect those same patterns to food and drink. If you already say No me gusta el frío (“I do not like the cold”), then No me gusta el sabor de esta sopa (“I do not like the taste of this soup”) follows the same grammar.

Checking Phrases Against Reliable Sources

Short online lists can miss nuance or over-simplify grammar. To cross-check meanings and usage, you can look up verbs such as saber and nouns such as sabor in trusted references. The Diccionario de la lengua española run by the Real Academia Española, for instance, sets out standard meanings for many of the words used in this guide.

The Instituto Cervantes leads Spanish language teaching around the world. Articles from university projects such as Castellano Actual, hosted by the Universidad de Piura, also comment on subtle points like how saber grew from “to have taste” into “to know”.

When you combine everyday listening with careful use of phrases like no sabe bien, and then check them against reliable references, you gain both polite lines for awkward dishes and deeper insight into how Spanish handles taste and opinion.