What does 87 mean in a restaurant?
In restaurant slang, 87 is less common than 86, but it typically refers to something that is about to run out or is in limited supply. For example, if a kitchen has only one or two servings left of a particular dish, the staff might say 87 the chicken, indicating that it’s nearly sold out. The term eighty-six is used in restaurants and bars, according to most American slang dictionaries. It is often used in food and drink services to indicate that an item is no longer available or that a customer should be ejected.