This paper presents an ethnographic account of the culture of school meal time at Peartree Academy, with a specific focus on notions of social learning. This qualitative study is focused on a collection of interviews, observations, field notes and analyses what happens when the school organises its canteen as a restaurant. The focus moves away from the traditional realms of nutrition and explicitly introduces the notion of social learning in its informal sense through which a conceptual framework of a skills model is applied. The paper argues how the school dining hall known as the "restaurant" can foster opportunities for a form of social competence which is not necessarily "seen" but can be experienced in the social reproduction of its actors. The findings highlight tensions of control within the environment, which are said to impinge upon these social learning opportunities from occurring.