You are learning izakaya rules and ordering: you will read the scene it happens in, learn 10 words and phrases, take apart the pattern behind them (japanese counters + izakaya ordering), hear them in a conversation, rehearse them, and finish by saying one thing out loud to be graded.
An izakaya in Shinjuku or Shimokitazawa. 7pm. You're shown to a low table, you sit on cushions, and the first drink order arrives before you've opened the menu. This is the ritual.
An izakaya is not a restaurant where you order a complete meal. It's a place where you order small dishes continuously throughout the evening — the menu is a suggestion, not a sequence. You arrive and drink first. Then you eat. Then you drink more. Then you eat more. The evening has no set end time.
The stranger is shown to a low table by a staff member who says 「いらっしゃいませ！」 at the top of her voice. Everyone in the restaurant also says it — it's a chorus. The stranger is surprised every time this happens.
Before the menu arrives: 「とりあえずビールで。」 The staff nods and is already gone. A minute later: beer arrives with a small dish of otōshi — a tiny appetizer that appears automatically. It's included in the table charge. The stranger didn't order it. It doesn't matter. This is how izakayas work. Say itadakimasu and eat it.