American working in a restaurant is expecting (8)
I believe the answer is:
awaiting
'expecting' is the definition.
('await' can be a synonym of 'expect')
'american working' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'working' becomes 'waiting' (waiting is a kind of working).
'a'+'waiting'='AWAITING'
'in a restaurant is' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for awaiting that I've seen before include "Expecting, hoping for" , "Looking for" .)