Suppose you are in a restaurant with a friend. You are going to have pizza. You ask your friend, "How about you?"

Can "What about you?" be used as well?
Google search yeilds more examples of "how about you?"

Any difference?

Apple

"How about" and "what about " are very similar, and can often be used interchangeably. For example, when making a suggestion about participating in an activity you could say:

"How about tennis today?" or "What about tennis today."

However, in this case, in the restaurant, you are not suggesting an activity, but instead, you want to find out what the person wants. In this case, "How about you" is the better phrase. The Collins COBUILD*'s entry for "how about you" is:

"¢ If you ask someone 'How about you?' you are asking them what they think or want.

In the context of ordering in a restaurant, this would be perfect.

There is no entry in this dictionary for "what about you" to ask a person's preference.

Rachel
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*Collins COBUILD English Dictionary. HarperCollins. 1995

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rachel, Moderator,