Table setting in a restaurant: familiar with etiquette

Every adult has visited a restaurant at least once in his life. Surely he was impressed by the number of different devices for food. In order not to get into an awkward situation, it is advisable to know why all these devices are needed, and to own the rules of etiquette.

Table setting in a restaurant can vary at different times of the day. The type of event also matters. It's one thing if you went to the nearest restaurant for lunch in the afternoon, when compliance with all etiquette norms is not a big deal. And it is quite another thing if you are invited to a banquet or reception on the occasion of a celebration, when full catering is observed.

Proper serving includes arranging the plates, glasses and cutlery in a certain order. First of all, in front of you you will see a plate on which you usually put a hot dish. It is called serving. Before the start of the banquet, a smaller plate with snacks will be placed on it.

To the left of the diner plates will lie a few forks for different dishes, and to the right - knives and a tablespoon. For etiquette during a meal, you should first take those devices that are on the edges. Behind the snack plate are the instruments for the dessert. To their left, they put a patty plate on which they put bread, and to their right, wine glasses for wine (white and red) and a glass for water.

For institutions where people eat and celebrate various events, their appearance is very important. It implies not only an interesting interior, but also table setting for visitors.

Serving for breakfast or dinner, the usual reception of guests or a banquet, the sequence of its implementation and the sequence in customer service is subject to certain standards. However, it is worth noting that at present standards lose excessive severity. For example, it became permissible to use colored dishes. This is especially true for national restaurants where white dishes are simply out of place (in Arabic or Chinese). A pie plate will be present on the table if bread is ordered.

The minimalist style that has touched and serving. For pre-placement use the minimum number of items.

In a good restaurant that cares about its reputation, tables are always ready to receive guests and serve dishes. This is the so-called pre-serving. It consists in preparing the hall for the reception of guests and is always carried out before the arrival of the first visitors.

Tables are necessarily covered with tablecloths, and a certain number of appliances are put on them, which will then be used in customer service.

On the tables you can see the equipment for spices, wine glasses, pie plates. Other necessary utensils will be arranged during the extra serving, depending on the dishes present in the order. Table setting will also include cutlery necessary for use in the process of eating: knives, forks, spoons.

In front of each seat is a cloth napkin, laid in a special way to serve as a decorative element. There are many ways to beautifully fold napkins. The main thing - the observance of certain conditions:

• products should be easy to unfold;
• after unfolding they should not be crumpled.

Also, tables are usually decorated with small vases with artificial or fresh flowers. Flowers, of course, should not be wilted.

Often, the waiters, removing the table after some visitors, immediately spend a full serving for others. The sequence rules of the procedure are as follows:

• cover the table with a napkin;
• serve dishes for food;
• serve appliances;
• put wine glasses and glasses;
• It is interesting to fold the napkins and decorate the table with them;
• arrange containers for spices;
• decorate the table with flowers in a vase or light candles.

Having accepted the order, the waiters prepare the table for the upcoming meal: remove the extra plates and appliances and arrange necessary for serving the ordered dishes. If necessary, the table will be served with auxiliary cutlery: butter knife, caviar spatula, special forks for oysters, crabs. For dessert, the serving will be supplemented with tongs for confectionery and sugar. In the case of an order made earlier, the guests sit at the already laid table on which there are cold snacks.

For serving dishes, there is a sequence, and the waiter is obliged to comply with this standard. Giving of dishes should occur simultaneously for all sitting at the same table.

For hot snacks there is a special portion of the dishes, in which they are prepared. Hot snacks are served in the same container, placed on a plate covered with a paper napkin.

Ordered soup is served in a nickel silver bowl on a small plate. Separately served heated deep plates or bouillon cups. Also, soup or broth can be served poured into a cup or plate. In this case, it should be put on a saucer. Putting soup to the soup is served in a special sauce-pan.

There are quite a few rules regarding the supply of alcoholic beverages. They concern both the volume and shape of glasses, wine glasses, glasses, and the sequence in which they are served, and the dishes to which they correspond.

Dinner or a banquet, as a rule, begins with an aperitif. Various drinks are used as an aperitif, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. It can be champagne, vermouth, fortified wines, wine mixes, juices. They are brought on a tray covered with a napkin.

Each drink has its own capacity. For example, for martinis, triangular-shaped wine glasses, for champagne — tall, slender glasses, for fortified wines — glasses, for wines and wine mixtures — glasses. Cocktails and juices can be served in glasses, and tubules are offered.

Then, when the meal begins, the turn of wine comes. Of the two glasses served on the table, the smaller one is for white wine, the larger one for red. The ordered wine is uncorked at the clients, the cork is put on a special saucer.

Before pouring the wine in glasses, the waiter pours a small amount of it to the owner of the table - the customer. And only after its approval, guests are served. Service begins with an older woman, then men are served, also by seniority. The procedure ends with the filling of the table host’s wine glass.

The classic table setting in preparation for the banquet is observed in almost all restaurants. Many of them, following the end of the style, use white dishes. But even with colored dishes, the holiday table looks just as good.

By the time the guests arrive at the ordered banquet in any restaurant, plates with food, in particular, with cold snacks, are placed on the served table.

In the premium class restaurant, which implies a unique interior and service, the tables are served with china, the white color of which is perfect.

The next training film will show the table setting in the Courtyard by Marriott Irkutsk City Center’s restaurant.