Basic Table Manners - Do's & Don'ts

Basic Table Manners

Table manners are important wherever you are. They show courtesy, respect, and your desire to fit into the culture or business environment. Whether you are dining in someone’s home or in a restaurant, practice good manners until they come naturally to you.

The table setting below is fairly typical of restaurants where you may have professional meetings.

Do:

• Place the napkin in your lap upon sitting down.
• Sit up straight (comfortably, but not rigid).
• Ask your server questions about the menu (if you have any).
• Work from the outside in when in doubt about which utensil to use. The utensil will match the course being served. Follow others if you get confused.
• Use polite language such as “please” and “thank you.”
• Introduce yourself to people you do not know and speak about topics that are of common interest to the table. If you are sitting between two people, spend time speaking with each of them.
• Eat slowly, taking your cues about the pace of the meal from the rest of the people at the table.
• Ask for someone to pass an item if it is out of reach.
• Pass items across your body, not another person’s body and always pass the salt and pepper together.
• Put a piece of bread or roll and the amount of butter you will be using on your Bread and Butter Plate. Tear off a small piece of bread, butter it and then eat it. 
• Cut off a small piece and eat one bite at a time if what you are eating is larger than one bite.
• Spoon soup away from your body and sip soup from the side of the spoon without slurping.  
• Place all dirty utensils on flat serving dishes only (plates, not bowls) and not on the table.
• Loosely place the napkin to the left of the dinner plate when finished.
• If you must leave table, place your napkin on the back of your chair.
• Speak in low tones, just enough to be heard.

Do not:

• Place your elbows on the table.
• Order the most expensive item on the menu unless you are the host.
• Order alcoholic beverages unless you are encouraged by a host to do so. (Remember: you don’t have to drink it!)
• Speak on your cell phone at the table or speak with your mouth full.
• Begin eating until everyone has been served (unless each person without food gives permission for you to start).
• Season your food until you taste it.
• Blow on your food (let it cool naturally).
• If you must remove an item of food from your mouth, discreetly remove it the way you put it in your mouth (if possible).
• If you need assistance from a server, catch his/her attention discreetly and ask your question quietly, or excuse yourself and seek out a server away from the table.
• Ask for a “doggie bag.”

http://www.brandeis.edu/hiatt/howto/mindyourmanners/index.html