Serving Soup and Etiquette Advice

When soup is served as the first course, the soup spoon will be the first utensil on the far right of the place setting. If soup is to be the second course, a small utensil (appetizer fork, caviar spoon or spreader, individual asparagus tongs) for the first course will usually be located to the right of the soup spoon. At an informal lunch setting, soup may be served and eaten alongside another type of food, like a salad or a sandwich. 

A Kindhearted Waiter – Helpful? 

Or giving unsolicited advice? 

Etiquipedia says he was trying to be helpful, and she most gracious.

A surprising experience was that of a lady who received a bit of advice on table etiquette. She is sufficiently free from vanity to tell the story herself. She says: I know that I am not a person of impressive appearance. I am inclined to be short and stout and to dress plainly. Still, I had hoped that I had an air of acquaintance with polite society. But now I shall be more modest than ever in my idea of the impression I make upon strangers. 

At my first meal at the hotel where I passed last summer, I was pleased with the face of my waiter, it was radiant with kindliness and good nature. I began my dinner with soup and fish. As the waiter set them in front of me, he glanced at the persons of fashionable appearance who were my neighbors at table. His kind heart was suddenly struck with the fear that I might make an unfortunate impression on them. He bent down and whispered in my ear: “Eat your soup first.” – Press Democrat, 1909

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia