Meal Service Etiquette

 Meaning of “Serve,” “Offer,” and “Remove”


In the foregoing paragraphs the words “serve,” “offer,” and “remove” have been frequently used, and for the sake of clearness these will be explained in detail.

The waitress “serves” when she places the food, etc., serves before the guest without what may be called any cooperation on his part, beyond passively receiving it. In this way the waitress may serve the soup or bouillon, the individual plate of meat or fish, the salad, the after dinner coffee. In the dinner or luncheon à la Russe everything is served, that is, placed before the guest, by the one who waits. Such placing of dishes is done by the waitress with her right hand, while she stands behind and to the right of the guest.

Dishes are “offered” when the guest helps himself. Thus when the meat platter is passed, or the dishes of vegetables, or anything else to which the guest helps himself, these are said to be offered. Offering is invariably done from the left, so that the guest has the right hand free. The waitress stands behind and to the left of the guest, and offers the platter, or the dish on the salver, with her left hand, so that the guest may more con veniently help himself with his right.

                                         

Dishes are “removed” from the individual cover when the course is finished, and the plates have to be taken away to make room for the next. The waitress may re move from either the right or the left side, whichever is the more convenient. Thus, at a square table, seating two at each side, she will naturally prefer to remove from the ends, rather than from between the seated couple, hence she will remove from the right of one and the left of the other. The only point to be observed is that the waitress uses the hand to remove with that corre sponds to the side of the guest behind whom she stands. If she stands at his left side, she removes with her left hand; if she stands at his right, she removes with her right hand. Otherwise the process of removing a plate may be very awkward and disagreeable. See illustrations of the wrong and the right way to remove. – From the Boston Cooking School Magazine, 1923

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