Serving the Meal

Form follows function when you are serving the meal. Before you entertain, review the principles yourself and most certainly with any people you have hired to help you.

• Serve guests from the left. The utensils should be positioned on the platter in a way that’s convenient for the guest to reach them. Keep your arms close to the body to avoid banging people. The idea is to give the diner convenient access to the food.
• Starting points. The woman on the host’s right is served first. If the man on the hostess’s right is the guest of honor, he is served first. After that, service goes around the table counterclockwise.
• If a couple are guests of honor, then the wife sitting next to the male host is served first. The service goes counterclockwise and ends with the host.
• Finished plates are removed from the right side. A good trick is to use your thumb or otherwise contrive to anchor utensils to the plate so they don’t end up in people’s laps. Never scrape or stack plates while removing them.
• Wine is served and removed from the right side.