Some fancier restaurants will even bring you a dish of water to dip your hands in. However, this is usually reserved for fine dining.
Try to keep your phone off the table while you eat. It can be a distraction to keep it so close to the food.
If there isn’t assigned seating, give the guest of honor or the host the best seat at the table (usually the seat at the head of the table). Everyone else can sit wherever they’d like to. Always enter and leave the dining chair from it’s right in a restaurant and at a formal dinner. Before doing so help the lady on your right or left by pulling her chair back when she starts sitting and the pushing it in. Men in military enter the chair from left and leave from right as formal dinner is considered a parade.
The napkin is the very first thing you want to touch when sitting down. If you need to leave the table, put your napkin on the chair, not on the table. It will signal that you’re coming back and you aren’t finished with your food.
If there’s bread on the table, cut some off the loaf and offer the pieces to the person on your left before passing it on.
If you’re having food with your family, wait until the person who made the food starts eating.
If you’re just at a dinner party with friends and family, you probably won’t have to worry about multiple sets of utensils. On your left, the utensils from the outside in are the salad fork, the dinner fork, and the dessert fork. On your right, you’ll have a soup spoon, then a tea spoon, then a dinner knife.
If you aren’t eating or you’re in between courses, it’s okay to rest your elbows on the table. The no elbows rule only applies when utensils are in use.
The same goes for drinking: try to take small sips and avoid slurping or splashing your drink.
If you don’t know the people sitting next to you, introduce yourself and ask them how they know the host. That should be enough to get a lively conversation going!
If you get the hiccups and they won’t go away, it’s polite to leave the table until they stop.
If you drop any food, discreetly pick it up with your napkin. Then, ask your waiter for a new napkin.
You can cross your utensils when taking a break or pausing or waiting for more food. The tines of the fork should face down and blade of the fork should face inward. If you are using a table spoon, place it’s bowel facing up. If you are done eating, just place them side by side at 6’O clock position in UK and at 4’O clock position elsewhere. Also put your napkin on the table to the left side of your plate.
