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TableTact

Dining Guide / Table Setting

Reading a Place Setting

A full-course setting is a map of the meal, laid out in the order the courses arrive. Here’s what each piece is and where to find it.

Try what you’ve read in questions based on real dining situations. · 5 min

Practice: A Well-Set Table
Top-down view of a full-course setting: charger and napkin in the center, two forks on the left, bread plate and butter knife at upper left, two knives and a soup spoon on the right, dessert spoon and fork across the top, water and wine glasses at upper right.
  1. Bread plate — Your bread plate is always at your upper left.
  2. Butter knife — Rests on the bread plate; use it to butter your bread.
  3. Dessert spoon — Handle points right. Bring it down to your right at dessert.
  4. Dessert fork — Handle points left. Bring it down to your left at dessert.
  5. Fish fork (outer) — Fish comes before meat, so its fork sits on the outside.
  6. Meat fork (inner) — For the meat course that follows the fish.
  7. Charger and napkin — The center of your place. Unfold the napkin onto your lap once seated.
  8. Meat knife (inner) — For the meat course. The blade faces the plate.
  9. Fish knife (outer) — Made for lifting and flaking fish rather than cutting.
  10. Soup spoon — Outermost on the right. Soup needs no fork, so it appears on the right only.
  11. Water glass — The glass directly above the knife — go by position, not size.
  12. Wine glasses — To the right of the water glass in order of use; the first one is furthest right.

Key Points

  1. Forks on the left, knives and spoons on the right, arranged from the outside in by the order of the courses.
  2. Bread plate at the upper left, glasses at the upper right. Even at a crowded round table, that never changes.
  3. The spoon and fork lying across the top of the plate are for dessert and come last.
  4. Knife blades face the plate. The butter knife is the exception: it rests on the bread plate at the upper left.

Do

  • Take in the whole setting when you sit down
  • Check left or right to tell which pieces are yours
  • Quietly ask a server for anything missing

Avoid

  • Using your neighbor’s bread plate or glass
  • Borrowing cutlery from another place
  • Rearranging the setting yourself

Handy Tip

Make a “b” with your left hand and a “d” with your right: bread on the left, drinks on the right.

Practice in a Lesson

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