Serving

At a formal restaurant or banquet, food is usually served to guests in the following order:

1. guest of honor
2. female guests
3. male guests
4. hostess
5. host

After the guest of honor, the women and men are served in one of two ways:

• Dishes can be presented to guests in the order of their seating, starting at the host's right
• Dishes may be served in order of seniority, starting with the most influential and proceeding down to the least prominent guest.

In restaurants, often times groups will include neither a guest of honor, nor hosts, so the meals will simply be served first to the women, then to the men.

In general, food is often served from the left. This is because most people are right-handed, so when a waiter must use his right hand to serve from a platter, it is least intrusive if he stands to the left.

All beverages are served and poured from the left. Glassware is set above and to the right of the guest's plate, and trying to pour from the left would force the server to reach in front of the diner.