What Is a Charger Plate Board?

Charger plate boards are commonly used in fine dining restaurants.

Charger plate boards serve as a decoration for fancy or romantic dinner parties. The charger plate is located under the dinner plate. You will often see charger plates used in fine dining restaurants or even restaurants that want to add that flair of decoration to their dishware.

Appearance

Charger plates or bowls are usually deep enough to accommodate a smaller plate or bowl of food. The ends of the dishes may be considerably exaggerated to make the appearance of the charger plate very obvious.

Decoration

Charger dinner plates add decoration in many ways. Restaurants and dinner hosts can choose from a multitude of colors to use as a charger plate. They can be white if the restaurant wants to keep the theme simple and classic, or colorful plates can be used to emphasize holidays such as Christmas and Valentine`s Day.

Function

Dinner charger plates serve no function other than decorative. However, if the food plate or bowl is hot, the charger plate may permit the server to present the dish to the customer without burning his hands. Serving etiquette dictates that the charger plate is brought out during the starter and remains there until the customer finishes the main entree.

References

• The Food Channel: Etiquette Tips
• EU Design: Setting the Table