How to Set a Restaurant Table

Video Transcript

"Hey, hello! We're here today to talk about how to set the table. Set you up with the very basics. First off, make sure that table cloth is even all the way around and the chairs are not underneath. They need to be right even with the break of the table. Second, make sure that your silverware is polished and clean. As I tell my son, fork has four letters and left has four letters so that is traditionally where the fork goes. Knife as well has five letters and right has five letters so that goes there. You want to make sure that all of them are even and I usually just use the space between my knuckle on my thumb and the tip of my thumb as a measuring guide for setting up where they should be on the table. If you have more than one spoon or more than one fork, determine if it's going to be used before dessert or after. If it's for dessert, then we'll go up to the top where the handle facing, the side would come down. So, we'll pretend that's a dessert spoon and we'll pretend that that is a dessert fork. If you have two knives, two knives will go up there, the same way as well. Glassware. Everybody has their own preferences on this, my preference is to have it put right off the top of the knife. You always want to have the glass that you're drinking out of, you expect the customer to be drinking out of closest to them. So, if you set up a water glass and a wine glass, you always make sure that water glass is the closest cause that's typically what they're going to have first. And then you have your red wine or your white wine or more traditional nowadays you have an all-purpose wine glass. Cocktails, well should be served on a cocktail napkin. Anything that does not have a foot should have a cocktail napkin. Anything that touches the table, a wine bottle, a decanter, anything like that should have an underliner or some type of cocktail napkin. And then, any other things you put on the table, centerpieces and that type of thing are up to personal judgment. Try not to have any centerpieces that blocks somebody from seeing one another across the table, it's always an important consideration and make sure it's fine."