Unless you are part of the elite, hoity-toity upper class, then you probably don’t know much about fine dining etiquette. You know that there are some rules to abide by—you’re just not sure what they are. And learning all about them is a masterclass altogether just because there are tons of particularities and histories to learn about!
Today, we talked with some of the best restaurants in Los Angeles to find out what they like and don’t like to see customers doing. You’d be surprised at some of these fine dining etiquette rules below!
1. Keep Your Menu on the Table
This is a faux pas many of us commit! According to fine dining etiquette experts, you should always keep the menu touching the table. You can lay it flat on the table as you peruse through, or bring it closer to your face while keeping the bottom side or at least one corner of it touching the table.
2. Always Sip from the Same Spot on Your Glass
When we take a sip from our glass, take note of where your mouth was positioned on the rim. That’ll be where you drink from for the rest of the day. We don’t want our lip’s natural oils coating all over the rim of the glass, especially if you’ve got lip gloss or lipstick on! That’ll just be a hassle to wash up.
3. Refrain from Clinking Anything
The finer your dining experience, the less noise you want to make. That means you want to lay down your cutlery as gently as possible on your plate, refrain from hitting your cutlery against the glass, and refrain from clinking your glasses together!
You have to remember that glassware can be very fragile in these restaurants. You risk breaking things, and that’s going to be a problem for the restaurant.
4. Try Not to Ask for Extra Utensils
This especially applies when you’re eating raw oysters. When you’re served a platter and there’s no oyster fork around, then that means the oysters on the shell have already been loosened. All you need to do is drop the contents into your mouth, turning the shell over to signify that it’s empty.
Restaurant staff already have lots of cleaning and washing up to do. Please refrain from adding unnecessary burdens!
5. Minimize Mess on the Rims of Your Plate
There’s a reason the best restaurants in Los Angeles sometime use plates that seem way too large for the food they carry! It’s so that the waiters can easily pick up and lay down your plate when serving you. Keeping the rim of your plate clean is only polite so their hands don’t get dirty.
6. Place Inedible Things on the Top Left of Your Plate
Whether it’s things that you don’t like eating, things you’re allergic to, or things that aren’t edible at all, you should always set them aside on the top left part of your plate. A lemon slice you squeezed on your salad? Top left. Chicken bones? Top left. Cilantro that tastes like soap to you? Top left.
7. Keep the Bread Down
If you’re a lover of bread, then you’ll know biting down on a huge slice invites crumbs to fall over the plate, table, and floor. So, you should always keep the bread down on your plate, even when you’re adding butter or jam to it. This is much cleaner than holding it up.
If you want to be extra clean, you should break the bread apart on the plate. Tear a bite-sized chunk, add whatever toppings you’d like, then eat it.
8. Put Napkin on Lap, Crease Side Facing You
Unfold the napkin in front of you as soon as you sit down at the best restaurants in Los Angeles. Then, fold it in half and lay it across your lap with the crease side facing you. That way, when you need to use it, you can unfold the napkin, use the inside of it to get stains off, and then fold it again to hide the stain on the napkin.
Additionally, please always remember to dab, not wipe stains. Wiping stains actually spread the mess all over your skin and clothing. A teardrop-sized stain can easily become a coin-sized one if you wipe it! Dabbing, on the other hand, just lets the napkin absorb whatever’s there.
9. Always Excuse Yourself
You should always answer the call of nature when it arrives. However, that doesn’t mean you should announce what you are about to do in front of everybody! They don’t need to imagine bathroom duties while they’re trying to enjoy their food. They can quickly lose their appetites otherwise.
Instead, gently stand up and say, “Excuse me.” Never specify where you’re going.
10. Never Say Bon Appetit
Did you know that it’s not customary to say, “Bon appetit,” even in France? It’s a phrase that’s gradually going out of style because it implies that you’re eating everything that’s in front of you. You’re so hungry that you don’t even care about the quality of your food—you can eat anything and everything!
Instead of saying, “Bon appetit,”, we highly recommend saying, “Please enjoy,” instead.
11. Leave a Bite of Food on the Plate
In some cultures, leaving some food leftover is a good thing because it shows you ate to your heart’s content. Your tummy is so full of yummy food that you can’t possibly have another bite!
It also lets your host know that they’ve fed you well. If you finished the whole thing, one would think that they didn’t feed you very much, or that you are still hungry.