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Several weeks ago, we looked at table etiquette when dining out -- but from the perspective of the server. We asked, "When should a server clear away plates from the table?" The opinions from our reader were about even.
The discussion has prompted another question, this time from the perspective of the diner. When should you start eating? If orders arrive to the table from the restaurant kitchen at different times, should diners go ahead and start when they receive their food, or wait until the entire table is served?
I think the common belief of "proper and polite" is to wait until everyone at the table has been served. However, it is becoming increasingly popular to "go ahead and start" even before others have been served. Diners who are still waiting for their food feel bad that food might get cold.
What do you do? Do you find it rude if others start eating before you have been served? If you're the first one served, do you feel impolite if you start eating?
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9-08-2006 @1:34AM kim said... I encourage others to start eating. If you're going to pay for food, you might as well enjoy it at its peak.
I usually wait, though, to be told to start eating unless it's in a very casual situation.
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9-08-2006 @3:18AM Alex said... Always eat when everyone is served. If there is a ridiculous delay in dishes coming out then start but make sure you complain to the restaurant!
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9-09-2006 @1:58AM mirobin said... It depends on the size of the party. If I'm eating with enough people that the restaurant has to push multiple tables together, I eat when I'm served. Otherwise, I wait until everyone has a plate sitting in front of them.
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9-08-2006 @5:36AM Chef Jay said... situations change if you are in a pary of 8 or more then start.
if it is a table of 6 or less then you should wait and complain your butt off to the MGT
a server in any situation should be able to carry at least 5 plates on a tray and their bussboy can carry the last one or 2
be curtious amd wait for the entire table to be served before you order another drink
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9-08-2006 @11:52AM JMD said... Wait for entire table to be served. All plates should arrive within ½ a minute. If not, complain and go somewhere else.
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9-08-2006 @9:40AM Brian J. Geiger said... My understanding of etiquette is that, with cold food, one is supposed to wait until everyone has their food. With hot food, one is allowed to start eating.
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9-08-2006 @11:27AM Rhea said... I never like to start unless all dishes are on the table. The only exception is if the person(s) insist on starting before them.
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9-08-2006 @9:53AM tr said... whenever i've been out and this has happened, i usually just start eating, and offer the temporarily dinner-less people a taste of my dish. why not? we're all here to eat and enjoy food, and if i have the food, i'm willing to share. it's all good.
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9-08-2006 @9:59AM monica said... Regardless of what is considered "proper" or "improper" etiquette, I feel most comfortable with waiting until everyone is served. Generally, a restaurant will not start bringing out the meals for the dining guests until all the dishes are mostly ready or, at least, very closed to being ready. The delay between when the first dish is served to the last one should not be that long so I think it's best if everybody waits.
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9-08-2006 @11:54AM Starr said... Depending on the size of the group, I wait until everyone has been served before beginning to eat. If the group is large, say 8 or more people. I wait until the people around me are served, or wait until others around me say to go ahead and start. I was always taught at home to wait until everyone was served to start, and have always carried that with me, even when I was in the Military.
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9-08-2006 @10:58AM B said... My rule is wait until Grandma is served. If your Grandma is not dining with you, wait untill the people not served say it's okay to start eating.
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9-08-2006 @11:22AM james b said... Waiting or not, until everyone else has been served, is pretty much a reflection on how one was raised. If someone was raised with proper manners, they wait.
I bend this manner a little bit by taking a nibble here and there, as not to make the person without food uncomfortable. If I see someone waiting on me, I quietly tell them I don't mind if they start.
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9-08-2006 @11:34AM Amy Z said... I am a contradiction. If others have their meal before I do, I want them to start eating - so it doesn't get cold. However, if I get mine first I do feel impolite eating before them. Even when they insist. In that case I will pick and nibble, but not really "eat".
And by wait, I mean waiting more than minutes for the rest to come out, not only waiting for the server to go back to the kitchen and get the remaining dishes. I don't even consider that waiting - it's what 30 seconds to a minute? I've been in situations where it 5 minutes or more for the rest to come out.
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9-08-2006 @1:33PM Jennifer said... My mother was big on etiquette and manners, so I always wait until everyone has been served. As far as food getting cold, there's usually not that much time to wait. And hot food is usually hot enough to wait a few minutes.
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