Dining etiquette tips
1. As a guest, don’t select the most expensive item on the menu.
2. Don’t be the only person at the table to order an appetizer.
3. If you must leave the table in the middle of the meal, put your napkin on the seat of your chair, never on the table.
4. Before you begin to eat, wait for all of the individuals seated at your table to be served and for your host to begin eating. This holds true for each course. If your host indicates that it is all right to begin eating, you may do so.
5. Use your cutlery from the outside in.
6. Only cut enough food for the next mouthful.
7. If you wish to stop eating temporarily and don’t want the server to take the plate away, cross the fork and knife on the plate.
8. To signal the server that you are finished, place your fork and knife together in the four o’clock position.
9. Pass both the salt and the pepper when asked, “Please pass the salt.”
10. Pass food to the right.
Compiled by School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management professor and etiquette expert Robert Mill