A white card above the placemat is a place card, which contains the name and title of the guest to be seated in that chair. Every place setting should be exactly the same. It is absolutely correct to forgo the use of a tablecloth if the host wishes to show off a table. If a tablecloth is used, make sure all the sides are hanging evenly. If a runner is used instead of a tablecloth, make sure that the ends hang evenly. The edge of the runner should be ½ inch from the edge of the table. Align the chairs so that they are spaced evenly down the side of the table and that the chairs across from each other are aligned exactly. Then set the table.
Center each place mat with its chair. The edge of the mat should be ½ inch from the table's edge. With large place mats, the flatware goes on the mat.
Next, pull the chairs away so you can walk around the table freely.
The charger, or service plate is placed first, centered on the placemat and 1 inch from the edge of the table. The charger is never eaten off of but is to hold the other plates on which the food is served. Most often, the charger plate holds a decoratively folded napkin and the place card.
The second piece is the bread plate, placed above and to the left of the charger. The butter knife is placed horizontally on this plate, blade facing the center of the plate.
Cutlery is placed with the handles 1 inch from the edge of the table. To the left of the plate, moving outward, are the dessert fork, dinner fork and salad fork. To the right of the plate, moving outward, are the dinner knife, teaspoon and soup spoon.
If you use individual salt and pepper shakers, they go above the dinner and dessert fork.
The water glass goes closest to the center on the right side of the charger, with the red and white wine glass to its right (the white to the outside if both are used). Restaurant style is to lay the dessert cutlery above the plate. The fork goes closest to the plate with the tines pointing to the right. The spoon goes above the fork with the bowl pointing to the left.
The charger is placed on the table with the napkin and place card upon it. As you seat your guests, place the napkin in their lap and move the place card to a position well above the place setting, or remove it entirely.
Serve the soup bowl onto the charger. When the soup course is finished, pick up the soup bowl and soup spoon (which should have been left in the bowl). The charger stays on the table, empty.
Serve the salad onto the charger. When the salad course is finished, remove the salad plate and the salad fork (which should have been left on the salad plate). The charger stays on the table, empty.
Serve the main course onto the charger. When the main course is finished, remove both the dinner plate and the charger, leaving the table plateless. Remove the bread plate, glasses and all remaining unused cutlery (except the dessert fork. Salt and pepper shakers are removed, along with any condiments. You may remove crumbs onto a plate with a small napkin, if needed.
Serve the dessert plate and coffee. These are removed after the guests have departed.
Notes: Always serve from the left with your left hand and remove from the right with your right hand. Never clear more than two places at a time. Do not stack plates. Drinks are poured by removing the glass from the table, poured and returned to its place on the table. If a guest leaves the table, place their napkin on the back of their chair until they return. Place the main course in front of the guest with the meat or main dish at "6 o'clock".
Guests should place their cutlery face up at diagonal to the table edge when they have completed their meal. Cutlery crossed on a plate indicates that the guest has not yet finished. Once removed from the table, cutlery should never again touch it.
If the kitchen is not near the dining area, consider using a "staging area" where the server will leave dishes for another to remove to the kitchen, and pick up plates to be served from another without having to go all the way to the kitchen for them. This speeds up service without having additional servers at the table.
