Dining Etiquette Tips from Ms. Carole Margaret Randolph Washington, D.C. Protocol Expert

Find yourself lost when it comes to invites and silverware assignments? The Fairmont Washington, D.C. has teamed up with Washington, D.C. Protocol Expert Carole Ms. Randolph to make party planning a breeze with an array of dining etiquette tips. 

1. First rule of etiquette is to always "RSVP" to any invitation within three or four days. If your invitation says "Regrets Only" you are not obligated to respond, but if you do, you can be certain the hostess will be glad you bothered.
2. Do not sit down at the table until the host or hostess sits then you may follow. If there are place cards, you find your name and then take your seat. Never rearrange a place card.
3. Place your napkin, in your lap when you see you host or hostess do so. If he or she does not then you proceed by putting the napkin on your lap with the fold towards your body.
4. Maintain good posture at the table and while eating it is best to keep elbows off the table.
5. Know your proper place settings and all the silverware such as the oyster (shellfish) fork, fish knife, fish fork, butter knife, the European dessert fork and dessert spoon, demitasse spoon, which is at most formal  dinner table settings. (the setting is predicted according to the menu.)
6. The sequence of silverware use.  Always remember it is placed in the order of its use, so work in towards the dish. If you make a mistake, just continue eating and don't ever put the silverware back on the table.
7. American and Continental style of eating are both acceptable, however the most important thing is to hold your silverware correctly.
8. A menu card will tell you the order that the meal is being served. Always remember the traditional service of food, is served from the left and removed from the right.  Liquids are poured and removed from the right.
9. Eating soup has its own set of rule, such as: tip your soup bowl away from you and spoon a portion of the soup away from you. Sip from the side of the spoon, noiselessly, without a slurp.
10. Learn your two positions of placing implements, when pausing or being excused from the table, and the position for the waiter when you have finished the individual course in the meal. (The finished position and the rest position.)
11. Eat quietly, chew only small bits of food and swallow with the mouth closed.
12. At a Business lunch or dinner in a restaurant, it is best to order user-friendly foods that you can manage well with a knife and fork. This will allow you to focus on the business at hand.
13. Foods that you can eat with your fingers, bread and butter, artichokes,  olives, celery, carrots,  cherries , plums, grapes and put the seeds or pits on the side of the dish.
14. As you eat bread break off a small piece and butter it as you eat it with the butter knife or the dinner knife.
15. When served wine, the server will pour the wine on the right side and you should not touch your glass until the host has lifted his or her glass.
16. As a guide for finer glassware this is the amount that should be poured, a red wine glass (capacity is 8 to 10 ounces), the glass should be one-half or less full.  A white wine glass (capacity is 5 to 8 ounces), the glass is filled three-quarters or less full.
17. It is only appropriate for you to reach across the table when it does not involve stretching across your neighbor or leaning far across the table. Instead, ask for it to be passed.
18. Do not cut up your entire meal before you start to eat. Cut as you eat in small pieces.
19. Toasting is done before having a drink or at a dinner party, before dessert.  Usually it done by the host or hostess for the guest of honor.  You can enlighten a toast with a joke, if it is appropriate. If you are in a foreign country and at a loss for words then you could say "To your good health."
20. Do not push your plate away from you when you are finished. You should never move any dish when dining.
21. When you are finished dining, put your napkin to the left side of your plate,  it does not need to be refolded but placed on the table in loose folds.
22. Don't overstay your welcome, if an ending time was given on the invitation, leave about the time or shortly after the time indicated.