The assembly of tables

The assembly of tables varies, depending on the type of gastronomic venue. There are places that do not have a previous assembly of tables, but are armed at the time the food is delivered, with what is necessary for that moment.

With plate, without plate, cutlery on one side, covered on both sides, with entrance cutlery, without cutlery.  The most important thing is to know how to differentiate the cutlery and the position in which they go, which is for starter, for main, for dessert. Keep in mind when asking for meat to have a suitable knife (cutting).

To put the cutlery in the corresponding place, we place the base plate, a plate that serves to present the table. If the dish has any ornament or logo of the restaurant, it must be well centered and facing the customer. The next step is to place the cutlery in order of use, that is, on the outside you will place the one used first and the closest to the plate will be the one corresponding to the last dish.

On the right side we put the knives and spoons. For appetizers a smooth knife with a blunt tip is used, for meats a serrated knife and for fish, the one in the form of a spatula. On the left side of the plate, we put the forks, always with the tips up. The three-pronged fork is for fish and the four-pronged fork for meat. Finally, the dessert cutlery should be placed on the tablecloth above the plate.
To continue with the assembly of the table, once the plates and cutlery are placed, you will place the breadbasket in the upper left and the spreader on the plate.

Glassware: the glasses are placed from largest to smallest size, from left to right, at the top of the plate, slightly to the right. The largest glass (or, failing that, a glass) will be to serve the water, to its right you must place the glass of red wine and then, the white wine.  Finally, if there is a glass of cava (sparkling wine or champagne), it is placed to the right of the white wine glass.

Keep in mind that the client must feel comfortable, without being overwhelmed with a lot of gadgets that he will not use.  Of course, if there is a young diner who is not legally allowed to drink, the glasses of wine must be removed.

Any cutlery, regardless of its design, should consist of spoons, forks, and knives, as well as some utensils for serving food.

In addition, there are different types of cutleries depending on its use: fish cutlery, dessert and coffee spoon, etc.

Cutlery is placed 3 or 4 centimeters away in each corner of the plate.
The knife is placed to the right of the plate, with the cut inward. The spoon is placed to the right of the knife with the concavity facing up. The fork is placed to the left of the plate, with the tips facing up. Its use is very simple, you begin to use the cutlery furthest from the plate (from outside to inside). Dessert cutlery is placed on top of the plate and sometimes put on at the time of serving desserts. Try not to use the same cutlery throughout the meal, change them for each dish, whenever possible.
Depending on how you leave the cutlery, different sensations and emotions can be expressed. Imagine that the plate is a clock, and the hands of the clock are the fork and the knife:

• The fork at 12 with the tip around 9 and the knife at 12 with the tip around 3, means you are pausing.
• The fork and knife at 3 with the tip at 9, expresses that the dish is excellent.
• The fork and knife at 12 with the tip at 6, means that you are finished.
• The fork and knife forming a cross says you didn’t like the dish.