Typically, banquet servers are part of the fine dining experience. It means that their service must be impeccable, their appearance spotless and their manners refined. Generally, clients pay a lot of money for banquet services. They expect and deserve professionalism for this reason.

With the preparation of the dining area, etiquette begins before the party arrives. The servers’ responsibility is to ensure that each plate, fork, knife, spoon and glass is aligned and spotless. It is that every place setting should be directly across from its counterpart. Including the presentation of her/his tables before the party arrives, a professional banquet server takes pride in her/his work.

According to what the party has ordered, the server greets her/his party with a friendly smile as he/she offers them hors d’?uvres. This is completed with the hors d’?uvres in one hand and napkins fanned out neatly in the other. The banquet server needs to know about the dish being served so he/she can properly pronounce it as well as describe it prior to serving the guests. A banquet server is not required to convince the guests to try the appetizer, unlike table servers, whose job is to sell as many menu items as possible. Rather, he/she is to offer the hors d’?uvres politely and walk around the room until all the guests are satisfied, taking note gracefully if someone is not interested.

Once the guests have all been seated, dinner service begins. In most cases, the guests have pre-ordered their dishes, and the banquet servers are told exactly what dish to serve at each guest at each table. One table is served at a time, beginning with salads generally. The banquet server always serves from the left side of the guest with his/her left hand and does not move onto the next table until everyone at the first table has a plate. Once the tables have all been served, servers refill glasses with pitchers of water; to accomplish this, the server stands on the right side of the guest, removes the glass from the table, takes a step back and refills the glass, then replaces the glass carefully. The server smiles and promptly fulfills his request if a guest requests another type of drink.

Dinner is cleared starting with the first table served. However, the banquet server should carefully observe the tables which he/she is assigned; a table cannot be cleared until everyone at the table has finished his/her meals. The server then approaches the table, and though it may seem evident that the guest is finished, asks his/her permission before removing his/her plate. The salad fork and knife should also be removed if the server takes the guest’s salad plate. Banquet servers are asked to clear any unnecessary utensils along with the dishes. When clearing, the server works from the right side of the guest with his/her right hand, the opposite way he/she served the dish.

Once dessert has arrived, the server serves it to his/her tables and asks if anyone would care for coffee or tea. At this moment, the only items remaining on the table should be dessert utensils, a coffee cup, spoon and creamers or milk for the coffee.

Generally speaking, banquet servers are paid fairly well for the work they perform. The proper etiquette is rejecting it gracefully if a guest offers a tip. Many guests do not realize that a gratuity is already included in the bill; therefore, accepting an additional payment is unethical.