Silver service is the name given to a specific way of plating and serving meals, which is traditionally used in some more formal settings. Used in restaurants, anywhere with silver service will bypass the usual plating of food in the kitchen, and instead bring out the dishes of meat, vegetables, and all of the other components, on separate plates, to then serve up to the diners in the quantities they desire.

The rule with this way of serving is to always serve to the left. So the server, or host, will always serve the guest to their left first and then work around the table until everyone has their food. Many households have adapted serving to the left from this, and you will often find at family meals that any plates where guests help themselves will always go round the table clockwise.

The name of this method comes from the fact that, traditionally, the entire cutlery, plates and serving equipment was made of silver. However, this is not always the case anymore as it can be fairly expensive, especially in large restaurants where a great number of plates and cutlery will need to be acquired.

Proper servers are often employed to make sure that the guests are catered for well and that the correct protocol is undertaken. A fork and spoon combination will be used to transfer the items of food to the guests plates in turn, with guests often being asked whether they would prefer more, so ensure that needs are met in the individual.

Plates and glasses will be cleared away from the right hand side, starting with the person on the right of the host first. Once the plates and dishes are cleared then the next lot of serving plates for the next course will be brought out, unless already included in the way the places are arranged on the table.

The arrangement of components is an important part of silver service and is notably well done, so the table looks high quality and formal. For example, glasses in silver service are arranged at a diagonal angle for each guest and include several wine glasses, as well as a water glass at the forefront.

Silver service styles can easily be adapted to the home, with the host taking the place of the server. This is not as fancy in style, but equally good and a nice way of doing things differently. Each guest in turn, starting from the left and working clockwise as previously mentioned, would pass their plate up to the host at the head of the table. They would then place the main food dish (for example roast chicken) on the plate, and hand it back to the guest. Trays of vegetables may be sat on the table for guests to help themselves to. The meat would generally be pre-cut, or cut at the table before anyone is served, to save time with the actual plating process.

This method of dining is not used so often now, but used to be highly popular, and is nice to encounter or include in dinner party arrangements as a change sometimes and to raise the tone of the evening.