There are two types of table lay up in Restaurants, Al a Carte and Table d'Hote.

In this, cover will mean customer.

The first, A la Carte, generaly consists of a 10'' white plate, (though this is not always necessary), accompanied with a silver fork to the left and a silver knife to the right, a linen napkin on the plate (folded in various ways), and a red wine goblet positioned to the top right of the plate, just inside of the tip of the knife.

This is quite a simple lay up because of the nature of the service. At this point, the restaurant staff dont know what the customer is going to eat, therefore upon ordering, it will be probably be necessary for the waiter to replace the knife and fork with a fish knife and fork, for instance. The plate will also be removed, to make way for the plated food to come out from the kitchen.

The more elegant style of table service is known as Table d'Hote.

To the left of the cover, from the outside in, a side plate with a small knife placed on the top just to the right side, a fish fork, and then a main fork, the top of the fish fork 1/4in above the main fork.

On the right side of the customer, again from the outside in, a soup spoon, a fish knife and a main knife, again the top of the soup spoon and the fish knife 1/4in above the top of the main knife. (Dont forget, there has to be enough room to get a 12" plate between both sets of cutlery!).

Level with the top of the cutlery, a dessert fork and a dessert spoon must be placed. The fork goes above the spoon, with its handle pointing toward the other forks, the spoon below with its handle pointing toward the knifes.

In the space between the dessert spoon handle, and the top of the fish knife, a large red wine goblet and a water glass must be placed. Finally a clean folded linen napkin must be put either in the center of the cover or in the wine goblet.

Because this is a set menu, it will almost always require these types of cutlery, however it will depend on the menu being served.