What's The Worst Dining Rule To Break? Here's What Customers Said - Tasting Table Survey
While some of us may not be well versed in the rules of silverware etiquette enough to know where the salad fork goes in a place setting, the majority of us have at least some sense of basic table manners. Chewing with your mouth closed, not speaking through a mouth full of food, and using a napkin are a few essentials that will keep you from looking like a barbarian.
Whether you're dining out at a fancy restaurant or sitting down for a dinner party at home with family and friends — manners matter. That means there are plenty of dining rules to potentially be broken, and some are more irksome than others. We were curious about which food faux pas our readers here at Tasting Table were most turned off by, so we asked 588 restaurant-goers living in the U.S. what the absolute worst dining rule to break is. Here's what you had to say.
Survey says, bad tippers are the worst
The large majority of survey respondents — 35.71% — report that tipping your server poorly is the absolute worst dining faux pas you can make. Next up, 25.85% of Tasting Table readers report that ordering a steak well done is an absolute no-no when ordering food at a restaurant. Coming in as the third most offensive dining behavior in our survey is drinking wine with ice, with 15.48% of survey respondents calling out this bad habit.
Surprisingly, only 15% of voters claimed that eating pizza with a knife and fork goes against proper etiquette. Lastly, our survey was rounded out with nearly 8% of respondents claiming that using cutlery inappropriately is the worst dining etiquette blunder. If this list leaves you scratching your head and reflecting upon your own dining behavior, maybe it's time to examine some other lesser-known dining etiquette rules. Food & Wine recommends never lifting your menu fully off the table and drinking from the same spot on your glass each time. However, don't stress about these rules too much. Dining out is meant to be enjoyable, so don't get too caught up in the small details.