Beware if you do one of these things in a restaurant: Dining experts warn what not to say or do when eating out

It might be more than just the chef’s skills and the menu that make or break your dining experience. Speaking with industry insiders, HuffPost gathered tips on how customers can make their experience more pleasant—and really, it all comes down to basic etiquette. These tips come courtesy of hospitality professionals.

While many dine out to be served, in an industry as demanding as hospitality, a little kindness and respect can go a long way. Depending on the state and the ownership of the restaurant, your server could be earning less than $3 an hour, with tips making up the rest of their income. On a slow night, that reliance on tips can mean workers spend more getting to work than they earn during their shift.

So, although dining out is an expense, it’s important to consider those who make it possible. Greeting your host is a great way to start off on the right foot, reports Murphy. The host is responsible for welcoming guests and organizing the dining floor based on server availability and kitchen demands. Though you might be tempted to ask why you can’t sit at an empty table, or why you have to wait a couple of minutes—even when you reserved but showed up with more guests than expected—it’s best to keep those thoughts to yourself. There’s a kind of magic to getting tables seated, and that flow is often beyond the logic of the average customer.

Patrick Murphy, director of hospitality and partner at the Breckenridge, Colorado-based Rootstalk and Radicato, told HuffPost that many customers “kind of breeze by the most basic human interaction, which is a simple hello, a smile, a greeting—an acknowledgement that you are a person and you’re doing a job and that you value that first interaction at a restaurant.”

Follow the Rules

Before you even get to the table, you might find a list of other guests waiting. Some restaurants use technology to take your phone number and notify you via text or call when a table is ready. Even if you’re not a fan of this system, it’s important to respond promptly—just as you would if someone were calling out names in person. Guests can lose their spot if they’re not quick enough, and while that can be frustrating, it’s not the host’s job to get you a table—it’s their job to seat guests, ideally in the order they arrived.

If the restaurant takes reservations, making one can be the best way to avoid this song and dance. Which brings us to Murphy’s next tip: avoid bringing more people than you reserved a table for. If you do, it defeats the point of the reservation, as the restaurant may not be able to adapt to your needs quickly.

Servers and hosts across social media often talk about this issue, particularly with families who don’t include children in the count given to the restaurant. If the diner is going to need a chair, then they need to be added to the headcount—even in cases where that chair is a high chair.

Long story short: be kind and respectful. Even if you’ve worked in the industry, each business is different, and each night is a new adventure that you only participate in for a short time. Respect will get you a long way—and might even help you get what you want, if the host or server has the power to grant your request.

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