While there’s no singular quality that makes a great dinner plate, you know when you have a less-than specimen: It looks cheap, and it chips and scratches easily. Among those that are well made ...

What is the most polite way to set the dinner table when one person will not be eating any food? Should there still be plates and flatware at their spot, or only glasses? Or a full place setting ...

DEAR MISS MANNERS: At casual restaurants and upscale establishments alike, I am frequently served a large piece of meat perched atop a too-full ... plate, exposing the cutting process to my dinner ...