Determining whether you’re having a full course meal helps you plan how long your dinner will take and can help you plan for costs. It might even influence how hungry you let yourself get before arriving at the restaurant.
What Are the Courses in a Meal?
Meals are divided into courses, which refers to items served together at once. For example, soup and crackers are a course, as are a salad, dressing, and bread served together. There is usually a pause in between courses, and the parts of a meal are brought out in a specific order. For example, if you order dessert and a main dish — two examples of courses — your entrée will arrive before the dessert unless you specify you want a different order.
Full Course Meals
Full course meals are made up of three courses: an appetizer, main dish, and dessert. Also known as a three-course meal or a standard course meal, you will sometimes see restaurants offering a full menu with these three items.
You can add more courses to a full course meal. This will add to the course length, so a four-course dinner will include an appetizer, main dish, and dessert but also a fourth course — hors-d'oeuvres — served before the appetizer. If you choose a five-course dinner, you’ll get a four-course meal with a salad after the appetizer, before the main dish.
You can adapt the number of courses to suit your occasion. For example, if you’re planning a wedding reception, you will probably want a three-course or four-course meal, since that is standard. The same applies to wedding rehearsal dinners. Very formal dinners may include more courses.
In total, you can have up to 12 courses, which will arrive in the following order:
- Hors-d'oeuvres
- Amuse-bouche
- Soup
- Appetizer
- Salad
- Fish
- First main dish
- Palate cleanser course
- Second main dish
- Cheese plate
- Dessert
- Post-meal drinks and pastries
By removing the cheese plate and Amuse-bouche and keeping the courses in this order, you will get a 10-course meal.
Vegetarian and Vegan Planning
If you want to create a full course meal but you are dining with someone who is vegan, vegetarian or has other dietary considerations, you will want to make sure every course you plan for has options for your guests. This is especially important at an event like a wedding, where there may be a fixed menu.
One option is to make a reservation at a restaurant like Forklift & Palate, which has menus which can accommodate gluten-friendly and dairy-free diners. We also have options for vegans and vegetarians, as well as diners with nut allergies, shellfish allergies, and other dietary needs.
Our location in the Spooky Nook Sports complex allows us to serve large groups and host a variety of special events, private parties, and big groups. Our dining area serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner and our sustainable place can serve parties of up to 600 in our atrium. Check out our menu or make a reservation today.
Learn More About Food Etiquette
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Published
04/30/2021
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FAQs
A full course dinner is a meal featuring multiple courses. The basic full course meal consists of three or four courses. They begin with precursors to a main dish, such as an amuse-bouche, followed by the main course(s), and conclude with sweets, coffee, and tea.
What is considered a full course meal? ›
Full course meals are made up of three courses: an appetizer, main dish, and dessert. Also known as a three-course meal or a standard course meal, you will sometimes see restaurants offering a full menu with these three items. You can add more courses to a full course meal.
What is a whole full course meal? ›
A full-course meal often consists of at least two or three of the following: an appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert. Meals, however, can have as many as twelve courses.
How does a 5 course meal work? ›
Three-course meals have an appetizer, an entrée, and dessert. A four-course dinner includes a soup, salad, entrée, and dessert. Five-course meals serve an appetizer, soup, entrée, dessert, and cheese. A six-course meal offers hors-d'oeuvres, soup, fish, and an entrée, followed by salad, coffee, and dessert.
How does a 3 course meal work? ›
A 3-course meal is any meal that includes one entrée, one main course, and one dessert. Also referred to as a standard course meal, 3-course meals are considered the starting point for fine dining.
What is an example of a full meal? ›
The basic full course meal consists of three or four courses. They begin with precursors to a main dish, such as an amuse-bouche, followed by the main course(s), and conclude with sweets, coffee, and tea. Full course meals frequently occur at someone's home, a venue, or a restaurant.
What are the 5 main course meals? ›
A typical five-course meal consists of one-bite hors d'oeuvres, a plated appetizer, a palate-cleansing salad, the main entrée, and dessert. In some cases, you can omit the hors d'oeuvres and insert a soup between the appetizer and salad courses.
What is a 4 course meal? ›
(Hospitality (hotel): Food and drink, dining) A four-course meal is a meal that consists of four parts served one after the other. The restaurant is offering two-course, three-course and four-course meals with table service. The four-course meal consists of a soup, an appetizer, an entrée, and dessert.
Is an amuse-bouche considered a course? ›
A three-course meal consists of an appetizer, main dish and dessert. Additional courses build on this skeleton—in a full 12-course meal, you would have hors-d'oeuvres, amuse-bouche, soup, appetizer, salad, fish, main course, palate cleanser, second main course, cheese course, dessert and mignardise.
Do you serve soup or salad first at a formal dinner? ›
Most of these courses have been eliminated, and the standard formal meal is soup, fish or meat (but occasionally still both, as separate courses in that order), salad, dessert and/or fruit.
A balanced three-course meal might include a starter, main course, and dessert. For instance, a classic example could be a mixed green salad (starter) with a balsamic vinaigrette, followed by grilled chicken breast with steamed broccoli and quinoa (main course), and a fruit salad with yogurt (dessert).
What is served first, soup or appetizer? ›
Present the soup course.
This course is usually served before the appetizer or in place of an appetizer. This dish is served in a small soup bowl and eaten with a rounded soup spoon.
What is an example of a one course meal? ›
One course meal is usually a main dish with sides like a lasagna with a side of salad. Two course meal could be either an entrée with a main dish or a main dish with a dessert. And of course the three course meal is an entrée, a main dish and a dessert.
What does a main course consist of? ›
The main course is usually the biggest dish on a menu. The main ingredient is often meat or fish. It most often follows an appetizer, soup, or salad, and is often followed by a dessert.
How long does a 3 course meal take? ›
A three course meal usually takes 1½ – 2hours depending on how quickly the Venue serves the meal and the type of service i.e. silver service or plated. A buffet meal is not necessarily quicker as each table is invited in turn to go up to the buffet.
Is an amuse bouche considered a course? ›
A three-course meal consists of an appetizer, main dish and dessert. Additional courses build on this skeleton—in a full 12-course meal, you would have hors-d'oeuvres, amuse-bouche, soup, appetizer, salad, fish, main course, palate cleanser, second main course, cheese course, dessert and mignardise.
