Tableside service has proliferated across many restaurants, extending beyond carving stations to cocktails, desserts, and specialty pairings. Carts and theatrical presentations appear in diverse cities, with martini carts, butter chicken and steak services, dessert trolleys, cheese and Madeira pairings, and plated regional snacks. The practice evokes classic hospitality theater—bananas Foster, Brazilian steakhouse choreography, and dim sum pushcarts—while offering customization such as choosing liquors, garnishes, smoking wood chips, or bread selections. Restaurants use tableside service to create glamour and interaction, heighten sensory experience, and offer personal choice. The trend combines nostalgia with contemporary culinary variety.
The achar cart at Adda had just rolled up on our right, the wide mouths of the jars filled with pickles of mango, caperberry, and pepper gaping like hungry seals. To the left, the table next to us was enjoying the opening chords of the restaurant's coveted butter chicken service, selecting the wood chips that would smoke their chicken from a different cart.
In San Francisco the trend has boomed and almost busted, with Holbrook House, Bar Crenn and State Bird Provisions all offering tableside martinis and cocktails. Martini carts are also found at Borgo and the new Chateau Royale in New York, while elsewhere in the city Cuerno, La Tete D'or and the Dynamo Room serve various iterations of steak, and Briscola Trattoria rolls out dessert.
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