It can help if you tell the restaurant what to do! I suppose it saves them time. Christmassy dinner on the 27th, I asked for some walnuts to go with mushroom soup starter, instead of bread. I was given extra sprouts and some chestnuts with the roast chicken to replace roast potatoes. Stilton dessert, I deselected oat crackers and asked for celery sticks. They - the hotel staff and the celery sticks - were brilliant.