What should you eat at a lunch interview?

[MacMadame]

What's the difference between eating out and eating at home? Or do you make a mess whenever you eat?

I used to drop food off my utensils a lot. Then they'd end up on my boobs. I'm not sure why this happened so much but I found when I lost weight my boobs stopped being hungry and trying to share my lunch with me.

So maybe it was a posture thing or maybe something else had changed about how I eat that I'm just not aware of. But, yes, I used to be a messy eater even when eating out with a napkin. Now, not so much.

I think saying no to eating because you're scared of making a mess is abnormal, interview or not.

I would agree with that. But I don't think it's dumb to think about it and to order something that's not stressful to eat while being interviewed. You want to make a good impression and even if you only drop food on your shirt once every 3 years, you don't want that one time to be in the middle of a job interview with someone who is probably going to be your supervisor if you get the job.

The job interview where I ordered spaghetti, I was stressed the whole time worrying that I'd swirl the spaghetti on my fork and a random drop of sauce would land on my shirt. I will never order spaghetti during a job interview again!

[Louise]

I'd say just go with your standard chicken breast, mashed potatoes and maybe green beans. NO salads, you don't want to look like George Constanza on a job interview. Pasta is too slurpy and inhaly. Soups the same unless you are absolutely quiet when you sip/slurp it.

[Skittl1321]

I've found that most lunch interviews aren't meant to be a test. (And if they are, I don't want to work for the company if I can't pass!) I think a lot of companies do they because they think they are LESS formal, and don't realize how stressful it really is!

As long as you have good manners, and don't eat chicken wings, you are probably going to be okay!

If you are in a position where you will take a lot of clients to eat, they just want to see that you can talk and eat at the same time, while not talking with food in your mouth, and not making a gigantic mess. They aren't looking to see if spinach sticks to your teeth, or if you get a bit of spagheti sauce on your chin (just make sure to wipe your face with a napkin every so often if you eat anything saucy).

[DustPuppyOI]

I don't think anyone has mentioned it but I've found that asking what the person recommends on the menu lets you know the expected price range for dishes.