Even in the early 1970s at our wooden hutted Officers' Mess at White Waltham, food orders were taken by waitresses and served at the table. Haraka will doubtless recall one of these 'ladies' who, it is alleged, was wont to 'entertain' construction workers who were extending the M4 nearby...
The standard of food wasn't particularly good though. 'Beefbrugers' (sic) featured often but how much was actually beef was open to doubt. There was also the mysterious 'flying centipede' - chicken which had lots of gristly legs and wings, but no breast...