"Most of our regulars are not famous people. We just treat them all like stars. Another thing: You need to go back to places and have a list of, say, five restaurants you support regularly. And when you go back to those restaurants, you'll be treated like a friend."
In Mayfair, Jesus Adorno is the face of Le Caprice, which he joined in 1981, nine years after arriving from his native Bolivia.
He loves his job and reckons he can assess within seconds which table someone will be joining from the guest's body language, the way he dresses and the way he talks.
"A maître d' can make or break a restaurant," he says. "I do see, every so often, some of my colleagues in restaurants once they make it to the maitre d' status, they think they are god's gift to customers.
"But if you are snooty or have a bad attitude with the customers, the ones who are paying your wages, your mortgage, you will never really make it in a restaurant with longevity," says Adorno, 62.
Across Mayfair, Silvano Giraldin, 67, was born in Padua, Italy, worked at Le Gavroche for 37 years and remains a director. For decades, he was the gatekeeper of the restaurant, where his favorite guests included Charlie Chaplin and Princess Diana.
The princess used to dine with Richard Attenborough at table 15, but never returned after paparazzi gathered one night, and she suspected Le Gavroche had tipped them off - an idea that Giraldin dismisses.
Even celebrities can't always get what they want.
The Rolling Stones were regulars in the early days of Le Gavroche until the restaurant introduced a strict dress code. They didn't return. Barry Humphries was untroubled when warned in advance that gentlemen must wear a jacket and tie. He simply turned up in a voluminous frock, dressed as Dame Edna Everage.
Was he allowed in?