wait (on) tables
To serve food and drinks to patrons in a restaurant or similar establishment, as of a waiter or waitress. Until I got my first big TV role, I waited tables at a diner.
wait (on) tables
Fig. to serve food and tend diners, as at a restaurant. I waited on tables for years to pay my college tuition.
wait (on) ˈtables
(American English) work serving food to people in a restaurant: I wait on tables at a restaurant near my apartment.She worked her way through college waiting tables.