Heated Dinner Plates too hot?

[QCumber]

It has happened several times in recent months at different nice restaurants that my food was served on a plate that was so hot one couldn't even rotate it around by the edges. I was sincerely concerned about getting burned by it. By the time I had finished eating, the plate was still warm enough to melt a piece of butter placed on it. I eat out a lot and have for a number of years, and I cannot remember a single time this has happened to me until recently. Is this a trend, or is there any concensus about how hot a warmed plate should be? I mentioned it to the manager, saying he should be worried about lawsuits (not from me) like McDonald's with their coffee, and he simply asked if the waited had warned me that the plate was hot.

Q

[FastTalkingHighTrousers]

The plate should be hot in order to keep the food hot. Generally if liquid boils on a plate it would be considered to hot but most chefs I've worked for had us heat the plates until sauce barely sizzled on the plate.
I can't say that this is a trend but I can say that in my almost 10 years in the restaurant business I've never heard of a diner burning themselves on a plate. If it's too hot to be pulled from under the heat lamps, most chefs would wait until it cools down a bit before having it run to the table.