As told to me by more than two crews, and as experienced by me many times on IST or ATH sectors ... if there are more than 32 pax in Club Europe, crews of four are allowed skip certain routines in order to expedite the service. Specifically: no menus, no hot towels, no first bar round with peanuts, meals served from trolley in the aisle rather than from the galley. Seems to have been agreed when the new catering started last year, because the other two crew are needed to do the BoB down the back which can take ages.
It means the first time you're offered a drink is with the meal tray; if the crew member with the drinks trolley emerges first, it leads to the odd situation of being asked what you'd like to drink with dinner before you've found out what you'll be eating.
In practice, I've only had the completely curtailed service twice; once from a crew offering fulsome apologies on a very full IST flight, and once from a crew that just seemed to be having a lazy day. Other times crew have done their best to offer something in the middle, which is fair enough.
It takes the logic of Alex Cruz to reduce a product when more people buy it!