The bad table

I have waited a while before I posted this entry so I wouldn't post while angry but I think this may be something that deserves a bit of discussion.
Recently I dined, alone, at a popular locally owned restaurant for what was an important, celebratory meal for me. Up front I want to say that my service was fine (tipped $6 on $21 tab) the food was OK maybe a little less than what I expected but I could live with that. My problem was this...

In order to maximize their seating count this restaurant had squeezed in an extra 4 and a deuce in a tiny room that was actually a hallway. My table was about 3 feet from the men's and ladies' restrooms so that my entire meal was puncuated with flushing toilets. (No second door to the interior of the restroom added some nice "flashing" as well.) Also next to my table was a bus stand and the doors to the kitchen. During my meal I was treated to loud conversations regarding the goings on of all the other tables, servers' private lives and business information that, no doubt, would make the owner blush. Couple that with the banging of the kitchen door and the servers yelling for "more blah blah blah on the line!' or "table blah blah is seated!" and I felt like I was eating in a mess hall or high school cafeteria.It was horrible. From the time I was seated to the time I left was a total of 25 minutes. Had I been seated at a more appropriate table I would have had dessert or an after dinner cocktail. I will never go back for fear that as a single diner I'll get the crappy table again.

My opinion is this... NO one paying a minimum of $15 for an entree should have to sit at a table like that. I doubt that I was singled out because I was a lone diner, there was a 4 top table next to me with 2 people at it having the same bad experience.
My point being neither table should have been there. Remove the tables, and let people wait for the tables where you can showcase your restaurant and skills instead of letting the geography of the bad table color the meal. With more and more restaurants depending on repeat business from their clientele it makes little sense to squeeze in another diner if that diner leaves with a bad experience.

My point being neither table should have been there. Remove the tables, and let people wait for the tables where you can showcase your restaurant and skills instead of letting the geography of the bad table color the meal.

I couldn't agree more. Adding additional sub-par seating just to squeeze a few more bucks out of unlucky patrons is pathetic.
But I also believe in the old saying "you can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution".
I suggest you do the owners a favor and let them know. Most owners care and appreciate feedback of this nature.

You allude to it, and this could easily be the subject of another string, but eating out alone can be hazardous. Some places have the grace to treat you as a valued customer. Other places relegate the single patron to second class seating and service (brings to mind the recent post from the young man who had the negative experience at Corbett's for lunch).

I have to ask three questions.

1. Was this on New Years Eve?

2. Did you ask for a different table?

3. And to stress the point John made. Have you made the management aware of your experience?

If the demand for the seating is there, some would argue it is ok to squeeze tables in unsavory places if the customer seated there is ok with it. Some people would rather sit sooner at a table like you described than wait. Not me and obviously not you.

Which takes me to, I hope you asked for a different table. I would have in an instant.

The single diner being treated differently has always been a common complaint. I've alway felt the reason for this is twofold. One, a person alone is much more sensitive to everything going on around them and a bit more on gaurd for any sign of mistreatment. I'm not saying you were but this is often the case.

On the other hand, some servers and owners are not sensitve to the predicament of the single diner and only see the empty chairs at the table and not the one with a butt in it. A good restaurant will go out of their way to make the single diner feel comfortable.

When I dine alone, I go to the bar. That way I'm not taking up a table from the restaurant and I find I get much more attentive service. Besides, I like the social interaction I find there. A single diner however should not have to do this to be treated as well as a party of two or more.

Next time, take a pad of paper and a pen and simply jot down a few notes after your first course making sure a manager sees you doing it. You may be surprised what takes place afterwards.

All good questions and comments so I'll offer my answers...

-Nope it wasn't New Years Eve

- I didn't say anything at the time of my seating because I thought, "Well, it might be OK." After I realized it wasn't going to work I opted not to say anything because it became obvious that the restaurant was chasing into the weeds fast. I felt by saying something to management at that time it would be too late to save my evening and would take valuable time away from the other fires on hand. I didn't want to be the person responsible for starting a domino effect.

- I too will frequently sit at the bar when dining alone for the very same reasons you mentioned but there was no seating available for dining at the bar on this evening.

- I didn't ask for another table because I was told when seated that this was the last available table. - lucky me.

- I opted to post here knowing the establishment either has management or staff that frequents this site. Perhaps they will see themselves. I'm not interested in name calling or finger pointing. I would have pulled a manager over and said something to them privately at the time of the occurrence if there had been time for it but as I said, they were swamped .

I suspect the bad table syndrome is a problem at many restaurants so I'll leave it to the individual places as to how they handle the problem. On the whole however, as a frequent single diner, I seldom feel as if I've been written off and usually get great service and attention wherever I go. Let me reiterate here too, my service was fine and I tipped accordingly. I doubt that the servers had any input as to how many tables were squeezed into operation.

I do a lot of travel and have given up on a decent single seat in a good/white table cloth restaurant. Even though the quality is usually suspect, I have turned my life over to room service (of course, I can get a lot of work done with room service, too). While you didn't feel singled out (because you were a single!), I really wonder. It sounds like, based on your physical location, they couldn't have put more than one person in there anyway.

I appreciate your calm way of approaching the discussion rather than having come on and slammed the establishment without sleeping on the issue first. Good for you for your tolerance and patience.

There is a wonderful essay by either M.F.K. Fischer or Elizabeth David ( shame on me for forgetting which one) that concerns this matter.
She arrives at a nice restaurant, asks for a table for one, is treated with pity and seated in a dark section of the establishment. She calls the host over and asks for a table right in the middle of the place and is reluctantly shown to a table surrounded by other filled tables. The server takes away her wine glass without asking and offers no specials (shades of a recent thread). She asks to speak to the sommalier and orders a very nice half bottle from him, asks for the captain and requests the specials and settles in for a good meal, dignity intact. By the end of the meal she is finally being treated as she should have been for the beginning.
She talks a great deal about holding her head high and not being detered by the rudeness she encounters, which must have been difficult back in the 40s or 50s when this was written. She believed it was the right of single diners to have a first class meal.
It is a shame so little has changed in the intervening years.