Have patios/decks become the de facto smoking area?

I'd pass on any patio that allows smoking. It really does ruin things - especially now that my family and I have gotten used to eating out without having to worry about smoke. I'm glad to hear there are some establishments here in town that are staying 100% smoke free - that's where I'll be for a nice meal or drinks outside.

This topic reminded me of the occasional "surprise" you get when you go on vacation now - you sit down to eat without really thinking about smoking and then you get a big ol' cloud drifting in and belatedly realize "Uh-oh, they still smoke in restaurants here." This has happened on our last two trips, so we have finally started to remember to ask about smoking policies when we are out of town.

Cheers,

Doug

We had an early dinner at Varanese a couple of weeks ago. When we arrived, our server was standing by the entrance smoking. When she served us, she smelled awful. It ruined an otherwise good meal. Sure servers should have freedom on their own time, but I don't like having to walk through their smoke or smell their stench.

I (That approach would gain my instant attention: Anyone who thinks smoking outdoors is okay has never tried to run the right-field gauntlet at Slugger Field.)

Left Field.

[Robin Garr]

Left Field.

The other right.

Well, Louisville should have allowed for some inside smoking areas, depending on the structure of the building, instead of a Draconian measure they chosen.

Just thought I'd mention something; this new B.D.'s in Louisville is the first one I remember seeing with an outside patio. I think businesses are making patios just to allow smoking; I'm sure that's why Ditto's and Jeff's Franks Steakhouse had them.

You should have made a comment. It's one of my little pleasures in life to get to tell a patron that they absolutely may not smoke. I think it's from being too long in CA. It used to be no smoking under the awning, but this has recently changed, so just hollar! Had a lovely man w/ many fine gadgets, new BMW bike, fine leather come in the other day, compare us to Nazi Germany and stiff me on his whopping $7.42 check for not letting him smoke on the patio.
(I didn't tell him, the host did) This is before he ever lit up! What a fine gentleman. It's times like this I want a pin that says "I make $2.13 an hour".

Though this is not about a patio, we in Indiana still live with smoking sections. While at Rockwall over the weekend, we were seated in the non-smoking section, with but an open doorway between us and the smoking section. Needless to say, we might as well requested a seat at the bar for the amount of smoke coming out of there. They re-seated us on the other side of the room and we had no issues after that. I'm glad they took care of us, but I would like to think when someone is dining at a certain level of restaurant, shouldn't more consideration be made for venting smoke?

We had an early dinner at Varanese a couple of weeks ago. When we arrived, our server was standing by the entrance smoking. When she served us, she smelled awful. It ruined an otherwise good meal. Sure servers should have freedom on their own time, but I don't like having to walk through their smoke or smell their stench.

Eliza, I am ashamed that your meal was ruined due to a lack of server consideration. That should have never happened. We have a designated employee smoking/ break area out of guest- view. We have a set smoking policy- servers may not smoke when they have active tables. We even stock a unisex body spray that each server is trained to spritz on their elbows when finished. They are trained to wash their hands after any cross- contamination activity. Evidently, this server chose not to follow our policies.

I would also like to thank you for your post, as it gives weight to the reasoning behind our policies. Your timing couldn't have been better. We have been focusing on this very topic for the past couple of weeks.

I am a smoker, but I completely agree that my lifestyle choices should never impact the guest's experience.

It's that simple.