Dining Alone

[MariaE]

I've noticed that the posters who are saying that they've never experienced problems or different service when dining alone have mentioned being on business trips.  I think this makes a difference.  Hotel restaurants, or restaurants that cater to business people on trips, are likely to be more welcoming of single diners, because more of their client base consists of people who dine by themselves.  A restaurant that's not in that business doesn't necessarily think of single diners as being part of their desired clients. 

I dine alone all the time - DH has a lot of night shifts, and I like spoiling myself by eating out at restaurants he wouldn't join me at - so my experiences are based on ordinary restaurants around Copenhagen and are not based on business trips at all.

I've never experienced difference service when dining alone compared to when dining with others.

[Sophia]

That waitress was a moron.  I used to be a waitress in a nice restaurant.  People by themselves tipped above average, sometimes way above average.  They fell into two categories:

1) Business travelers.  They ate out often enough to appreciate and recognize really good service, particularly customized good service (they could be quirky).  Company was paying, so the tip wasn't coming out of their pocket. 

2) People who appreciated the food and the restaurant experience enough that they didn't care to limit themselves to when it was a social occasion.  Generally easy-going customers.  Any service more than minimum acceptable and equal to other tables upped the starting point to 25%

[LadyJaneinMD]

I visited an Italian restaurant in Seattle years ago, at 8:00 on a weeknight.  I asked for a table and the host insisted that I had to sit at the bar.  I pointed out the dozen empty tables and the host said that it was their policy that single diners had to sit at the bar.  When I dine out by myself I prefer the company of a book, not the light and noise of bar seating.  I walked out and gave this restaurant poor reviews to many of my traveling coworkers and friends.

Something similar happened to me once.  The place had many empty tables and I politely requested one, but the hostess insisted I sit at one of those long tables where customers are right next to each other.  I do not go to restaurants to sit right next to strangers.  I walked out.

Now that's a whole different idea to me.  Years ago, I went to a little chinese place that I liked.  It wasn't crowded, but I was a single diner, and apparently they had a whole big round table that was set aside for 'single diners'.   There was a crowd of us, maybe 8 or 10.   I got to meet a lot of new people, and it was actually quite fun!   Of course, I was a lot younger then, too. 

[BabyMama]

I haven't been back to Outback Steakhouse after they sat me at the bar because I was alone. I ended up taking up a huge amount of the bar with my salad and steak and baked potato all on different plates, and my drink and the bread. Not a great dining experience. (The bartender was great but I wasn't drinking so he probably wasn't enjoying having me there either.)

[Twik]

I haven't been back to Outback Steakhouse after they sat me at the bar because I was alone. I ended up taking up a huge amount of the bar with my salad and steak and baked potato all on different plates, and my drink and the bread. Not a great dining experience. (The bartender was great but I wasn't drinking so he probably wasn't enjoying having me there either.)

At least the bar was better than my experience with an Outback Steakhouse a few years ago. I was deliberately put in an entire empty section, behind a pillar. I had to get up to find the server to:
- get a menu
- give my order
- remind them after 1/2 hour that I was, indeed, still waiting for my order, or at least some bread
- get my bill
- have the server take my bill.

When leaving, I mentioned to the hostess that I wasn't pleased at being, essentially, abandoned to my own devices. She raised a Spock-like eyebrow and sniffed, "Well of COURSE you weren't getting served. You were sitting in a closed section!" The implication appeared to be that I had bullied myself into that particular section, rather than meekly going where I was put.

The hostility I got that night was totally baffling, far beyond what I'd expect even for places hostile to the single female diner. I can only surmise that they had mistaken me for someone who had treated them very, very badly in the past (I had never been to that restaurant before, so there wasn't a likelihood I'd done something unintentionally rude myself).

Every other OBS I've ever eaten at has been extremely friendly, so it's no reflection on the chain.

[Sharnita]

Yeah, I have found that my setvice os good there - including when I am alone. That being said, I know that if you have a manager at one restaurant who has a different approach/attitude, the story might be very different.

[*inviteseller]

I like to have a meal out by myself occasionally, and if I was seated at a bar, I would tell them I wanted a table.  If they could not get one or would not get me a table, I will go to a different restaurant.  To me, the bar is first a place to have a drink, then possibly to have some munchies or a sandwich and you are close to everyone else sitting there.  When I treat myself, it is to have a meal away from the kids  , and to just relax.  I don't want to sit and listen to all the chit chat and try to eat a full meal. 

[JacklynHyde]

I dine out solo on occasion and only sit at the bar if it's incredibly crowded or if the bartender is someone I know.  Otherwise, I feel weird pulling out my usual book so I can read (and people watch over the cover) while I eat.