I have been on 5 solo trips so far, having eaten at roughly 3 meals a day and each trip around 2 weeks long and I have had mostly very good to great experiences overall and on this issue of table "quality", let us say. But I agree it is very important.
However, I can distinctly remember some pretty bad tables and locations of them at 2 spots, and I have to say, it did color my overall dining experience and is partly why I probably haven't returned to these restaurants, in this way.
One was at Be Our Guest for Dinner - not only was it was one of those tiny tables they claim is for 2 but it was against the wall! Plus, the place is so crowded and noisy as it is and with it being against the wall, it just made me feel like claustrophobic. I've gone back there but only for the quick service breakfasts and lunches.
The other time my table was awful was at Via Napoli, and I believe it was also partly against the wall and just very skimpy. Also, the place just had no atmosphere and the waitstaff was rather uninterested in me. I don't know, I just hated it.
Now, I've also had some smaller tables including the aforementioned smaller tank-side table at Coral Reef where it didn't matter because the overall location and ambiance and waitstaff were so great that it elevated the experience.
One of the reasons I like a spacious table is I like to order apps, sometimes multiple, and when you add up the table setting, drink, bread service, and then sometimes they quick serve you with dinner when you just started your apps...you can see how having a paltry table with limited surface size can be a hazard! I've had times where they had no place to put my entre and I wasn't yet finished with my apps!
But I agree, if we know we need a bigger table, then we have to speak up. I've been getting better at that. I used to be so timid. Like, almost every time they try to shuffle me off to the bar for my seating, and every time I'm like "No thank you, I'd like a table, please." (I want to add, "Same as the ones that everyone else has who made a reservation has")
Once at Fulton's Crab House (now Paddlefish), not only did they try to put me at the bar, when I said no to that, then they tried to take me to one of those horrible little round tables that feels like it's a hundred feet off the ground where you climb up on those horrible, again BAR-stools to sit, and again I said "Oh no, I can't sit here, I need a regular table, please". And the best was that they weren't even busy and had so many regular tables, too! I ended up getting this like gargantuan size table, which was quite funny, I thought, with more room than I even needed! I loved it!
