friendoffigment
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 11, 2014
doing a solo. are there any sit down restaurants you would avoid. any ones that are good for solo's
None that I would avoid. I've now done 5 solo trips and eaten at 11 sit down restaurants. All are good foe solo's.doing a solo. are there any sit down restaurants you would avoid. any ones that are good for solo's
I’ve never had a bad solo dining experience, but there have been a few times where I asked for a different table and got pushback. A lot of two-top tables seem to be in the middle of the aisle and I just don’t feel comfortable unless I’m off to the side. That would be true if I was eating with someone else, but the discomfort is even more pronounced when I’m alone. So if I see that I’m being led to an awkward aisle table, then I ask for the (usually empty) 4 top side table next to it instead. They’ll do it, but at both Coral Reef and Spice Road Table, I was made to feel like I was being unreasonable for not wanting to sit wherever they put me, regardless of how many tables remained empty the whole time that I was there. It was even worse at Ale and Compass, where I asked for a table with normal chairs instead of this low backed cushion bench thing that I didn’t even know was an option until I was seated, and the hostess actually argued with me. I was extremely polite and I told her that I would have no trouble waiting if necessary, but she didn’t even try to hide her annoyance at having to accommodate me. The meal itself was fantastic and the server was great, but I wasn’t really able to overcome the sour feeling that the hostess created at the start of the experience.
That kind of thing is not the norm, though. I’ve been fortunate to have amazing servers at CG, HDDR, VN, TH, and Homecomin (just to name a few) who seemed to give me extra attention because I was solo.
I totally get that and would have zero issue if the restaurant was full or super popular. For instance, I dined solo at California Grill on Thanksgiving and would have accepted any table. My annoyance comes when the restaurant is more than half empty and I’m treated like dirt for politely asking to sit at a table right next to the one they want me to use. SRT was particularly ridiculous because the room I was in had 3 occupied tables (including mine) the entire hour that I was there and yet the hostess gave me a hard time for asking to sit at a four top next to the window instead of the two top in the middle of the aisle. It just made me feel like I was less than because I was solo. Like it was better for the window table to remain empty on the off chance that a bunch of parties of four walked in at the exact same time and for some reason couldn’t be accommodated by all of the other available tables throughout the restaurant.as a waitress, i can see where they're coming from. you never know when a bigger party is gonna come in and need the bigger table. if someone is polite about it though and it's not a busy time i usually dont mind if they ask to change seats, but its the people who fight with me that make my blood boil