Sitting in a Booth

The majority of restaurant goers tend to prefer sitting in a booth to sitting at a table. I have touched on this subject slightly in another blog, "Why You Sit Where You Do," but I would like to elaborate on this particular seating preference.

First, when asked at the door how many people are in your party and whether you prefer to sit in a smoking or non-smoking section, answer the questions and then say, "we'd like to sit in a booth, please." If you do this, you won't make things more complicated for whoever is seating you when they take you to a table and you tell them that you don't want to sit there. If you happen to forget to say that, however, and you absolutely must have a booth to enjoy your meal, please be polite about asking for a booth. There have been far too many times when I have taken a party to a table, only to be glowered at and looked at as if I am stupid for seating them at a table when "there's a booth RIGHT there!"

If you apologize, it makes a world of a difference in the seating host or hostess's opinion of you. I know that not everyone cares about what people think of them, but the impression you give the people serving you will often impact the quality of service that you receive.

Second, some people simply can't fit in booths. I am not saying this to be mean in any way, it is simply a fact. If you happen to be a particularly large individual and you ask for a booth, please realize that a great deal of booths do not allow you to scoot them one way or another to make it more comfortable for you. Also, please don't get aggravated with the person who seated you for your discomfort. They did not intentionally take you to a particularly small booth, they are all about the same size (although there often a few that will scoot). Remember, you asked for it.

Most seating hosts and hostesses will automatically try to take people with canes, wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, and weight problems to a table because it is assumed that a table will be more comfortable than a booth for these individuals. If you fall into any of these categories, please realize that you are being taken to a table almost automatically only because the staff wants you to be comfortable. That being said, if you truly will be most comfortable in a booth, please say so up front.

As for people with babies, please realize that this could mean sacrificing dining in a booth. In the restaurant I work in currently, we only have nine booths that we are allowed to place high chairs or baby nets at the end of; the remaining thirteen booths are risen and we are therefore not permitted to add anything onto the end. If you have a baby carrier and request a booth, you will either have to wait for a booth that sits at ground level, or, especially if you're at a restaurant like mine on a busy night or at one that has all risen booths, concede to eat at a table. It is very irritating to seat someone who insists on a particular, risen booth who has a baby carrier with them. As I stated earlier, many booths are not able to be moved, so please don't get mad at the seating host or hostess when you can't move the table to get your baby carrier wedged between the back of the booth and the table.

I once seated a party consisting of two people and a baby in a carrier. They were so determined to sit in a booth that one of the people in the party sat on the same side as the carrier and was literally falling out of the booth because there wasn't enough room. That just doesn't make any sense to me! In my mind, when you decide to have a baby, you decide to make certain sacrifices for the gift of this wonderful new gift of life to provide for. Is sitting in a booth really too much of a sacrifice to make?

Please take all of this into consideration the next time you decide that you want to sit in a booth.

Your Relationship With The Staff

When you walk into most sit-down restaurants, the first person that you will come across is the host or hostess. He or she should smile and greet you, then ask you how many people are in your party. If you think that anything about this person is cute, it will make them very happy if you keep that to yourself. Please don't respond to, "how many will be in your party tonight?" with "well one, but two if you want to come and join me." This is a very difficult situation for a host or hostess, some people are joking when they say this, others are not. In either situation, the employee is supposed to remain as polite and friendly as possible. Please don't put your host or hostess in this position.

The other thing that some customers do that makes everybody on the wait staff uncomfortable is encroaching too much on the host, hostess, or server's personal space. Getting too close to the restaurant employee makes him or her want to just take care of whatever he or she is responsible for done and then run away. Just because an employee is being friendly when you attempt to flirt, it does not mean that you are getting the okay to flirt some more.

If you are a natural flirt, I am not saying that it is necessary to not be yourself, but tone it down enough that the person you are interacting with is comfortable. Please be aware of how your words and body language affect the person who you are interacting with.

Public Displays of Affection in Restaurants

People go on dates, it is common knowledge that this is a frequent occurrence. It is also rather well known that people on dates tend to go out to restaurants. I understand that, I can respect that, and I enjoy going out to eat on a date myself. However, it would be very greatly appreciated if the public displays of affection during these restaurant dates could be downed down just a smidgen.

When out to dinner on a date, please realize that you are in a public location and people don't necessarily want to see you and your date with your hands all over each other. Some people like to sit on the same side of the table as each other, that's fine, but please don't do things under the people that other people can, unfortunately, see.

Not only does this behavior make other customers uncomfortable, but the staff as well. This kind of behavior may very easily make your service not quite as good as you may have hoped. Think about it, would you want to serve a couple of people who made you terribly uncomfortable? A personal example of PDA causing great discomfort for me is from one night when I was working as a seating hostess. There was one couple that was obviously very happy with each other. I could see that when they walked in and thought that they looked very sweet together and was happy for them. However, once they sat down they started making out! It was terribly awkward for those around them and I actually avoided walking by them. Once they had finished their meals they relocated to the restaurant lobby and continued there previous session only with more fervor and contact. I had to abandon my post as seating hostess and simply walk laps around the inside of the restaurant until they left.

Please, please, please enjoy your significant other, be attracted to them, pay close attention to them, but in the right amounts in the right place at the right time.

Why You Sit Where You Do

When you go to a restaurant that isn't crowded in the least bit and ask for a table, there is a reason that you are taken to the specific table that the host or hostess seats you at. Many people wonder why they may be taken so far from the door at times or into a certain area. The reason you sit where you do is because the host or hostess is required to follow a certain rotation. In a restaurant, the tables are divided up into sections and each section is assigned to a server. In order to maintain equality in tip dispersion throughout the wait staff, whoever is seating customers is responsible for taking them to tables rotating from one server's section to another. If the servers on duty have sections toward the back of the restaurant, that is where the seating host or hostess will take you.



If you would like to sit specifically in a booth or at a table, please let the host or hostess know up front. If you don't, you may end up walking to a section that is in a completely different area than where you want to sit. If you don't say where you want to sit and are taken to a place that isn't exactly where you had in mind, if it won't affect your dining experience in any negative manner, please sit there and be appreciative. It is very frustrating for a host or hostess to take a party to a table and have them glower and huff at the table instead of just saying, "If it's not a problem, can we please sit over there instead? This seems too cramped" or something along those lines.

One more thing that would help give your dining experience a more enjoyable start would be to specify your preferred area to be seated. Hosts and hostesses understand that some people prefer certain areas, but it makes life much easier for both parties if that preference is stated up front. Often times, I have witnessed restaurant goers request to sit at a booth then, once taken to a booth, tell the person seating them that they don't want the booth that they have been taken to. It is not as big of a deal if the restaurant is slow at the time, even if it is a little frustrating for the seating host or hostess. However, if you are arriving at a restaurant during a busy time, don't expect the luxury to be particularly picky about where you sit if you are also expecting to be seated in a decent amount of time.

I apologize if this seems like a rant, but as a restaurant employee, I have been unpleasantly surprised by just how rude some people can be. It bothers me that these rude people, the people that just tell the host or hostess "no" and just expect him or her to know exactly where they want to go without saying anything, the people who request something specific and then yell at and insult the intellect of the staff when someone is seated before them, these people make the staff irritable when someone requests something specific. If people would simply treat the people serving them with a little respect, they would make the dining experience much easier and enjoyable for all involved.