Why does a restaurant host/ess seem to seat diners at the most disagreeable table in a dining room full of empty tables? Carol M, St. Louis
And I thought it was just me!
If there's a bus station nearby, a kitchen door (especially one that squeaks), or a child whose prime directive is banging pasta spoons, the host (and that assumes hostess) will seat me at an adjoining table. Remember L'il Abner? I am Joe Btfsplk.
There are three reasons some of us get seated in the proverbial environs. The first is what I call “thoughtlessness, masked as consideration.” On the first seating, in an effort to offer guests privacy and quiet, the host spreads parties around the dining room like salt gets tossed on a snowy driveway—with some inevitably scattered at the edges.
More likely is that servers work specific stations and the host is simply trying to even out the flow of customers. That’s why one server may get a party of 6 and another may have three deuces piled into his section. Believe me, servers are counting and coveting guests, and will let the host know the millisecond they feel they’re being slighted.
The third reason is that most restaurants that take reservations hold the better tables for guests who have made them, the thought being “if you’re considerate enough to call ahead, we’ll be considerate enough to give you a decent table.” So although the dining room may appear empty to an arriving guest, in the eye of the host the primo seats are already spoken for, hence the reason spontaneous diners end up in some cold, lonely corner, waving their arms and shouting for attention as if stranded on some deserted beach.
The remedy? Ask to be seated elsewhere. Almost always, the host can and will comply.
