Restaurant Seating

I was actually excited to finally have something to put down here.  You know what it’s like when you have an idea, and until it starts working for you it’s hard to keep enthusiastic about it.

Anyway – in to the story.

We were out for dinner at Red Lobster.  I dropped my wife off to head inside and get us a buzzer because I could tell there was going to be a wait – and I went to park the car.  I joined her inside, and was surprised shortly afterward by being called for a seat – not a long wait at all.

After one look at me the gentleman (maybe manager at the front, I didn’t ask) told the hostess that they probably shouldn’t seat us at one of their tiny two seater booths.  He apologized to me, they recently went through renovations to increase the seating capacity, and while it looks great, the booths are ‘standard’ size, and (I quote) “I’m only 6’3 and my knees knock against the other side of the booth, you’re a foot taller than me and will be very uncomfortable”.  He was being generous with his own height, but aside from that I appreciated the sentiment and told him that I understood.

I always try to be gracious about things like that, I would have tried to cram myself in to the booth too instead of asking for something else.  There are some restaurants I can manage, and some I know there is no hope and always ask for a table.  It isn’t just my stomach (which is oversized) but my height as well.  Even my feet can be a problem under narrow tables when I have nowhere to put them and a big pole jamming me in the knee.

Anyway – I appreciated the extra thought, and even though it cost us another 20-30 minutes waiting, I was happy to have a movable table and chairs to sit at afterward.  The manager and hostess were also really great through the whole process.  They came over to check on us probably every 5-10 minutes to tell us it wouldn’t be much longer.  They even came (both of them separately) to tell us at one point there was a table ready, the people had paid and they were just waiting for them to exit.

Throughout the process I always had a ready smile, and even chatted with the taller manager about our mutual office space issues.  He apparently had his office designed around his size with larger furniture and such, and is consistently amused at his colleagues who ‘just don’t understand what it’s like’.  I can relate to that sentiment for sure.

So – average sizes people out there.  I envy your ability to walk in to any restaurant and find a seat at any table – and your choice of booth or table is more of a preference decision, and not purely a ‘wont fit otherwise’.

I will rant about other seating in the future – make sure you remind me to tell you the story of the one time we went to the Rosebud Theatre