To be annoyed at my seat in restaurant?

We had that in a hotel at breakfast. It was an expensive hotel but they were catering for too many people. The couple on the next table kept joining in our conversation. It was really unnerving.

Because they're so perfect they never complain about anything I expect.
OP, im with you, that's a horrible set up.

i wonder if the tables are supposed to be two fours, tgg grrr at would fit at a push, and they’ve just split them up but there’s insufficient space.

This seating set up is very common for tables of two. The last time I sat at one, the lady directly next to me spent 20 minutes on FaceTime to her granddaughter! I’ve never felt so uncomfortable eating a meal. Plus you have to physically move the table to get out. It’s like being in a cage. Restaurant owners, take note!

I wouldn’t like that, I’d put something on a review about cramped tables … also, hardly any room to put the many bowls that come out with Indian food

But if they made people dining in pairs more comfortable, they could well order more. Who's going to linger in a restaurant where they're crammed in, can't go to the toilet without disturbing 2 other tables, can't chat because there's someone else at their elbow who's also trying to have a different conversation?

Looks very wedged in.

I think this is the crux of it. They want larger parties a groups of four+ buy more alcohol and order wine, which is where they make most of their profit. They want you in and out pronto if you are just having one drink each. Business rates, NI, rising cost of ingredients and utilities mean their profit margins are squeezed so tightly it is hard to keep afloat. They pack us in and limit table booking times (I saw a post where it was 1hr 45mins and you were given the bill after 90mins). The focus is about serving up and shifting you out, rather than than ambience and an evening relaxing over a meal.

And it’s why so many of us just don’t eat out anymore. I won’t book a table where there is a 2 hour limit, though the last time we did, we just ignored it - but the second bottle of champaign on top of cocktails was probably why they never even suggested moving us… and sent us an email thanking us for our custom and inviting us to contact their Manager for a preferential table whenever we want to go back LOL.

Make sure you write a bad review and never go again i hate these restaurants that think they can get away with charging a fortune but giving you a shit service 😔

I hate seating like that - quite common in many restaurants in my part of London even in expensive chains like Ivy cafe.

Eating out is so expensive now that if I don’t like the seat I’m offered, and tney can’t offer a reasonable alternative, I will leave (usually a solution is found before I leave).

My DH is also happy to go with the flow but he’s learnt that I have higher expectations for seating than he does so now supports me

Actually, this may be a little more serious than the obvious inconvenience of not being able to go to the loo. The fire risk assessment will stipulate how many customers can be in the restaurant. Imagine if there was an emergency!

I hate tables like that and will look out for it more after a similar experience where I didn't realise the implications until you've sat down.

You can't talk to your dining companion without feeling like you're disturbing the people on the next table and you can hear your neighbours so it feels like you're dining with strangers and not just the person you're actually with.

I’m not saying I like it but it’s really not unusual to have this close seating & tables in many restaurants. I’m surprised so many are shocked by it.

Yeah far too intimate for me

YANBU. Slenderman would have a job squeezing between those tables on the right. I can only assume those voting YABU are the competitive undereaters we see on so many threads who think a 6 foot, 4 stone model is a perfectly healthy weight.

Unrelated to the thread, but do those bins across the street have bunting?

Nah, that’s unacceptable. Imagine the tables were all occupied, you’d have to ask people to get up so you could go to the toilet 🙈 How do the staff even comfortably serve the food without rattling someone on the head?! Immediate no from me. You could steal a chip from your neighbour and they wouldn’t even notice 😂

How did you even get in and out?!

That’s a ridiculous set up. I often ask to move if they try to sit me somewhere unsuitable, whether that’s right next to a door, near a screaming child, on a bench seat in the window that’s too high for the table, on a small or uncomfortable chair (when they have several chair options). The ‘take it or leave it’ attitude here would have me walking out the door before I sat down. No way I’m getting my thunder thighs through that gap, and I want to be able to fit all the food I ordered on the table!

I’m haven’t voted yet but I also think OP is unreasonable. Not because of the table, she is absolutely right about that but because she saw the table and proceeded to sit down, eat her dinner, pay £100 for the pleasure and then come here to complain. Pointless to do it here as we can’t do anything about it and it left the restaurant with the impression that what they are doing is ok and people will accept it. She is unreasonable not to have insisted on another table or walk out.

Yanbu. I'd hate that.

What's with the quoted response?
“2 people is these tables “

I'm genuinely amazed almost a quarter of those who have voted think you're unreasonable!

I would be leaving a fair and truthful review to warn other couples they may end up effectively sharing a table with strangers.

How did you even get in our out of your seat/table!

Yanbu.
No way would I have sat down.
I would have moved on, and have.
The tables were on top of each other.
I would highlight that in a review.
Include the photo in your review.

How did you even get into the seat at the back in the first place?

I agree OP I hate being wedged into tables like this .