Who is unreasonable here - the staff or the potential customers?

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A reasonably busy tourist city today at lunchtime: we enter one of those vintage style tea and cake/ lunch tea rooms about midway through the lunch peak time. We meet the staff just after entering and its established that we do want lunch - not just drinks and begin to make their way to a table. It's in the next 'room' of the cafe and we are tersely are told its a table for four. Bit of confusion here over us thinking that means its reserved and we then make their back into main part of cafe there is a raised section with four out of five tables free so we begin to head there - it is quieter and there are window seats. We are stopped again - no, those are tables for four/ five (maybe ... if two people squashed on benches!). There is a table for two but it is currently dirty and full of plates, she will clear it for us. This table is squashed right by the serving hatch in the busier area. I've experienced this before and would prefer not to... but no, same blunt tone - this is the only table we can have.

Anyway, long and the short of it is, we leave a cafe about a third full and find a great one a few streets over. Happy ending all round - they kept their table rules and we were eventually fed.

I was just a bit amazed! They have great reviews on tripadvisor, but I spoke to a friend who went in there as a single person and was asked to move tables. Does this happen anywhere else?!

YANBU. Glad you went elsewhere and didn't give them your custom.

At first I thought the OP was being unreasonable but I understand this set up better through RTFT.

It sounds like this restaurant hasn't made enough nice 2 seaters available. To have multiple 4-seaters vacant but forbidden to customers and the only available option next to a serving hatch is just bad planning and bad customer service. No wonder OP said a polite no.

Is it really rocket science to have some 2seaters than can be pushed together to make a 4 or 6 but detached again for when you have couples coming into eat?

Trifle, I think the customer is entitled to be entitled . Eating out is as much about the experience as it is the food and doesn't come cheap. Therefore the customer should get a seat she is happy with.
Agree with timely, if the restaurant wants couples to sit at 2 seater tables then they need to provide attractive and comfortable 2 seater tables. Not treat them like an after thought and cram them in by the servibg hatch. Greed on the part of this restaurant has cost them money and repeat business.

Okay, Stop, you're obviously entitled to that opinion. I happen to disagree.

StopMakingMeLogOn I don't agree with the definition of entitled that has been said on this thread. It was not like I walked in and demanded a window seat, a cushioned chair and immediate service! Or that I kicked off about not having a bigger table! As you say it is about the experience, and I just wanted to know if we could sit somewhere quieter and less cramped! Yes, I think the customer is has the right to at least ask and want to be as comfortable as they can. It's then up to the establishment to decide.

I think your comment Rhiwhites' about the 2 seaters that can be moved as necessary is right - and obvious now I think of it! I have seen that used in places. Good idea, especially as different types of groups come in throughout the day.

Yes blank. The word 'entitled' has come to mean bratty, demanding and spoilt on MN, whereas I think of it as being assertive wrt getting decent service and fair treatment in life - insisting on your right to get the treatment you are paying for.

But surely you follow the principle of a bird in the hand. OP was going to spend ££ and was an ally, keen customer. Whatever they expect in terms of future business, they are better off with OP.

Additionally, it is nonsense to suggest that you have rules (and for 3 people too). We used to run a very busy pub. Even if pushed, we would have put 2 people on an empty table rather than hoping for more customers.

OP went elsewhere. If other customers arrived they too might go elsewhere if it was full. But they would do so feeling disappointed, and keen to go again to somewhere so popular. They might book next time.

While tables sit empty you are paying staff, heating, light etc.

Unless you actually serve someone, any profit is purely speculative.

As a restaurant owner, our policy is as far as possible to seat customers at appropriately sized tables, but if someone requests something reasonable, ie not near toilets or in a cooler/warmer room or something, as long as we are not fully booked or a table has been particularly reserved we would allow that seating. At lunch time we do tend to allow a seat yourself policy to happen, but it really annoys me when two people decide to sit on our sole six seater table so they can 'spread out'!

I think they treated you badly and it is good that you left. I eat out a lot and often choose a four person table if the restaurant isn't that busy for my daughter and I as we always have loads of bags with us etc. No one has ever questioned this or made us feel bad. If we are seated by the host at a two person table I would clearly accept it if the restaurant is full but I have sometimes asked for a bigger table if it isn't and usually they happily accommodate the request. In your case, I think they were a bit rude and pretty unwelcoming and I definitely don't think you are being unreasonable.

YANBU I would have left too. Other people probably did, which is why they had so many table free! I have never waited for someone to clear a table just so I could sit at the 'correct' sized table. Nor would I. If I don't like the table - I leave.

I can't believe that anywhere would ask people to move AFTER they've ordered or started eating. Rubbish customer service.

Busy place at lunchtime, you are taking up a table 4 for and you only want drinks? YABU

Whatever happened to customer service?

I worked in restaurants long before Trip Advisor was thought of. I was taught that if you have an unhappy customer they don't just never come back, they tell their babysitter, their friends and relations and any acquaintance who might vaguely mention getting a coffee at the place!

Today, when everyone is a potential critic it is completely bonkers to alienate your customers.

I can't actually believe how hard it can be to spend money in some places. Perhaps you had a massive appetite for lunch... their loss.

PizzaFlavouredCupcake Try reading the thread properly. OP clearly stated, more than once, that they did want lunch, not just drinks.

Also, Beauty, the OP has stated the place was two thirds empty, so not busy anyway.

Don't you just hate it when people don't even bother to read the OP's posts?

PizzaFlavouredCupcake - wrong on all three counts, as others have said! Impressive, even for AIBU.

It was interesting to read the posts from people who've run businesses. Sounds like common sense and adaptability generally prevail.

My friend manages a restaurant and he's a genius at turning tables but he's never rude or unwelcoming, He's just very good at guessing who will eat quickly and who will linger. It's a busy place but he quite often gives two people a table for four - most are tables for four - if it's not booked because like PP who work in restaurants have said, it's a bird in the hand.