Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be mildly annoyed that table hoggers spoiled our meal a bit.

40 replies

Corialanusburt · 11/03/2017 14:01

Arrived at restaurant with booking for 1 pm. We'd booked a a nice table in the window. Four mums were sitting chatting and feeding their babies, they'd finished eating and drinking. We were asked to wait as our table wasn't ready.
By 20 past we were given another more cramped table as ours hadn't been vacated. Throughout our meal people arrived waiting for tables as it had created a domino effect of having to wait for a table that was allocated the the group after them.
The mums left about when we did, an hour and a quarter after we'd arrived having not eaten or drunk themselves in that time.
What is a restaurant owner to do? If he'd gently asked them to leave, they could have left a Tripadvisor review saying that the restaurant discouraged baby feeding. Does the fact that you're a mother of a small child confer mystical table rights on you?
I know how it feels to need a comfortable place and the time to feed my baby but was this not a bit over the top?

OP posts:
Minniemagoo · 11/03/2017 14:05

Tbh its the retairants fault for not reserving the table for you. When they arrived the table should have had a reserved sign or they should have been informed that yhis tabel is needed for a 1pm booking.
Very poor of the restaurant. I'd take it up with them. You didn't get the table.of service you booked because of their oversight.

Gallavich · 11/03/2017 14:05

They should have made it clear when the women sat down that the table was reserved at x time.

Minniemagoo · 11/03/2017 14:06

Sorry on phone and it doesnt seem to be autocorrrecting my fat finger mistakes.

Deliaskis · 11/03/2017 14:07

Yes the restaurant should have reserved your table and advised the group when they arrived that it was needed at 1pm.

SorrelSoup · 11/03/2017 14:07

They should have an area for drinks where people can sit at their leisure.

Trifleorbust · 11/03/2017 14:09

Nowt to do with their babies, really. Decent restaurants don't just push customers out of the door when they have finished eating. Lots of people stay to have a chat. But yes, the babies hadn't finished, so there is also that.

TondelayaDellaVentamiglia · 11/03/2017 14:09

yup...bad and greedy management

the table should have been reserved for you, but they obviously thought they'd get another sitting in and make some more cash.

They either take reservations or make it first come, first served, and try to make a nice "pre dinner drinkies corner" to keep any one waiting happy.

limitedperiodonly · 11/03/2017 14:09

Why don't you and all the other customers post Tripadvisor reviews saying that the restaurant owner is a wimp for allowing these people to inconvenience you?

That'll learn him

Bluntness100 · 11/03/2017 14:13

I'm not sure it's the groups fault, I'm guessing they didn't know the table was required. Probably as the restaurant didn't expect them to stay so long so didn't say.. I agree it's quite a long time to stay after your meal and potentially it cost the restaurant money as they couldn't turn the table. They should say the table is only available till 1, but a lot of people don't like that.

intheknickersoftime · 11/03/2017 14:13

I think if restaurants had more table service and siad "is that all? Shall I get the bill?" Then that is your queue to leave. I don't know if this restaurant did this. I have always left busy restaurants promptly if others are waiting. Occupying a space for a further hour for no good reason is a bit rude.

TaliDiNozzo · 11/03/2017 14:15

The mums were rude but unfortunately I'm not sure the restaurant staff were in any position to do anything about it. Perhaps they could've gone over to them and asked if they wanted anything else? That's a polite way of acknowledging it's been a while since they ordered I think.

Underthemoonlight · 11/03/2017 14:16

I've worked in the restaurant industry the fact they had babies is irrelevant. I've worked tables where people have enjoyed having wine and additional drinks we never pushed for them to vacate the table. I don't particularly like to be rushed either.

TinselTwins · 11/03/2017 14:26

YABU to blame the people at the table! Restaurants aren't just for stuffing your face then leaving, people are NBU to linger and chat.

The restaurant obviously didn't mark your table as reserved early enough is all

Allthebestnamesareused · 11/03/2017 14:32

Restaurants either explain that you can have a table for a certain amount of time or they don't. Your complaint is not with people spending time in a restaurant who you refer to as "tablehoggers" but who I would call other customers!

They weren't to know you thought their table was yours. The onus was on the restaurant. You too had a choice. You could have chosen to go elsewhere if the table they offered you was not up to your standard.

ImsorryTommy · 11/03/2017 14:42

Lingering for over an hour after you've finished eating and drinking is taking the piss somewhat.

ProfessionalPirate · 11/03/2017 14:45

Reverse of the other thread?

southeastdweller · 11/03/2017 14:47

Lingering for over an hour after you've finished eating and drinking is taking the piss somewhat
Agreed. The restaurant staff and mums are equally to blame in my eyes.

MrsKoala · 11/03/2017 14:52

I remember going to restaurants with my family as child. It was fairly standard for long family meals to linger for hours after (probably with coffees). Now it seems you eat pay and leave. The experience of being out is now the experience of consuming. I know these are businesses and they need to make a profit, but it seems to have gone from one extreme to another.

DH and I went for a special birthday meal once and ordered and had our food brought out almost immediately. The tables were so close you couldn't chat comfortably. £135 pounds and 45 mins later we were back on the pavement outside thinking, well that was worth it! Hmm

It depends on the kind of restaurant i suppose. I wouldn't linger in Wagamamas, but would somewhere else if i was meeting friends for a catch up.

SquidgeyMidgey · 11/03/2017 14:52

No use complaining on here, or on TripAdvisor, you needed to say something to the staff at the time.

fallenempires · 11/03/2017 14:56

Poor of the restaurant if they have allowed other diners to have a table which is already reserved for a certain time without making it clear that there is in fact a time limit for how long they can be sat there for.
However,some people do deliberately outstay their welcome regardless unfortunately.
Unless you're Basil Fawlty you're not exactly going to go over to the occupied table and tell them to piss off are you?!Grin

LucklessMonster · 11/03/2017 14:57

The tables were so close you couldn't chat comfortably.

Christ, I hate that. I don't eat in places without a decent gap between the tables.

Wagamamas at busy times is my idea of hell.

Kiroro · 11/03/2017 14:58

Restuant are to blame - they can just ask them to leave!

"Hi Ladies, just a quick heads up that the table is reserved form [time] so i'm going to need it back from you in 15 mins. [BIG SMILE] Would you like me to get you another drink or shall I bring the bill over?

HarrietVane99 · 11/03/2017 15:06

Hogging a table when you've finished eating and drinking and there are other people waiting is not on, IMO. No problem if you're finishing your wine or coffee, or if the restaurant isn't busy and there are empty tables.

ItShouldHaveBeenJingleJess · 11/03/2017 15:08

I don't think it's the restaurant 's fault - they're in a no-win situation. If they had asked the mums to leave, there would be a Trip Advisor /Twitter /Facebook flurry of furious messages over lack of sympathy for breastfeeding mums,and probably calls to spurn their establishment. Personally, I'd be a bit embarrassed at hogging a table for an hour after I'd finished my meal - I've breastfed in train stations and on park benches. Nothing wrong with doing it in public, but taking up tables in a busy restaurant is just rude.