To book a table for 2

[Namechanger2735]

Rang a restaurant to book a table, I said "2 and a high chair" she said, "okay a table for 3 will be 19:45 at the earliest". I then went on their website, table for 2 18:15. I've never known a restaurant to class a highchair as an extra person, we'll still be given a small table that would be given for 2 people. No extra food will need to be made as DD will eat off my plate (and it's a carverh anyway!)
Do you think I'll be greeted with a frosty reception?

BitOutOfPractice

It’s not the spaceonthe table. It’s the spacearoundthe table. Surely you can see that a high chair takes up just as much space (if not more) than an adult chair and the layout means they need to take that into account.

This. I worked in restaurants for years. People rocking with unannounced small people requiring their own seating space really pissed me off.

Op my local Toby Carvery has the type of high chairs without a tray - just like a high wooden seat and you need to pull it up to the table.

If your restaurant has these it would make sense that they're classing it as a table for 3 needed as the high chair user will (as far as they know) need space for a plate/cup etc too.

I can't see how not buying a meal for a child that doesn't have the stomach capacity for one would be cheap?
Doing so would scream wasteful to me

Exactly bitoutofpractice, it's not the ability to put another place setting down, it's the ability to put an actual chair in that space.

Someone phoned to book a table of 6 at my restaurant last week. When I took some further details it was actually 6 plus three highchairs people like this are the reason my job is far more difficult than it should be.

For a start several of our tables are fixed booths with no further room around them. And many are about a foot taller than a highchair. It's amazing how many people turn up with pushchairs and are baffled why they can't just block the walkway with it.

So you have taken 2 bookings?
They told you the situation
You aren't a party of 2
YABU

Nope, no reason at all to buy a meal for the child, I never had an issue providing a side plate for a small child to share parents meal.

That is not the issue at all here, it is the space around the table that is in question.

Haha unihorn I don't miss hospitality one little bit!

Either way you need a table for 3 unless your child is spending the entire meal on your lap .

IME it's not unusual for staff to make room for a high chair at a table by moving one of the adult chairs away.

So giving you a table for 3, but swapping one of the adult chairs for the high chair. I would guess the reason for not letting you book a table for 2 is because they want the option of swapping the chair space for the high chair.

Feeding a baby / toddler off the parents is an entirely different matter and depends a lot on the age and appetite of the child. DS3 is 10 months old, and so far he's eaten off our plates when we've been eating out, because so far his appetite for solid food is very small and if we ordered him a separate plate, almost all of it would be wasted.

Just go somewhere else and save yourself the embarassement.

I was at a Toby Carvery last weekend and a couple in front had booked a table for 2. But the highchair won't fit with a small table so were told to wait for a larger table to become available.

If the server says you need a table for 3 then I'd stick to that

As you didn't book a high chair online, they may not have one available at the time you booked.

Name change your wrong for one very good reason...
Your child is a person and WIll be sitting at the table.
It doesn't matter if the DC eats or not, the child will be at the table.

So to be correct yes you are paying for 2 covers but you need a table for 3 people.

The high chair takes up space at a table.

I don't run a restaurant but I do run a public venue. There are laws (licensing laws) about the gangways between chairs and tables, and about the total number of people on the premises.

As @BitOutOfPractice says, it is the floor space taken up by the high chair that is the issue, @Namechanger2735, not the space on the table.

Yabu becausebits about

Space
Availability of highchairs
Possibly even fire regulations if they are really busy.

If you want a highchair and they say its that time, then its that time.

Around my dining room table there is space for four chairs (it's against a wall) or three chairs and a high chair. A high chair takes up the same amount of space. I cannot fit four chairs and a high chair as that's 5 chairs.

The clue is in the name high CHAIR.

We went yday to toby carvery and sat in the bar area with our food. We had a baby sitting in a high chair and there was plenty of room , the bar area was empty . I cancelled the table I booked so we could have more space. My sister then upgraded to a king size and my DN ate from her plate .

I don't like children eating from a parents plate. Screams cheap to me).

Cheap?

Or just not wasting food on a baby/toddler not old enough to eat a child's portion yet? Many are fine with a potato and a bit of veg.

You needn't look down on people as being cheap. Plenty of restaurants are happy to give young children plates to share parents food.

My 2yo ds eats from my plate. I'd buy him caviar and hand dived scallops if he wanted them. But he's not v food motivated and prefers to eat what's on my plate. I'd rather look cheap than wasteful.

Plenty of restaurants are happy to give young children plates to share parents food.

Yes. And even between adults who know they won't eat that much (or want to save space for dessert).

I don't think seating three is the same as two and a highchair

It’s exactly the same. A high chair has the same footprint as a regular chair. The space required around the table will be the same as the space required for three chairs.

It’s a table for 3 chairs not 3 people.

Whenever i am booking a table and need a highchair i always include the highchair as a person because that way it takes up less room around the table and doesnt get in peoples way. I thought that was commom sense.