AIBU to want a table for 3?

[UnderTheFridge]

I met my Mother for breakfast and shopping this morning and we decided to go to a local cafe. We were going to have a full breakfast and as the tables were tiny we asked if we could have a larger table. They said no and that the tables for 4 were only available for parties of 3 +. We’ve had breakfast there before and it’s served on large rectangular dishes. There’d have been no room by the time we had breakfast and tea. So we left and went to another cafe which was busy but at least the tables for 2 were larger.

The first cafe has 22 tables and only one other was occupied.

AIBU to think that considering they were near empty and that as they don’t take reservations that they could have allowed us a larger table?

P.S It should say a table for 4 in the title. But I can’t change it now.

Yes they could, YANBU. It is often the case that tables for two aren’t big enough for two people having full meals and drinks, though they’d be fine for 2 people having coffee and cake.

If the cafe was so empty they were crazy to say no.

Depends whether they had the space for groups of two to use tables of four or they usually get filled up by bigger groups.

It is annoying when restaurants have small tables but use huge plates that mean you have no space.

I once walked out of a cafe because I was alone and they insisted I sit at a table that had one chair, and a calor gas heater where the other chair would go.

And the place was empty, it was about 10am on a Sunday. Nah.

Yeah this situation needs staff to use common sense. We often ask for a booth for 4, if it’s not busy we’re usually told yes.

Maybe they expected a rush but if not, they were a bit jobsworth.

YANBU.

If it wasn't practical for you at the table you were seated at, then the restaurant should have accommodated your request for a larger table, as was evidently possible. People eat out for the experience, and if the cheapy-rubbish tables were ruining that experience, then it's the restaurant's fault, not yours. Staff should be willing to help. You, the customer pay their wages, ultimately. I would leave based on the un-helpful attitude alone.

When DC are at school and DH is at work, I sometimes have lunch out and feel rather irked at so many tables for 4 and 6, no thought seems to go in to solo diners. I would feel no guilt at occupying a table of 4, as a solo diner, I shouldn't be an afterthought.

The worst is booking a table for 3 people and they give you one that's really a table for 2 with a 3rd chair added on one side so there's hardly any room for food. I've started booking for +1 if there's an odd number of people going as it's happened too many times, then just tell someone was ill!

This sounds like a case of a staff member being told not to seat two people at a table for four, during a time when it was really busy, and then thinking they had to apply this as a blanket rule at all times. YANBU.

If they'd been really busy (or it was a weekend morning when they're likely to get a breakfast rush at a certain time) then it would be completely understandable that they didn't want to seat two people at a bigger table, but on a weekday when only one table was taken, they were daft not to seat you where you wanted.

I hate it when there’s just two of you dining or having coffee and they put you on a table for two alongside a row of other “tables for two” with just a few inches in between, so you feel as if you’re dining with other folk and part of their party and conversations. Last night they started walking towards exactly this set up and I stopped next to an empty round table for 3 in a corner and requested that one. And got it. Restaurant was mostly empty but they still tried to sit us on top of others.

And the little tables as you say are two small for the large plates ….particularly if you’re having a massive pizza

No wonder they are not busy.

I hate having to juggle my plate, cutlery, drink, sauces etc at a tiny table, YANBU. As a PP said, those small tables are fine if you're just having coffee but not for full meal.

That was miserable of them if there were loads of empty tables. Could understand if they were really busy.

Next time, pretend a third is on the way

YANBU. I think if it had been my late DM and me and we cba to find a different cafe we’d have just taken a table each and talked loudly.

nope. no next time for me.

That happened to me as well. Took me to a table that was barely even in the seating area, it was halfway out of a door arch. Where the second chair would be there was a massive plant pot. No thanks.

And then pretend to get a phone call and say loudly “oh hello Jean, oh you can’t make it? Not to worry, hope you’re better soon”.

One of my local cafe’s does this too. It’s so annoying as I always get a pot of tea with milk, hot water, teapot etc, there just isn’t the room if you’re having a meal too. I’ve seen people leave because they were refused a bigger table. Policy apparently, but should use discretion. I think next time I’ll use the waiting for a friend excuse