To be annoyed at my seat in restaurant?

[inkyspells]

So last night me and partner went for a Indian meal for a belated birthday celebration.
Heard lots of good reviews but because there was just the two of us they put us on the two table (which was bang in the middle and people either side,no room to move etc )
I felt so uncomfortable the whole meal.
Felt like the other people watching us eating,couldn’t talk etc
I asked to move but they said “2 people is these tables “
Anyway il add a photo with arrow showing our table
abiu ? Or are these tables ridiculous
Bear in mind we have 2 curry’s ,2 cocktails ,2 rice ,a nan all on there and literally couldn’t move.

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 😂

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?

Yeah far too intimate for me

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.

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.

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 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

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 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.

Looks very wedged in.

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?

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

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 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.

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

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.

I am plus size and my bum would never fit through the gap! I would have asked for another table and if that wasn’t possible I would have left.

How did you even get in to your table?

YANBU

I used to go to a restaurant that underwent new management. They introduced a near identical set-up as the one in the photo. I no longer go there.

I am too fat to eat at this restaurant! Who wants to drag their clothes through someone else's dinner whenever you need to get up. I would hate to be sitting elbow to elbow with the neighbouring diners.

You're sitting in the middle table, against the back rest and need to go to the loo, theres a big behemoth of a person sat on the chair of the next table.

Do you incredibles stretch your torso and shrink your femurs to whoosh through the gaps of the table ir choose to levitate to the toilet?

more likely everyone around you has to stand up, and big behemoth person has to stand up, move back, move their chair and scoot the table out a bit to let you out?

Thats why...

I'd not have sat down, its ok, we will go somewhere else; thanks though.

Yanbu, this set up would not be for me either!

I've been to places which are more street food vibes with long benches where you share with multiple other people/groups, I'm not keen on that either (too noisy!) but at least the benches have access both side so that everyone can leave the table if they want too!

My fat arse wouldn't fit through that gap!

I wouldnt have stayed in would politely ask for a table on its own or just left

YANBU, there isn't enough space to squeeze that small table in. It's more like a greasy spoon than a restaurant set up.