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.

I think that’s bad, especially for the price. To me £100 is a lot for two people at an Indian. £50 for a curry, rice, half a naan and a cocktail…and to sit like that? No way.

A bit close together? 😆

Good point.
I've been on small cramped tables before but this one is taking the piss. I don't know how two people would sit there and be able to move their elbows, have a few dishes etc!

That's not cosy for two people out for dinner. That's too intimate with the other tables for me. I see that as the kind of set up that might be okay for a cheap cafeteria where the object is just to get fed rather than enjoy the time. I wouldn't have stayed.

Our local Indian is exactly the same. They have a good value offering every Wednesday but having tried it once where the pricing led to the restaurant being full I would never go again.

How did you even get into your seat? There should be three tables in that space, not four.

How the bloody hell are you supposed to get in and out of your seat without scraping your bum across the table. And what do you choose for next doors view, your bum or your crotch? Unacceptable.

I wouldn’t have been able to squeeze in between those tables! If they couldn’t accommodate me I’d have left.
I booked a popular restaurant and they took us to one of the few booths that even my size 10 DD would have felt squashed but I just told them no way and they found us another table in a few minutes no fuss - and it was packed.
Were there other tables available?

I went to a pricey restaurant with my DH a few years ago, tables close and no music so you could hear what everyone else was talking about. The food was amazing (been there before but they'd had a refurb and moved things around) but we have never been back as I felt like I eating with an audience, there was no privacy. It was our anniversary.

Well thanks to the picture, we know where the restaurant is ....

Yanbu - far too squeezed together. Try to get through that gap, and my arse would end up in someone's curry.
I went to a bar in Kings Cross with that exact set up, and sat at that table. We weren't even having food, but I was so uncomfortable, almost wanted to lean across the table and whisper, because you had people right next to you.

Of course they wanted their custom. They have just packed them in tight to fit more people to the detriment of everyone's comfort. Looks like a total pain, but they made a few more quid by having an extra table!

you haven't told us
(a) how one of you got to the seat behind the table?
or (b) what happened when someone from the table on the right (of the picture) wanted to get to or from their seat?

Agree with you OP, OP. Those tables are too cramped. I would be embarrassed squeezing myself in.

Honestly, I’m in a couple of minds about this. I wouldn’t want to sit at that table (although I’m sure that I have sat at very similar places) and would expect that spot to house 3 tables. BUT realistically mid-priced restaurants are going to go bust. So they ram in more tables and push up prices of stuff like rice and bread. £100 for two people at a restaurant sounds like a lot but it may be that the meal described isn’t even profitable for the restaurant. And, if there were only 3 tables at the spot, I am not sure I’d be okay with paying £130+.

Those of you who say that they sit at similar places but feel the need to whisper - don’t. Either refuse to sit there and find somewhere else or speak at a normal (indoor) volume. And please don’t give side-eye while whispering to the people who are speaking at normal volume. Don’t enable restaurants in making everyone more uncomfortable.

Is that a royal 'we'? Anyway, so what if a few people recognise it?

Bloody hell OP I would not have got through at all. (size 16 so not huge!)It must have felt like you were dining with the people either side of you .Where on earth did they put the dishes FFS ! I would leave a review stating this was uncomfortable and spoilt your meal

Long ago when me and dh were but young adults, we got put on very similar tables in a resturant. The couple next to us had clearly just had an argument and the atmosphere was palpable. It was awful sitting next to the most passive aggressive couple ever. Basically sharing a table with them. Yanbu and I hope you don't go back. We certainly didn't.

I would have gone elsewhere and told them why.

I'm not paying a fortune to be cramped like a school canteen.

Was the restaurant otherwise full? Were there other available tables?

I am staggered by the responses here!

You are obviously not unreasonable to find it too cramped. That's a question of size, preference etc.
Wouldn't bother me, but if you (like countless others on here) felt it was too cramped for you to be comfortable dining, then obviously that's a totally valid view.

HOWEVER, unless the waiters put a gun to your head and insisted you ate there, I am absolutely failing to see what the restaurant did wrong.

They offered an experience you were able to see and evaluate before you sat down. You chose to sit down, order and pay for your meal.

How on earth are they in the wrong?

That's like paying for a go-karting session, then being pissed off afterwards as you don't like go-karting.

If you felt unable to say to your partner that you didn't want to eat there - then you have a partner problem, NOT a restaurant problem.

The restaurant are entitled to run their business as they see fit. And in a way that is generally profitable for them, I assume. They aren't doing it as an act of social justice, after all.

It's the free market, man! You get what you choose to pay for.

I've politely left restaurants when they've offered a shitty table and said they've no alternative. I would've took one look at that table, declined and gone elsewhere.

Even getting up to leave my bum would sweep everything off the neighbouring table 😂🤦‍♀️🍐

I have voted ‘YABU’ mainly because you should have just refused to sit there if you felt uncomfortable. I probably could have coped with sitting there but it is cramped and not ideal.

Literally no one could get through that tiny space though.
I'm interested to know @inkyspells how you/your partner got through, because you'd surely have to move the table to get through? Imagine sitting eating, but having to physically shift your table to let the folk next to you out/in. Or maybe diners are expected to climb over their table to get in 😂