Restaurant with a dress code

[theriseandfallofFranklinSaint]

I like dressing up for a night out but the restaurant were going to on Saturday actually states a dress code:

We encourage our guests to enjoy the atmosphere and dress smartly, being respectful of the fact that many diners will be dressed for a celebration.

Thinking my usual wide trousers, blazer and smart trainers might not cut it. I like my dresses with chunky boots but do you think I need to dig out my heels this time? 😯

I would imagine they just mean 'No jeans or casual t shirts.'

Why heels?
They are not respectful of women are they ?

I think either outfit sounds fab! Particularly combination of trainers are smart with trainers not being prohibited.
Probably aimed at my dh who would happily go to nice restaurant in (clean) jeans and a fleece 🤣

To me that reads as a nice way to say no joggers, crocs or football shirts. Your outfits sound fine.

Not sure about the trainers -- lots of places have a 'no trainers' rule, (perhaps with reason). Why not wear your boots with the blazer and trousers?

Your outfit sounds fine. It's just a way of saying no football tops. I'd refuse to go anywhere that would not let me wear smart trainers. Heels are so dated!

Thanks all 😀

I probably need to get out of the mindset of panicking if I can't wear my trusty trainers although will no doubt still be worn on Saturday!

There are options between trainers and heels. Not sure why OP takes that dress code to mean she has to wear heels.

This is exactly what they mean, they mean no football strips and scruffy trainers. You'll be fine in what you describe.

Just ring and ask them 🤷🏻‍♀️.
I recall calling a restaurant once about trainers, and was told no sports trainers but others were fine 😜

If you give us the name of the restaurant, there's bound to be an MNer who can tell you if your trainers will be acceptable (spoiler, they almost certainly will!)

I’d avoid denim, trainers, Birkenstocks etc and add a nice pair of earrings to dress up whatever you decide to wear.

It’s your top half people see for 95% of the time you’re in a restaurant, so if you’re worried about being too smart, dress down on your lower half.

Good idea!

Maybe ditch the trainers for once? Do you really have no flat shoes?

I hate flat shoes as in ballet pumps and the monstrosities that are Mary Janes 😖 Sorry!

I have chunky (biker) boots and a ridiculous number of pairs of trainers.

If you don't wear those then it's heels which I do have but haven't worn for years!

I wear similar to these for "going out". Dressy enough, not clumpy/chunky (sorry), not trainers, not heels, comfortable and very easy to walk in. I am not a dress person at all so it's usually with nicely cut trousers.

https://www.next.co.uk/style/su341823/q56674#q56674

https://www.next.co.uk/style/su405145/e86972#e86972

I think both of those would look so much better with wide legged trousers than trainers would.

As pretty much everyone else has said, it just means no football shirts/ripped jeans, they’re sort of trying to weed out the riffraff. They won’t turn you away in trainers.

This.

If a restaurant doesn’t want diners wearing trainers they will usually state “no trainers” in their dress code.

I find that as long as the rest of your outfit fits the dress code, no-one really cares what shoes you’re wearing.