HALLIE EPHRON: I'm just back from a lovely week-plus in Key West where the food is SPECTACULAR! There's a reason why Lucy planted her Key Zest food reviewer Hayley Snow in Key West. The Shrimp! Fish Tacos! Grouper! Pie! Cuban coffee and Sandwich Cubano!! The restaurants! The food trucks!!
I could go on and on, waxing ecstatic.
However so many days in so many restaurants with great food reminded me of a few of my pet peeves about eating out.
Why oh why are the seats at restaurant tables invariably so low? (Or is it that the tabletops are so high??) When the table is level with my armpits, it feels like when I was a kid and had to stand on tippy toes to see what was on the table. Or like I'm trying to do the chicken dance while seated.
Restaurant seats are never adjustable, and I've yet to go to one that offers grownups a booster seat. Or a phone book. Or an extra seat cushion.
I know I'm shrinking, but not THAT much.
Maybe it's a plot to make us so uncomfortable that we won't overstay our welcome. Restaurants need tables to turn over. But really, someone needs to invent a booster seat for shorter (and really not very short) people.
And don't get me started on high top seating. Once you manage to climb on, feet dangling or on the foot rest, how are you supposed to skootch close enough to the table to get to your food? And what is the point of eating 12 inches higher?
Then there's noise. Something I'm much more sensitive to now that my hearing isn't what it used to be. The ambient noise in some restaurants swamps the voices of the people you're sitting with. Add a thumping sound system or visiting vocalist and I need two Tylenols for dessert.
Rereading this, I do sound like a grump. And truly I love eating out.
Because what's gotten better is quite a lot, too.
No one blinks when you order dishes to share, and takeout boxes come routinely at the end of the meal. Splitting the check isn't a problem. Usually. And of course, in Key West at least, nine times out of ten the food is great, and not anything I can fix for myself at home.
But I also like to see my food and hear my dining companions. Is that too much to ask?
Count me in, too, as one who is definitely not a fan of high tops . . . I simply don't get why there have to be tall tables at all . . . .
ReplyDeleteBut the food is almost always yummy, no one grumbles about take home boxes [or cups so that coffee still in the pot on the edge of the table doesn't get poured down the drain] . . . overall, I can think of more good things about eating out . . . .
It may be that sitting at a high top table is kind of like sitting at the counter . . . .
DeleteHallie, you have hit on my pet peeve for sure. Why are restaurant seats so low compared to the table height? Now I'll answer it. More diners are very tall these days, and they are perfectly comfortable at the table. Other diners are so hefty, that a normal distance between chair and table wouldn't provide adequate space for their thighs to fit. However, it does leave me wishing for my grandma's copy of the Manhattan phone directory, which was provided for me at her NYC apartment until I was 5 and switched to the Bronx.
ReplyDeleteI do love to dine out and don't really mind the high tops.
Living in a rural area, I eat out only once or twice a year. I am tall so I've never noticed anything with tables. I do dislike high noise levels -- I ate lunch for nearly forty years in a school dining room that was quieter than many of today's restaurants -- which makes me wonder if I am losing some of my hearing or if I've just been accustomed to being able to tell noisy dinners to quiet down, please. However my biggest takeaway is that I am always thrilled to have someone else cooking dinner and doing the dishes! (Selden)
ReplyDeleteI am short and often feel the need for a booster seat in restaurants. Sometimes I roll up my coat and sit on it. I have noticed that most places with high top tables will ask if you are willing to sit at them so they must realize there are people who don’t like them. Climbing up and down and scooting those chairs in is a problem, but if the stool doesn’t have a back on it, I am definitely out.
ReplyDeleteSomething they do here in Florida, Ocala at least, is almost always ask you if you want another drink (not alcohol) to go. I’ve never experienced that before.
Hallie, you’ve hit the nail on the head! We have the same problems here in Canada. I’m 5’8’’ and I enjoy eating out for all of the reasons you mentioned. I don’t like tables especially in booths where my ‘’girls’’ sit on the table and make it difficult to reach my plate!! 🤣
ReplyDeleteDorothy, I'm rolling at the visual of the "girls" on the table! Thanks for making my morning brighter.-- Victoria
DeleteI agree with everything you said! We visited Conchiglia, a new restaurant in Key West on our last night there. Reservations required. We were seated out on the front porch at a high top table. My back ached by the time we finished a really lovely meal.
ReplyDeleteThe noise level in most restaurants is a big issue even with my cochlear devices which do a heroic job of tamping down the noise. Seven Fish in Key West is one of the best noise canceling restaurants in town because they have intentionally placed layers of noise abatement in their restaurant. That was done a few weeks after they first opened; their employees said after a shift their ears ached so the restaurant closed for weeks, brought in noise specialists then reopened to a much quieter and more comfortable environment. So it is possible but many establishments aren’t willing to invest the time and money.
I haven't heard of Conchiglia Emily--will have to try!
DeleteI agree. Not a fan of high tables and booths. And the noise, I can't hear the person sitting next to me.
ReplyDeleteI haven't noticed the low seat/high table problem, maybe because my legs are short and my torso is long so I'm a better fit. I don't like climbing up onto high stools in order to eat, always worry a little about getting back down gracefully. The noise level is an on-going peeve. We're going out tonight to celebrate our birthday--to a really lovely restaurant. Last time I was there, we were with an out of town friend who has a very soft voice. Even though I was right next to him, I couldn't catch all of his conversation. So frustrating! I like Emily's story about restaurant noise abatement and wish more places would think about this issue.
ReplyDeleteI refuse to sit at a high top table. Very uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Texas Roadhouse in Morgantown, West Virginia: the place was jumping a few days before Thanksgiving. The wait staff took a five minute break and organized a line dance in the aisles of the cavernous restaurant. We all sang along and clapped.
I thought it was just me getting shorter in my mature years. Granted, I have lost about 3" to maturity gnawing away on my spine so that might be part of it. Still, it is is very annoying and I find I worry about what my elbows might be doing to a seat mate when we're in a booth. I don't like to be very conscious of every body part while eating. Kinda kills the joy of going out for a meal.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't get me started on wooden chair seating. I'm a very slender woman who has no behind to speak of and wooden chairs are like crunching from one hip bone to the other. Definitely takes a lot out of a good meal.
When I dine with my friend who wears hearing aids, she spends the entire meal with a puzzled look and I end up shouting over the din so she can at least get an inkling of what we're conversing about. So, no Hallie, you are not alone. You make very valid points, especially for mature folks. -- Victoria
I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling this way! It's like diner tables are designed by people with incredibly long torsos. Since we're venting here, can I add my pet peeve of having an incredibly bright light over the table? I guess it's police interrogation room chic.
ReplyDeleteHallie, we went to a nice restaurant with John's sisters. The smallest of them did ask for an extra cushion and it was delivered:)
ReplyDeleteI have not noticed the chair height thing, but then again I eat at places that were built 30 years ago and haven't updated their decor (not always a bad thing).
ReplyDeleteAs for noise, I'm with you. I love live music, but I won't eat at a place where the music and the food are in the same space - for exactly the reason you list. I like to be able to hear my dining companion.