Originally Posted by
ScatterX
Funny story (to me at least)... I was dining alone on travel on valentine's day. I went to a nice place that was was clearly a spot for "couples" on that particular evening. While I was dressed very well, being a single diner made me stick out like a pink mammoth in drag. I don't remember well enough, but I may have been the only single diner there. This still wasn't an issue; the waiter and I had a good laugh about it and he enjoyed having a patron that wasn't a gooey romantic making endless annoying requests. It was dining business as usual for me, but I'm sure many people would freak out in a similar situation.
My most amusing valentine's day meal was a random Sunday when I'd spent much of the day helping a friend prototype some software for his planned startup. Got it mostly working by 8pm, so decided to go out for some food and a drink to celebrate a successful day. It was only when the restaurant brought a special pink menu with hearts on, and we'd spotted everyone else in the whole place were couples, did either of us (single at the time) remember what the date was...
Back on topic, I dine out a lone quite a lot, both on trips and at home on nights when I decide against cooking. Unless it's something quick, I always take something to read with me, to fill the waits for service / food to arrive / etc. Never really noticed any problems, and never felt too odd, but it does seem that places with lots of business travellers are more used to it.