I love dining out alone!
That's not to say I don't enjoy a social meal as well, but I find something particularly relaxing about the experience of selecting exactly where I want to eat, getting the table I request (either a window for the view or good lighting for reading), pacing the meal to my slow eating speed, etc.
I haven't read all 200+ posts in this thread, but I've read about half, and something struck me as I was reading. It seems like a number of the posters who say they don't like dining alone lack confidence in that situation, and seem concerned about what others think. It made me wonder: did they grow up dining out often, or was being in a restaurant a rare experience?
So for those who don't mind sharing, 2 questions:
1. do you like dining alone occasionally?
2. did you eat out often (not fast food) growing up?
I did dine out as a kid, but with parents who made it clear that misbehaving in a restaurant was grounds for something approaching capital punishment. My siblings and I knew the rules and followed them, and I think that might be one reason why I'm quite comfortable going to restaurants on my own.