I remember once being solo and going into a Red Lobster in Tucson (it was the only place near the hotel). The hostess brought me past dozens of empty tables and tried to sit me at a table beside a family with a screming toddler. I asked her flat out to be seated away from that child, and she looked at me like I was making her day harder..probably was, because they try to seat by server sections..but that's not MY problem. MY problem was that I didn't want to be close to a screaming toddler. But if you don't ask, you don't get.