aa213bb

I agree, I've only ever received good, and up to outstanding, service as a solo diner.

SanDiego1K

I have excellent service dining solo, whether it is a Michelin starred restaurant or the neighborhood hangout. I'm very comfortable eating alone. If it is a casual restaurant, I'll bring my kindle and will ask for a slow pace (as long as no one is waiting for the table).

darthbimmer

Observation: Dining with a companion doubles (or more) the chance the server finds some reason to dislike someone at my table and give me/us poorer service.

wrp96

I realized that the places where I receive bad service as a solo diner are equally as bad when dining when someone else. For example the last restaurant I swore off because of a bad solo experience, a friend went in a week later and got bad service in a group and also swore off.

eastflyer123

I wrote a thread about dining alone and lots of people responded by giving advice and saying they liked to dine alone.

After several months of using the advice, Im afraid I am still no better!

Over the past four days whilst in Hamburg, i only had the courage to go into a restaurant alone once. The other meals were deliveries to the hotel or room service.

Some things will never change !!!

JBord

I've not noticed a difference, with one exception. I generally find that solo service is faster, more attentive as the server assumes you don't want to linger, which is often true when I'm dining as a business traveler. I can see how some people might feel rushed by this.

It's a state of mind really. Pretend you're a restaurant critic writing a column on the restaurant. There's a possibility that a nicer restaurant assumes you are! However, it's true that some restaurants are set up more comfortably for solo dining. I often try to look for a restaurant where I can enjoy the full menu at the bar. You may be surprised by the number of solo diners you'll see there.

braslvr

Curious. Are there many other things you don't like to do alone? Go to a bar? Go grocery shopping? To a movie? To a sporting event? To a gym? Etc?
Wondering if this is an 'alone' thing, or a restaurant/food thing.

eastflyer123

Bar - no
Groceries - yes
Movie - probably. I rarely go
Event - no
Gym - oh yes, definitely alone

I guess it's anywhere two or more people would congregate, so any social setting.

Cloudship

Try working your way up?

Start with fast food. Not unusual there. Then maybe fast casual - someplace where you order at the counter but they bring it to you.Then try a diner- someplace where you sit at a counter and order. Next, a bar in a hotel restaurant. Then try a table in a hotel restaurant, and finally a restaurant next to or really nearby a hotel (preferably someplace where you are NOT from). By that point you should start becoming accustomed to the idea. Do it a few times and it suddenly becomes second nature.

eastflyer123

:-) Sounds like a well thought out plan!

jmstickney

I myself love eating alone. Admittedly, I am a very particular foodie, so often times with groups I want to take full control and pick the restaurant ... but that doesn't always work out, so when I am alone, I feel the freedom and complete control to pick my restaurant.

Is anyone else like me and actually spends a few hours ahead of the travel researching where to eat? I look at ratings, distance to hotel, menu, wine list, cost etc. and for some reason I really enjoy the research.

I've thought about some sort of blog where I'd post almost personalized restaurant recommendations based on the person traveling and where they are staying, but I am not sure if people would be interested in that.

pseudoswede

When I was doing some work in San Diego, I stayed just south of UCSD. It was a great location. There was this small strip mall which consisted of a sushi place, a kebab place, a pho place, a Domino's Pizza, and a liquor store/deli. I had co-workers on this project who stayed in the same hotel, but they would rather pick something up and spend the rest of the evening in their hotel room.

After work, I would put on my jogging clothes and jog through the UCSD campus for about an hour. After jogging, I went directly to dinner. I already had my bluetooth headphones on, so I would simply stream Netflix or Amazon Prime Video on my phone while eating. On Monday nights, I would eat sushi. On Tuesday nights, I would eat kebabs. If I was still feeling a bit peckish, I would stop by the liquor store and pick up a slice of cake from their deli counter.

On Wednesdays, I actually went back to the hotel, showered, then went to Rock Bottom Brewery across the street to play live bar trivia. I placed 2nd one time (won a $25 gift card), only losing out to a team of 12 people. Another time, I teamed up with another random solo diner.

That said, I much prefer to go out to dinner with co-workers when on a work trip.

JBord

I suspect there's a great number of us who use FlyerTalk. Over the last few years, it seems that more and more people are realizing that eating is an essential part of the travel experience, and incorporating activities like eating at a Michelin-starred restaurant or a local market just as they would go to the Eiffel Tower.

To tie back to this thread, when I'm traveling alone, one of the criteria I use is determining whether the restaurant is "solo-friendly". Everyone will and should have their own definition of what this means as it's fairly subjective. But a couple examples: can i find pictures or reviews of the bar (my preference for eating alone), or do they only have communal seating (nearly always gets eliminated from my list), is there an ample selection of wines by the glass, or mainly bottles.

gfunkdave

I like sitting at the bar when I am eating alone. Can chat with the bartender (who's also always in earshot if I need anything) or with people next to me. Or if I want to be alone, I bring my Kindle and read.

s0ssos

I actually hate the research. I wish there were an easier way to personalize. Like to filter based on the reviewer. Like I'll look to see where the reviewer is from, and if from "Middle of Nowhere, WV" ignore their review. Or it also depends on the ethnicity, depending on what food it is (like a white person's opinion of Chinese I don't really care about).
I also would like to know whether a place is an experience, as in the food is different and gives you "perspective" vs it is just good to eat (like a Soul Food place where everything is served in styrofoam containers even if you are eating in, and delicious to the tongue but not to the eyes).