Do you look at what others ordered?
 

If I'm at a new place (or someplace I forgot about :o), before I order I'll look around at the other tables to see what they have/had. I'll be sure to crane my neck to see what the servers are bringing out. I'll even get up and walk around, just to see what's good. Once or twice... I've asked (only if they seem receptive).

Am I weird? Am I alone? (My money's on both :p)

Yes I do this too, and will have reservations about going to a restaurant that is surprisingly empty, unless we are there extremely early.

In Hawaii (Big Island) it was good because we are not so familiar with the local favourites. Once I did ask some people with something that looked great, because I had no idea of the Hawaiian name for it. :)

At another place recommended by others, I asked our lounge attendant, who very kindly phoned in a reservation for us, at just the right time to get decent seats and still catch the sunset. ^

Yes, all the time.

I can't tell you the number of times I've ordered something and what arrives is not anything like what I expected.

I need all the help I can get.

I generally do not.

My kids hate when I do this. Next time you're in New York, call me. :p ;)

I love doing this.I also will ask/tell the waiter"bring me something wonderful"or give him the choice between 3-4 dishes that I am interested in.

I especially do this when desserts are passing by.

I do it all the time, sometimes even ask the waiter, politely, what he or she is having over there because it looks so good. :)

Yes, absolutely, especially in an unfamiliar restaurant. I can see what looks good, what the portion sizes are, who looks happy with their order. Asking "what they're having over there" is how to discover unlisted specials. Not exactly deviant behavior, IceTrojan!

I dont look specifically but sometimes its hard to miss dishes when the waiters comes by with sombody elses order .. especially desserts. ;)

Once while in a restaurant in Rome, La Matricciana (a very good restaurant by the way) I noticed just about everybody getting an item but I just couldnt figure out what it was. So I asked the waiter about them and he said " you want?"... I said "sure" still not knowing what they were.
Turned out to be deep ( or flash) fried artichokes and they were absolutely fabulous.;)

mike

agreed
let him think he is strange;):)

I do this too. I hate to ask someone, "What's good here?" because then I feel an obligation to take their advice.

I do on occasion, but I'm more likely to ask the waiter what his/her favorite items are or what they think of the dish I'm considering.

When I'm walking to my table, I'm naturally curious to see what others have ordered so I'll look. Once seated, I won't get up again just to go on a fishing expedition. ;)

At a Greek restaurant, a couple at a nearby table stopped the waiter bringing our food to our table to ask what he was carrying. He obligingly indicated what everything was, then continued over to us.

I joked that we should get free dessert since our dinner had turned into a display model. The owner happened to be passing by and agreed, so we got free baklava. :)