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. :)

Good for you! The waiter should not have stopped en route to your table. Pretty bad form which is probably why the owner wanted to do something extra for you.

I do this. People say I'm weird, but I hope it's comforting to you that you're not alone. :D

Yup - especially at a new restaurant, I'll do what Analise does, and scope out the items served while I walk to my table. This gives me ideas on what the salads look like, portion sizes, how much is fried, garnished, etc. This helps me make choices. For instance, I like lightly breaded and fried stuff, so if something is thickly breaded I'll avoid it - that description is not always apparent in the menu. I like large salads but am picky about the types of greens (prefer romaine lettuce). I like my fish without rice underneath (low carb) etc. There are a couple places where I've ordered a meal seemingly without rice but it came with rice despite no mention of it on the menu. It's not always easy to eat around it, if it's mixed into the rest.

Important reconnaissance information!

I don't wander around the tables after I've eaten, though. Occasionally I take a trip to the restroom, if needed :)

Usually before ordering I will look around and will ask the waiter if something looks tempting, but I won't ask another diner.

I also find that while ordering it is a good idea to ask questions. Just recently I ordered a dish which didn't mention grated cheese on top on the menu, and it was difficult to push the grated cheese aside, which I didn't care for.

Funny Dan, my partner love doing this as well... and I hate it.

I tell him to stop staring and salivating.... :)

Now... I did not pay attention when you had dinner with us.... but you seemed to know that Dinosaur menu pretty well... did not see you looking around.... :D

On some cases yes. Especially in restaurants and cuisines I am not familiar with.

Count me in as another who definitely checks out plates on the way to being seated. Once seated I usually don't make special trips or look too much after sitting but especially in a new place on the way in I'm checking out as many meals as possible.

I typically won't look around at what others are having - takes all the fun out of ordering the unknown!!!

Same here. If spot something tempting and would like further elaboration, I'd as the waiter/esses. Feels alot easier than the though of disturbing someone else's dining experience.

As previously mentioned, I usually look and listen when desserts are going around.

Ordering food in a foreign country and you can't read the menu and can't speak the language adequately.

Looking at neighboring plates and pointing is all we can do. We have "chosen" well many times.

Reminds me so much from seeing all the foreigners staring at the Dim Sum cart repeatedly in HK. :D

Back in the old days, when they used to serve dinners on flights (and still on Int'l), that was the only way I'd choose my own meal - see what everybody else ordered and what looked the least offensive :D

At a new restaurant, I've been known to tell the waiter to surprise me if I couldn't make up my mind between 2 or 3 items. Kinda freaks 'em out :)

DD

Sometimes if the person at the table next to mine has ordered something that looks interesting, I'll ask for a bite. :p

Seriously, I usually do a bit of looking around and will occasionally ask someone what they are having if I don't think that it will disturb them.

Oh, of course! A couple of nights ago in Brooklyn, noticing someone else's chicken agrodolce prompted us to order it, and it was one of the best chicken dishes I've ever had. My sister practically had to stop me from licking the plate.

I do that too! especially if I am at a new restaurant and I am not familair with their dishes. If some dish passes by and it looks yummy, I'd ask the waiter what that dish was, and would sometimes order it myself!

I do it too. Yesterday, my son and I met some of our FFOCUS friends from the US forum at Carolina Bar-B-Q in Statesville, NC. (HIGHLY recommend it if your NC travels take you to the crossroads of I-40 and I-77.)

Anyway, we saw several things coming out and prompted us to make choices based on that... especially the homemade potato chips and homemade fresh fruit cobblers with ice cream. ^^

I was one of the folks there along with BoeingBoy & I can say a big plus one here as that's exactly what did. When I first saw the title of this thread yesterday was exactly what I was thinking before I even knew jimcfsus had posted this.