Table for one.

In Europe I wouldn't have any problems with it, as
you never eat alone for long, people always ask, if they
can sit with you. Sometimes it is annoying but for the most
part, it is enjoyable and I love to talk to/ meet new people.

Here in the United States I have more ambivalent feelings
of eating solo in a restaurant. I guess lunch wouldn't be
so bad if I had a magazine or a newspaper, but I'd never
attempt dinner alone. I'd opt for take-out or room service
then (if on business).

I enjoy being alone so I would love to do this. Unfortunately I really haven't had the opportunity to.

One day I took a vacation day from work to chaperone my daughter's field trip. Lucky for me the trip was near the school so it was only for a few hours in the morning. I decided to treat myself to an alone restaurant dining experience for lunch and completely enjoyed myself.

Interesting, CJane.

Is it because in America people don't ask to join you or is there some other difference?

I usually take a magazine as I find books require more concentration and I don't notice the food so much.

I think picking the right restaurant is very important to enjoying the experience. When I traveled I would usually ask the concierge for a recommendation for "alone woman" places in the neighborhood and they always did a great job of steering me to good places where I didn't feel uncomfortable.

Like the place today -- a quiet, cozy place with great food; a real sit-down restaurant with good service; a place only the "locals" would know about.

Linkat - that is exactly what it is like for me! So relaxing. It really gives you a chance to reconnect with yourself, doesn't it?

I don't mind eating alone, but I wouldn't say I have a passion for it. I would really not like it for someone to join me while I was eating alone, though. I guess that when I have social jobs, I like to eat alone more than when I have jobs that aren't so social. Most of the time, I'd do what Linkat mentioned and get take out to eat at home (or where I was staying).

Yeah it was great! I went to a restaurant on a nearby marina so it had great views. I sat at the bar so I could view the news on TV or read the newspaper (most decent restaurants with nice bars with have newspapers around for those dining alone). I chatted a little with bartender and either stared out at the harbor or read a little.

Don't mind. I do it every day for lunch.

I like having someone to chat with but I am getting more and more comfortable eating alone in a restaurant. But people do look at you differently and the hostess or waitress seating you almost always says in that suprised voice "Just one?"

boomerang, I think because it is more customary in Europe
than in the United States to eat alone. Here, unfortunately so,
no one ever would ask if they can join you at the table.

Reading a magazine is a clear indication that you don't
want to be disturbed, but if someone just is sitting alone
and is waiting for the food, it would be nice to have a casual
conversation with someone new, wouldn't it be?

Having lunch alone is my usual sport...

Take a seat, please!

Actually - (nearly) all over Europe, in my experience - you really don't sit alone for long and, as CJ already noted that's because quite a few people are eating as singles.

I've been out eating for my own very often and it is exactly as said above: when you wait for the food, it's really nicer to have someone to exchange a couple of words with than to stare wholes in the wall. :wink:

Merci - I knew, you wouldn't mind

I agree little k that if you're job has a big social element to it that it is perhaps nicer to go for minimal contact meals!

I like room service for breakfast but can find it depressing for dinner. I like to go to new cities and dinner provides a great opportunity to experience it a bit.

Newspapers are the best diversion! I had already read mine this morning or I probably would have taken it with me.

When I worked in more of a real job I had lunch alone almost every day. I always found that little break very refreshing. It never felt like a real splurge though since everyday splurging would wreck my budget quick!

I've joined other tables and had other groups join mine here quite often -- it happens a lot in crowded local joints. A lot of the places we go to here have "community" tables where people can all jam together. When I'm with Mo we usually hit the community table.

That settles it - next time I'm out and there is an attractive lady eating by herself I'm jumping in!













did I really say that?? OMG

The difference between Europe and America is pretty striking in it's "joining". Very interesting.

You really don't see many people dining alone in America - and I'm speaking as someone who has dined alone all over America.

Maybe it's because I enjoy being alone that I think other people want to be alone on the rare occasion that I see someone doing it.

Ha! Husker, you'd be a great person to join.

Used to eat alone a lot when I was traveling, mainly 'cause I had confidential stuff I had to work on and didn't want to sit with law firms who would inevitably try to pump me for information. It was originally lonely (solo business travel is pretty lonely anyway) but I started to become a chatty customer and chat up the waitstaff whenever I'd have to do this. That helped a lot. But, oof, with a tiny meal budget, lousy places to travel to (Newark, anyone? No? Then how 'bout Buffalo?) and a lot of work, I ended up getting a lot of room service.

I don't miss those days one iota.

I love it. If I think of what I liked about college days, many memories have to do with favorite restaurants and coffee shops. Going to Sunprint on State Street with my homework and ordering their gazpacho and fresh bread and taking one of the tables by the window and staying there for hours.

Everywhere I've ever lived, I've considered a place to be home when I have a favorite table where I eat my favorite dish at my favorite restaurant. It's where I go when I have some time and want to be alone, but it's also where I meet friends.

Ooh, just remembered the place I'd go in England, tea and scones, view of Walpole park. It's a very similar feeling to the Sunprint memory -- something about independence and adulthood and adventure -- it's how I claim ownership when I travel. This place, right here, this is mine.

I had a day off recently and it began by grabbing the New Yorker and going to one of two places that have become "mine" in Columbus. Got a window seat (always, always, has to have a window seat with good light, and preferably a good view) and read my magazine and luxuriated.

Hmm, in all of these situations where the restaurant experience was most potent, I haven't felt that sense of ownership or control at home -- was living with 6 other people in England, was half-living in a dorm and half-living with a boyfriend who himself lived in a housing co-op in most potent Sunprint memories, and now am living with my family, especially an alternately attention-demanding and temporarily-sleeping (if she is not disturbed) kiddo.

Yeah, because a similar memory is coming home in Pasadena before E.G. came home and spreading out the newspaper and reading it cover to cover while noshing on something from Wild Oats or Trader Joes. Didn't know at the time what a luxury that was, those hours of just doing whatever I damn well pleased...

I agree, newspapers and magazines are good for eating alone. So long as would-be-intruders understand the signal. My favorite thing to do while eating alone is the crossword puzzle.

Well, if Husker, Francis or Walter ever see me sitting alone in a restaurant, I sure hope they'll rescue me from myself!

Most of the time, I HATE sitting alone. I become very self-conscious. I really don't enjoy the food. And I begin thinking morose thoughts about why nobody has asked to join me. I'm awful.

On rare occasions I actually choose to eat out alone, but that is usually because I'm fed up with my current dining partners or otherwise need some space. But still, I always leave feeling very unsatisfied.

What can I say. I am a social creature.

jespah, business travel is indeed a lonely endevor and I don't miss it a bit either. Eating alone might have been just a little stab at having control over the situation for me.

Soz, you really make me wish I had a "place".

And hours of luxurious doing whatever I damn well please!

I don't think I would survive so many room-mates and I hope I never have to experience it. I always chose cheap apartments is marginal parts of whatever city I lived in just to avoid having to share. Alone time has always been important for me and these days I rarely get any.

Maybe that's why I've turned to gardening.

Eva, I think your response is probably the way most people feel about it. Back when I ran the studio I was always amazed that the staff did so much carry out instead of taking time to go to lunch and the only reason they did it was because they did not want to eat alone. Even if they sat in the office alone to eat it was still somehow more satisfying than eating out in a restaurant.


Does anyone remember what movie it was where the protagonist is eating out alone, either reading "House of Mirth" or noticing someone else reading it and goes off into a day dream about engaging in conversation?

That was a great scene and I can't belive I've forgotten the details.

Was it "You Can Count on Me"?