Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for August 19, 2014

Some places turn away lone diners. They don’t want to tie up a table for just one guy.

Ziggy knows that feeling… he and Pig should dine out together more often.

No tip for you, fella…..

Or he’s a food critic there to rate your resturantand you as the maître d’ just pretty much ensured Le Eatery will be getting the lowest possible rating.

True, Pig looks absolutely nothing like a food critic and isn’t bright enough to know the difference between escargot and nori. But the maître d’ doesn’t know that for certain.

“And we know he’ll try to kill himself with the spare butter knives out of despair and dejection! Pull the extra cloth napkins just to be safe!”

Like the subtle approach.

In Hong Kong, where I live, if a restaurant is really busy, and a table has spare seating, they will often seat un-related diners at the table. Most will ask first, but not all.

I’ve seen that happen in New York

It’s weird though; if you were away on business, you’d eat alone and not think twice about it – but you eat alone somewhere that you previously had a date, you feel like this is gonna happen.

This strikes uncomfortably close to home. I would, when working, often eat alone. The poor service at one restaurant I had previously patronized often caused me to blacklist them forever after that time…. On the other hand, some places had tables for one or two (only) as well as larger tables or booths and were always very gracious and accommodating, even though often crowded.

This is why I only go to restaurants that have a drive-through. It’s too depressing eating alone inside.

Panera confuses me. As you say, their menu “trends” healthy – until you get to the pastries. It seems like a very mixed message.And they do have many smaller tables, and electrical outlets. It’s a good place for telecommuters. (Most other restaurants hide what few outlets are available for plugging in a laptop charger.)

or that little table right outside the Mens room, you don’t know for sure if it’s new or old food your eating…snerk

Has this happened to Steph in “real” life?!?

Well, that was mean

that is why i don’t tip.

Shouldn’t the guy have started by saying, “YYYYYYEEESSSSS”?

You beat me to it! Great movie!

I guess I’m odd (well, I know I am, but that’s another story). For me eating is about ingesting nutrition and enjoying food, and has little to do with socializing. I was probably into my thirties before I learned that I should feel embarrassed about eating alone.

You know you’re a nobody when your own place setting is considered to be “extra.”

What a jerk!

xxx

The last time I ate by myself I took my tablet with me, played games on my tablet, ate my food and left. If anyone WAS giving me a dirty look, I 1, didn’t notice, and 2, was enjoying myself so much I didn’t care.

He should say his date is on the way, look lonely and dejected, maybe get a free desert out of the deal.

Poor Pig…

Happens to me all the time, pet peeve. Why is it necessary to announce ‘Jane Doe, party of one’????

If it’s just one, it’s not a “party.” But that doesn’t mean he can’t have fun eating good food. :-)

If some restaurant treated me this way, I’d say, “You know… I think I’ll eat somewhere else. Buh-bye!”

“Le Eatery”?What kind of name is that?

I’d hate if a restaurant did that to me.