What Time Is Dinner?
Or supper, if that's what you prefer to call the evening meal. A thread in another forum that reported a restaurant having a 2-hour wait for a table at 5 p.m. (in this economy!) started me thinking. What time do you prefer to eat? Is it the same when you eat at home and when you dine out? What's the local schedule? Is everyone out of the restaurant by 9 p.m. or are things just getting rolling?
I admit I thrill to the sight of a roaring dining room at 11:15 at night, a sure sign, to me, that I'm in civilized territory. But where we live, in the urban Midwest, it's the 7 o'clock slots that fill up first. At home, we generally eat around 7, now that we're not feeding starving adolescents. I grew up in a world where supper was at 5 or 5:30. (And it wasn't dinner, but that's another question, isn't it?) Is most of Florida dominated by the Early Bird Special, or do the rest of you eat later? Spill it, tell all.
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35 Comments:
uh.... 5ish.... cause I'm not waiting to eat anyplace in Boringham Alabama.... cause damn.... this isnt a trick question right?!
Pavlov at 5:59PM on 01/17/09
We usually eat some time between 5 and 6. DH gets up really early, so an early dinner makes a lot of sense. Same at home or if we're going out by ourselves. Also, we very seldom go out for dinner on weekends. Thursday is our traditional "date night" and we've been doing that for many, many years. It started for other reasons, but then we figured out that the restaurants weren't as crowded, we didn't need to wait like cattle to get in, the service was better, and we could eat a more relaxed meal if there weren't hoardes of people waiting to get in behind us.
It also makes Thursday something to look forward to before the weekend arrives, and since I know I'm not cooking it also uncomplicates some of my schedule during the day, which is nice.
On occasion we'll go out on the weekend with someone else, but I just don't get why anyone would go choose to be at a restaurant at its most crowded day and time if they had another choice. I just don't see the fun in it.
dbcurrie at 6:17PM on 01/17/09
7:30-8:30 pm depending on what else is going on. I've been told that's kinda late, but that's around the time we ate dinner growing up, either at home, or at the family restaurant.
hungryinhouston at 6:19PM on 01/17/09
Growing up, we ate supper (yes, it was supper) round 6.
In my house now, it's never earlier than 7 (usually when we invite somebody over for dinner), often later (when it's just us). When we eat out, we never eat before 7:30, so I guess time-wise, there is no real difference if we eat at home or at a restaurant. When I was single, working a full time job, running a small business and working on my degree in economics, I'd routinely meet friends for supper/dinner round 9 pm.
brooke29 at 6:20PM on 01/17/09
When we have dinner at home, we eat around 6:30. We have a group of people we dine out with and we are all in agreement, 7:00 is a good time. Restaurants finish serving in this area around 9:30 or 10:00, so the best service is around 7:00.
izatryt at 6:29PM on 01/17/09
6
Italiancupcake at 6:35PM on 01/17/09
I cannot eat too late. I'm a morning person and know I'll generally go to sleep early. If I go to sleep on a full stomach, I wake up feeling utterly gross (still full) and have had the weirdest dreams to boot.
I like to be seated at the table at 5:30 - 6:00 at the outside. I know this is way early for most people but I feel the most comfortable if I can get in 4 hours of digestion before turning in.
Add to this I ate dinner at 2:00 p.m. every Sunday for most of my life, it's no wonder late eating doesn't appeal to me.
therealchiffonade at 6:36PM on 01/17/09
It depends on work! Off nights, 6ish. If I work until 5pm, I'll eat at 7. (Hour commute + wine time + cooking)
If I work my restaurant, I'll eat after closing, 10:30ish. So unhealthy!
mikaque at 6:46PM on 01/17/09
@thereal chiffonade: I agree for the same reasons. We have supper between 5:00 and 5:30 - that way the dishes and clean-up are over by 6:00 or so and I have a great start on the evening - even have time for a little rest if I am going out later! Us old folks, you know!
bareneed at 6:51PM on 01/17/09
I hear ya Pav. I wont wait anywhere for more than 10 min if that, the food just isnt worth waiting for. Normal dinner time in my house is changeable, usually about 730 but if SO is away I'll wait till about 9 to eat dinner. Growing up it was supper at 5:15
huneybumper at 7:04PM on 01/17/09
On the weeknights it's never later then 7 but the weekends it's later. SInce we don't have to get up at the crack of dawn and the kids nap on the weekened we usually eat around 8. It's also a compromise. My family always eats around 6 and the hubby's sometimes eats as late as 9 or 9:30. So we fall in the middle. I wonder if the difference in dinnertimes is because I grow up in the country and he grew up in the city.
LizSherman at 7:10PM on 01/17/09
When I'm at home during the week I usually eat about 6....my husband works 2nd shift, so I normally make something he can reheat in the evening, or I can send for lunch the following day. Luckily he'll reheat anything in the microwave (yes..even burgers & pizza...no...he's not a foodie...don't know how I ended up marrying him! lol).
If we're going out, then it can be as late at 7 or 7:30pm....but usually that's the latest.
mepolo at 8:02PM on 01/17/09
At home, it ends up being 7:30-8:30 since I never get home before 6 and I'm a total slacker when it comes to get dinner on the table.
When I got out to eat, it varies anywhere from 5:30-7:30.
missjess at 8:12PM on 01/17/09
I'm the one that gets obnoxiously grumpy when I'm hungry so dinner is whenever *I* am hungry; plus, it's just the two of us. We also eat out a lot.
On weekends, we eat dinner any time between 4:30 - 11:30 p.m. On weeknights, it's some time between 5:00 - 8:30 p.m. I prefer eating earlier on weekdays so the nights doesn't feel so quick.
Cassaendra at 10:04PM on 01/17/09
I used to eat much earlier (say, around 5pm or so), but ever since living in Spain and other places in Europe where everyone tends to eat later, I brought back the tradition of a later lunch (3pm-4pm) and then a later dinner (usually around 8pm or so). But then, I also snack during the day, too, which helps.
Traveller at 10:15PM on 01/17/09
Growing up, it was supper around 5-5:30. I think it was referred to as supper because my mom's father was a dairy farmer and the main meal of the day was midday and referred to as dinner. Supper for grandpa, was always a light meal--early to bed, early to rise kind of thing.
Now, with my own family and a husband who often doesn't get home until after 7 or later, we have dinner somewhere around 7:30 to 7:45. Weekends involve foozball tournaments and scrabble or monopoly so dinner (usually homemade pizza) gets pushed back until 8:30 or so. In the summer, dinner is always even later--here in CNY we love having extra hours of daylight and warmth and try to enjoy the backyard and pool as much as we can.
dhorst at 10:48PM on 01/17/09
Dinner is a mess in my house. My DH works rotating shifts, now on nights and gets up revenous at 8 p.m. 15 year old teenager is starving when he gets home at 4 and scours the fridge/freezer for food. I get home at 5 and have to figure out what to make to be fresh for hub's dinner. Then, after 3 months, he switches to days, which is better because I can put a meal on the table at 7 7:30 when he's ready to eat. We hardly ever eat as a family...except for the occasional Sunday (if hub is off) where I make 'dinner' at lunch time so we can all sit down together and have a nice meal together. Then, there is the 3 months of swing shift, where he works 2 p.m. - 2 a.m. Son eats whatever when he gets home and I eat nothing or a piece of toast! Such is our life!
lamora at 10:48PM on 01/17/09
We usually eat our weeknight suppers between 5 -5:30 p.m. Sunday dinner is always around 2ish in the afternoon :-)
WickedGoodDinner at 11:40PM on 01/17/09
By the time I get home and figure out what I'm even making it's about 4:00.
If I don't have the ingredients, it takes another hour or so just to get ready. The cooking time is usually upwards of an hour, so most of the time dinner's on the table anywhere between 7:00 and 8:00.
soozm32 at 11:55PM on 01/17/09
Growing up dinner was around 5:30 -6ish. Now dinner is around 8 or 9ish.
pjracz10 at 6:06AM on 01/18/09
"Dinner" was a pretentious term in our family growing up. It was always called "supper" in my house. "Dinner" was what you got invited to at a restaurant or other people's houses.
I dunno - we came from immigrant stock so they liked to keep it real. And the food was on the table (and still is, here) by 6 or you'll hear complaints.
moibec at 6:38AM on 01/18/09
Having just returned to Texas from a 9 year stay in South Florida, I can answer the question about early birds. It all depends on your location in Florida and how many retirees there are in the area. The very old who do not like to drive at night eat early bird. The west coast has a lot of those. The east coast and the Keys have lots of younger people or younger at heart who eat late. The clubs don't even see folks until 10. So the answer is, Florida is like many other parts of the country: diversified. Here in Texas, we eat at home at 6:30 as a rule cause that's when I get it ready. Eating out varies with when the reservations are. Last night we had a family birthday at P.F. Changs and sat down at 9:00 after a 75 minute wait and yet it was a fabulous evening.
ocarol at 11:16AM on 01/18/09
Wow, I'm feeling like a freak compared to all of you. BF doesn't usually turn up till 10 or so, and we prefer to eat together; dinner doesn't tend to happen before 10.30 or so, and often we find ourselves sitting down at midnight or thereabouts. We stay up late, though, so eating late doesn't bother us. It's more important for me to share a meal with him than to eat at a "normal" hour.
annatr at 12:10PM on 01/18/09
I'm feeling a bit of a freak too (but not as much as annatr!). We usually watch the news at 6:30, then start dinner at 7. So quick dinners are on the table by 7:30, but it's usually more like 7:45 or 8.
Dee at 5:07PM on 01/18/09
I like to have dinner around 6, though it will depend on what I'm cooking. I usually start cooking when I get home (530ish) and generally have the main portions of the dinner made over the weekend on my One Big Cooking Day. I'm an early to bed person, generally at work by 7am or so, so eating later doesn't make much sense for me.
chisai at 11:13AM on 01/19/09
Eating in, supper is usually around 7. Eating out on a weeknight - usually earlier, since we'd be eating in Manhattan and then commuting back home afterward. Don't want to wait too long between work and dinner in the city! Eating out on a weekend, usually between 7 and 8, but even that depends on what else is going on. If there's a 9pm show, we'll eat around 6, and if we have a dinner party we start dinner around 6:30 so there's plenty of time for board games after.
It was always supper growing up, and now we use supper and dinner interchangeably; his family said dinner and mine said supper, so we alternate according to whim.
littlestcapy at 11:52AM on 01/21/09
My mom would typically say..."Are we eating SUPPER at home, or are we going out to DINNER tonight?" So we kinda had that 'dinner is a more formal thing' going on also. We always ate at 5:30 when my Dad got home, but I don't even get off work now until then...when I get home (6:00) I start the meal and it's usually on the table by 6:30 - 7:00...
When we go out to eat with friends, etc..it's usually a 7:00 or so timeframe...but when we don't get to eat until AFTER the show (I sing in a band) we eat at 2AM! ha!
pjacob01 at 12:19PM on 01/21/09
Well, the boy gets off work at 9pm, so he doesn't get home till 9:30 or so, and sometimes we have to run to the store. We usually end up eating around 11pm.
nightowl at 1:01PM on 01/21/09
If I ate when I'm most hungry, I'd have my big meal at 3 and a light supper around 10 or 11. I usually have dinner around 6 and I'm hungry before bed, around midnight to 1 a.m.. Restaurant meals anywhere from 7-9. Any early-bird specials at 3? LOL
PerkyMac at 1:18PM on 01/21/09
wow i guess i'm an anomaly too! i work 9-6, and don't even get home until around 7. so even if i walked straight in the door and into the kitchen without taking off my heels it would be 7:30 - 8 before we ate. and in reality it's more like 8:30-9:00. i guess it's just what you're used to -- i am not even hungry at 5:00 or 6:00!
megannesta at 2:04PM on 01/21/09
We never ever eat early. The boys come home from school starving and will make a pizza or ask for grilled cheese. Then I let them play until 5:30 or 6 so they can have a break from school. Some days if I was especially stir crazy we'll go to a restaurant, like Chili's or something for a snack. Hubby gets home around 7 and we like to hang out and have a glass of wine for a little while. If it's an easy dinner we might eat around 8:30. Usually it's 9 or 9:30. Football and lacrosse season might even kick it to 10 sometimes. Summer is a whole other story. It's weird to all of us to be sitting down to dinner if it's light.
If we're going out, we'll always have drinks somewhere first and then move on to dinner, so it can easily be anywhere from 9-11. Of course we're having to adjust to not being in Dallas where you can always do that. In Maryland that can only be on the weekend and you have to plan the venue accordingly.
Supper for both of us growing up, dinner meant out. For us now it's dinner.
My grandmother cooked a huge midday meal and that was dinner. Everyone had to fend for themselves for supper.
carolrsfMISSESTEXAS at 2:24AM on 01/22/09
We usually eat somewhere between 8:00pm and 9:00. When we go out with older family members who want to eat at 5 or 6, I have to not eat lunch so I will be hungry at that time! The worst nights are when I havent planned ahead or have run out of something and have to make a store run prior to dinner--then we may not eat till 10:00! And it seems every time we go out for dinner (the two of us) we end up closing down the restaurant. Guess we are just late eaters : )
gourmetgal at 4:27AM on 01/22/09
In a perfect world, I'd eat dinner around 4:30 or 5pm when I got home from work because I'm generally starving and hate wasting calories on a snack, no matter how healthy the food choice is. However, I generally hold dinner for when BF walks in the door from his job - 7:30 or so. I think eating together is important. But if he's going to be later than 8pm, then he gets to reheat whatever I made earlier. I need to be in bed by 10pm most nights.
Amandarama at 7:49AM on 01/22/09
Usually around 7:30-8:00. Growing up it was usually more like 8:00-9:00, sometimes as late at 10:00. I had busy working parents!
emmab at 9:36AM on 01/22/09
between 5:00-7:00 depending on work schedules. I don't like to eat really late, makes me feel sluggish and crappy.
Southern_bella at 9:43AM on 01/22/09