To seat or not to seat?

Posted by GreenBee, August 4, 2009 at 3:54 PM

Over the weekend, the boy and I went to dinner at a small but well-established BYO in downtown Philadelphia. We'd had a reservation on the books for at least a week, and arrived with wine in hand, and ready to consume some life-changing-delicious pasta and proteins. 45 minutes after our confirmed reservation time, we had still not yet been seated, as the couple at "our" table had been sitting with their check and drinking and talking. Granted, it was a Friday night, no one wants to feel rushed, and no one on staff had made them aware of the situation. On the flip side, I've also been to BYO's in the city that are notorious for kicking patrons out when the next table comes in, even if they're still eating, and will refuse dessert/coffee, etc - even going so far as to mentioning at the beginning of the meal that another seating is due in at a certain time. So...I have to ask...what is the lesser of the two evils? What is the polite way to handle this?

Post a Comment Favorite this!  (1)