restaurants

 The experience of dining out is very frustrating. What I want is similar to what everyone wants, but we all want something different. Here are some objectives.

Consuming food 

Sharing time with others 

Celebrating a special event 

Conducting business 

Having a couple of drinks 

Being in public alone 

 interaction with the staff 

Most of these can be accomplished without disturbing other patrons too much, except for one... Celebrate a special event.

Celebrating a special event is partly a visual experience, but making noise is also common. What's weird is how difficult this can be. I experienced three different birthday celebrations in three different restaurants and they all seem to "miss the mark." I wasn't in the birthday parties.

Starting with a very loud air horn and loud clapping. This ruined my experience, even though the food was delicious.

A very subdued singing of "happy birthday". Almost depressing.

Then starting with an announcement that the table was having a birthday, and a rousing round of "happy birthday." Fairly successful for me who was not participating.

 

My conclusion is that we need to be flexible about eating out. Eating out is a social event experienced with strangers, and as such will have surprises. 

I prefer to do "take out", but this requires the right kind of food. Some food can't wait 15 minutes to get home, like a steak. Although a good hamburger can usually last that long.