Anybody else noticed this?

Dining out is becoming less pleasurable due to the policy of removing booths and/or the dividers between booths. You have no privacy. I don't want to hear what's going on with Aunt Harriet according to the people at the next table.

A few years ago I commented on this to a waitress in a nearby place where they had removed the dividers between the booths. She coughed that it was on the advice of Las Vegas Metro. Is this a Homeland Security thing?

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Release the Kraken

Haven't paid attention. My spot is at the bar....or if nice weather.... outside. Now that I think about it the places that I frequent don't have booths. They have big tables set all around. Not one next to another but not deviders


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I thought it was to get more seating.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

You can tell how clean they are by bending over to see how much bubble gum is stuck to the bottom of the table.

As a former restaurant owner that used booths, I must say that it was amazing to see what was found under the seats.
My favorite was a wallet who's owner was recognized as a "walk out" by his server when he returned for it. But then there was a diamond tennis bracelet that was never claimed (still in my safe and mine now).
The maintenance on upholstered seating is a factor, I used to cringe when I would see a customer start to sit down with a screwdriver protruding from his back pocket.

Here's what I'm talking about



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Being a large person, I am glad the booth is going the way of the Dodo Bird, the same as the permanently mounted swivel seats at Mc Donalds and Arby's. I like to be able to position my seat a comfortable distance from the table!

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Virtue,Liberty & Independence

From what a buddy said that owned a restaurant it has two primary reasons. You can get more people seated with all the material the booths are made of is removed. Its also easier to keep track and monitor what is going on in the dinning room.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

If you're dinning at a place that has booths, you're not exactly going for the ambiance. If you want privacy, eat at home.

I just want to eat reasonable food prepared by someone else who also does the dishes while being able to carry on a conversation below screaming pitch because of the jerk at the next table bellowing into their phone.

If the average restaurant industry becomes universally hostile to my needs, then I will eat at home and spend my money elsewhere. Elsewhere will likely be out of state or even in another country.

If I want ambiance I'll eat at one of the flashy places in town and I still prefer some kind of booth arrangement. Oddly enough, they cater for it quite well, but be prepared to spend $150+ for dinner if there is any alcohol.

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Release the Kraken

I haven't really noticed a significant change away from booths, but restaurants, like any business, will respond to general customer preference, so I'm sure if enough people love booths, there'll be places that offer them.

My circle of friends includes a wheelchair rider (and with advancing age may include more), so we have no use for booths and only meet in places around town where we can get easily accessible tables.

Just our preference.

Most places I go have booths and tables. Some have partitions, some don't.

An obnoxious moron can be heard despite any partition.

What bothers me far more than anything else is people with small children whom they allow to run amok in expensive restaurants, either doing nothing or impotently mumbling "Now Johnny, don't do that."

Fixed it for you.

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Release the Kraken

Honestly, many Americans are now simply too fat to fit in a booth.

There's a mom and pop restaurant nearby that has both booths and tables. It looks like a block building with a doublewide trailer attached to it. The seats are repaired with duct tape. This place is PACKED every time you go there despite all this. They have the world's best catfish.

They aint going anywhere--at least at Dennys, Cheddars, Whataburger and Walbangers.

Steve: A few years before you came to LV there was just the restaurant you describe on Flamingo near Maryland Parkway. It had ALL horseshoe shaped booths plushly upholstered separated by heavy curtains ceiling to floor between every booth. The ceiling was of heavy sound attenuating surface tile, the floor was heavy carpet, the walls were also sound attenuating. Dining in that place was a pleasure for those of us that value a quiet subdued atmosphere. Of course the cost was higher than that of any subsidized Strip Casino restaurant. It was in existence from about 1965 thru 1970 then inevitably it went out of business. As a young construction engineer, my wife and I had to save to be able to eat there once a month. I can't remember the name of the place, but it has remained my idea of an 'ideal' of a top flight place to dine in complete enjoyment ever since. BTW, the food was excellent, the service subdued and prompt and a bottle of wine was not four times that of the liquor store's. ......

I always ask for a booth and 99% of the time I get one. Maybe the trend has reached St. Louis yet.

My favorite was in Kuwait where every table had a door with complete privacy. If you wanted the waiter you pushed a button and a light would come on outside your door. The worst memory there was when I took a Filipina date. She ordered corn chowder and asked them to take out the corn. First and only date!

Good point! With tables, in the center of my dining room, I could accommodate almost any number of guests by sliding them together. Inevitably, I would have one customer tie up a horseshoe booth that could seat five. I tried to discourage that but not too hard.

In today's day's environment you can not expect any privacy while you are out in public. Just about everywhere you go you will be on camera, and many now have audio as well. I haven't noticed any change personally, but when my wife and I go out we prefer a booth away from the front door, preferably with wooden tables between us and the door. A heavy wooden table can be used as temporary cover. After we are seated we always look for a rear exit or other means of a quick exit.

My pet peeves in restaurants are noisy kids, people yacking on cell phones and rude wait staff. I am sure now that the minimum wage is going up service will greatly improve.........

It has been at least a year since I ate in a restaurant. That one didn't have booths. Food--Thai red curry--was good, though.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Wow, I haven't eaten at a restaurant in at least 5 hours! They kind of have a couple of half booths, where the wall side is permanent but the outside has chairs and the table is fixed.

When we go, which is often once a day, I prefer the waitress. When you go to the same places, you notice a big difference. I prefer the pretty and nice ones. You know the ones who refill your drink with out you having to ask. And the payback is that I tip well. Or at least I think I do. After a few cycles of 30% tips, you get good service.

We went out last night, too. I got one of my favorites, Amy. Her smile sparkles. She's attentive. The check came to $16 and I paid her $22. It keeps the service level up, or at least for us.

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Dick Burg

You guys must be going to the same place.

Here's the other one I go to



And another



Whether people are talking on the phone or to each other they are still talking! I don't mind the busy atmosphere and don't feel like I need to shout over anyone.

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You want privacy? You want intimacy?

Easy, Go to the drive thru and then park on down by the cul-de-sac.

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Dum vivo cano

Ya talkin' about Harper's........




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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

I ALWAYS ask for a table as there generally isn't enough room in a booth for my tummy to fit in.

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A closed mouth gathers no foot

I despise booths. Sounds crazy but I feel trapped. My biggest peeve while dining out is all the LOUD music and the stupid TVs with sports on all the time..or sometimes the lamestream media. Yeah..worthless kids with parents who won't correct them are a bother also. But that is the parent's fault.

I prefer a table to a booth, the booths seats are usually too low and sometimes to far away from the table. That's just me.

Have a blessed evening.

Leon

Hey I resemble that remark.

I love a proper booth. For me, it guarantees one side of my body is covered, and for my girlfriend it's better for her back. Both of us are on the svelte side so getting in and out is no issue.

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Release the Kraken

Booths are 'inefficient' because you can cram more people in with chairs and tables. Which doesn't sell with me. I like booths and don't care to sit very close to somebody I don't know. especially if they are loud and noisy. I'll always take a booth over a table. Often 'atmosphere' plays a role in where I want to go. If I have people with me that are going to want to talk, I like the privacy of a booth and I won't go to a place where we can't converse easily.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I knew a man that managed a restaurant bar and he said he took out the booths because people would be making out in the booths and buying very little food or drinks while hanging out to long also.

Tall backed booths have two problems in today's society: Head lice and Bedbugs! Yuck!!!

I eat lunch at a Rooster's (a sports bar) twice a week. There are about 15 booths that are elevated about 4" and seat up to six. The areas with tables seat fewer people per square foot, unless they start shoving tables together for groups (then they have space left over!). Seating capacity is always higher for "fixed" seating then tables.

SPORTSBAR: No table cloths, vinyl upholstery and no carpet have caused restaurants to become much louder, along with 52 televisions, 47 cell phone conversations, and 75 construction workers (on rainy afternoons), But this isn't where I go for a date with the most wonderful woman in the world!

SMITH AND LEWINSKI: Carpet, leather upholstery, waiters that speak English (and wear a tie instead of short shorts) and no NASCAR. This place always made me feel like my wife was respected. But a good meal for two always ran $150 to $200, (10 years ago) and I AWAYS felt it was worth it!! But I don't meet 4 buddies there for lunch after a gym workout either!

If Americans want booths, they will stop going to places without them.
The money spent, shows what Americans want!

Ivan

as long as the food is tasty and the service good, put me inna booth, table or at the counter......we have a handful of independent restaurants that we eat at and enjoy.....

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There's nowt so queer as folk

Yes sir. I thought you'd recognize the description.

I've had three knee surgeries, one left, two right. Sliding into a booth is painful, much prefer a table and chair. Also, with a family of four, shuffling for potty breaks is a PIA in a booth!!!

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Either a booth or individual tables are fine with me. What I don't like are the long tables, common in Europe maybe some places here in the USA too, where a bunch of strangers are shoved together.
Steve W

Now that sounds like my kind of place. We have a mom and pop ran café here that has been in business since the 1950s, The Dixie Pig. Breakfast and lunch only and plan on waiting in line, but only for a minute or two. Doesn't look like much but the food is great and the service couldn't be better. Tables, booths and a counter, take your pick and very seldom do you have to hear someone on their cell phone with the speaker on talking about their gout and todays dr. appointments.

We have a Barbeque place that is built from an old WWII quansit hut. All they have is booths but they are wide enough to accommodate people with the larger bellies. They have been there for close to 70 years and still going strong and, I don't think it will change any time soon. They have very good Q. My favorite unless I go to Lexington for their Q.

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I Cor. 10:13 "1611KJV"

There was this hole back in the day, lousy food but fine for privacy.
The Cave, Ft. Lauderdale on US1

I think I see the attraction.

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Release the Kraken

I never sit in booths--I feel trapped in one. Silly, maybe, but even at my advanced age, I can spring from a chair if trouble starts, but options are limited if you're in a booth, especially if you are on the inside.

Our server was Tarzan with a lisp...

If a place takes booths out, I would think it is because tables are versatile. You can scoot them together for larger groups, making it more accommodating. I like booths, just because of my bony butt. Unfortunately, most are too soft, and your seating position is not what is most comfortable. The BJ's restaurants I've been to in East Texas have the best booths for me. They have plush, firm seating and a little lower table height.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

We go out occasionally to an expensive restaurant. They have a policy....no children under 12. I guess they feel if you can afford to eat there you can afford to pay someone to monitor your unruly children for a few hours.

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That's just somebody talkin.

I stay out of malls and restaurants.

Boy did I get a wild mental picture of that!!

This past weekend, we went to a Village Inn that we used to frequent when my kids were young and all of them living at home. I was disappointed to see that they had taken out the booths. We always grab a booth when they are available.

Booth or table are OK,just not by the kitchen or bathroom door.

I don't care much whether it's booths or tables, if the booth cushions aren't worn completely out with no support. What bothers me in almost every place available for dining out is that the noise level is beyond tolerable. Plus many seem to have four or five different TV sets blaring with different stations tuned in. I can't hear my wife and she can't hear me, and communication with the wait staff is nearly impossible. The loud talker on a cell phone nearby is just another part of the din in the place. The noise levels are beyond uncomfortable. If it was a sports bar and grill, then I'd expect that, but not in a restaurant. I have to turn my hearing aids completely off and still can't stand the noise!!! It actually takes my mind off an uncomfortable seating arrangement. OK, rant off for now!!

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So long ... Ken