As Sartre correctly said, “Hell is [eating with] other people [you don’t already know and like].” Now you can have the horror of communal seating* at restaurants where you would normally sit with persons of your own choosing (or even alone). Behold!
Grubwith.us [is] a company that offers affordable prix fixe dinners at quality restaurants with a little twist. These dinners usually have between 6-10 people who have never met. People can reserve a spot at dinner with friends, but it is definitely a interesting experience when everyone at the table is a stranger.
Over here, the Huffington Post is unaccountably neutral-to-slightly-enthused about the worst idea ever**, which is coming to Seattle soon.
*The last time I sat at a communal table, the people next to me talked loudly and pretentiously about THEIR TRIP TO NAPA the entire time, which was approximately 2.5 hours [stabs fork into ear].
**You may say I am a misanthrope. You may say most people wouldn’t ever want to have dinner with me, either. I bet you will! Thanks for that! But can you imagine what kind of misfit too-much-money-having “foodie” freaks do this communal-dinner-to-make-new-friends thing? I hope they’re all swingers. At least that would make sense.
I’ve shared a table with strangers at Jade Garden before, and it was fairly painless on my group’s side. It’s pretty painless at coffee shops, too, typically, but that’s a whole different thing…
You may say, I’m a foodie…
but I’m not the only one.
I hope to sit, at your table…
for dessert, you’ll want to eat a gun.
And deal with the nasty eating habits of strangers? No thanks.
This is deeply, adorably Seattle. “What? You want me to sit with other PEOPLE? Since when are we in Russia??”
BTW, the people going on about their trip to Napa as if anyone cared are the flip side of this very same coin.
Obviously you’ve never traveled in Italy.
This is only a stupid idea for Seattle where everyone maintains their gigantic personal bubble filled with their feelings and fragile sensitivities.
Yes, in Europe I’ve eaten like this a lot. Not because it was supposed to be a “special experience.” They just were cheap eateries with not much room. You had to share a table if you wanted to eat.
hell is eating family style at communal tables with strangers a prix fixe meal that costs $150 per person
Sounds like a wedding reception.
People in the NW have a hard enough time sitting next to someone on the bus, much less eating next to a stranger.
I’ve done it at Jade Garden, Pink Door, and a few other places and while not wholly unpleasant it is certainly not something I would seek out.
I like my personal space and only interacting with the people I am going out with.
But apparently they do it in Italy so that means I have to like it for some reason or another.
I’ll never forget one time in college getting completely baked before meeting my father for dinner at a Japanese restaurant… only to find out when we got there that we were sitting in a communal booth- which included a couple on a blind date, and a family from the suburbs that consisted of three elementary school girls in soccer gear, mom, and dad who clearly didn’t want to eat anything besides a burger.
Needless to say, that meal was a special kind of awkward hell.
I spent much of my childhood in Germany where this is not unusual. If there isn’t an open table you take a seat where there is room. People here are way too afraid of everything around them. This isn’t the worst idea ever.
@4 is right. This is deeply Seattle, although not so adorable. I’ve eaten communally at Art of the Table, Corson Building (where you have no choice), Herbfarm and all have been universally wonderful experiences.
I like this better than a restaurant having a communal table, and wonder if this might reduce the likelihood of that. Which would be a good thing. The only communal table I’ve ever not minded one little bit is the one at Glo’s.
I want to share a table with half a dozen blinkered jackasses who like to go on and on about how everybody is rude these days and doesn’t want to talk to their fellow human being. That would be entertaining. I bet some variation of ‘It’s such a Seattle thing’ would be said about four or five times during the meal.
Sounds monstrous.
What I don’t like about this is that you are seated as a group in settings that seem to formal for this. Bistros and trattorias do tend to have seating like this, particular outdoors in the summer. But it tends to be very informal and people come and go at the tables. They don’t arrive as a group of strangers and endure an entire meal together. That just seems awkward.
If it happens out of circumstance, then whatever. I’ve been in situations where it just worked out that way, and it was no problem. Wedding receptions, certain types of restaurants…no big deal.
But this is something else. It’s about foodies once again taking a very basic idea (communal dining), elevating the experience to this absurdly high level and charging an arm and a leg for it. There is nothing revolutionary about sharing a table.
Can we first get people in Seattle to share coffee shop tables? Even the huge communal tables are usually two people with their crap spread over 8 chairs and spaces. Then there is the one person taking 2 two-chair tables(4 spots). I don’t even bother with the 15th Ave E Victrola anymore.
Yes, I’ve had the ovaries to ask them to let me in. Then you get the stink eye from some earphoned asshole with his computer* on his 4th hour of drip refills, because you asked him to move his jacket or bike helmet while his other crap still takes up all the other spaces/chairs. That makes a real nice break with a book/mag, coffee, and snack. Baristas, do these assholes even tip?
*4 out of 5 times it’s just Facebook on the screen.
They seat people with strangers in the dining cars on Amtrak trains, which is my prefered mode of travel. 99% of the time, It’s been delightful. I’ve met all kinds of interesting people and had some lovely conversations. Even a married couple who were Jehovah’s witnesses were fine. They didn’t push their religion, and we talked about farming.
It’s really not the end of the world, darlings. Just introduce yourself, and keep an open mind. If it’s dreadful, just remember it will be over soon.
Shocking. You’re asking the people of the Pacific Northwest to sit, eat and, OH MY GOD, be forced to interact with people they don’t even know? Who do you think we are? Hippies….?
This sounds like my own, personal, 3rd level of hell.
@11, I’d love to have been a fly on the wall.
My few experiences communal dining – a popular restaurant in Florence, Italy, and a couple of visits to the Herb Farm – were all pretty fucking fun.
@13 beat me to it, but yeah, there has been communal (very) fine dining in Seattle for years now at the Corson Building.
I hate having my social interactions legislated by sanctimonious dipshits.
Also: people who travel to Napa probably go on and on about pinot noir. And I hate people who go on and on about pinot noir.
@25 Probably the same kind of fuckers that wore those ‘free hug’ shirts a couple years ago and acted all aghast that someone might not want to touch them.
I would rather hang myself than sit with a bunch of strangers. No offence. This is not the worst idea, this is my worst nightmare.
The last time I dined with people from Napa they had just finished a nickle at Soledad state prison.
I dislike communal seating for the most part as I’ve seen it implemented here. If I were eating somewhere, e.g. Europe, where it’s the norm I wouldn’t care very much, nor would I make a big deal of it in circumstances where space is actually constrained, such as a train. However here in Seattle it’s not the norm and it’s usually unnecessary. As a result, everybody is uncomfortable for no good reason. Want to chat with your tablemates? Too bad, they want to try and pointedly ignore other parties seated with them in an effort to build a mental wall of privacy like a Tokyo subway rider. Want to have a conversation with the person(s) you’re eating with? Too bad, the prudish middle aged couple seated with you have decided to not-so-obviously-that-you-can-call-them-out-on-it-but-not-subtly-enough-that-you-don’t-notice-them eavesdrop this evening, so you’ll be feeling weird and constrained in your conversation the whole time.
And let’s be honest here. No one is setting up their allegedly fine dining restaurant for communal seating in order to give you a European dining experience, they’re doing it to squeeze more cash out of the place. Communal seating means you can cram people into every square inch of floorspace you have, which would be OK with me if I were paying less. Do you run a cheap-as-dirt BBQ joint? Then yes, I am happy to deal with communal seating in order to eat your delicious $7 rib special. Do you run a French restaurant with $15 appetizers? Fuck you, I want my own table.
I’m with you on this, I like to eat in peace or in a quiet conversation with someone I know and like. But apparently that makes me evil and weird.
Agreed. I hate communal tables unless it’s casual joint that doesn’t have much atmosphere anyway. I wanna eat with my cute date not the snotty couple that thinks I’m dressed funny and won’t pass the salt.
Also:
SoSea Resident- No those people don’t tip and the Baristas hate them.
I’ve had this work at Dinette’s monthly meals, because they’re people that LOVE food, and are fans of that restaurant specifically. It worked out pretty nicely. I would never ever do this with an online service like Groupon, because while I know people that use it, my impression of Groupon in general is that of the trashy garage sale crowd or at best, dull-witted cable watching “foodies”.
They already do this at Costco. For $1.50 – $6 it’s ok. Any more & hellz no
Bethany you are SO SO RIGHT!
And I just love Seattle for all the other misanthropes who posted here.
Communal tables are bogus, if I want to eat with somebody I’ll bring them.
Um, just go to a teppanyaki joint (aka a Japanese steakhouse).
Unless your party is large enough to take up a table, you always end up eating with strangers.
What @20 said!
With one exception, I’ve only had lovely experiences with communal dining, but then again I enjoy being exposed to and meeting new people, hearing ideas that might be different from my own and being social in general. That all that can happen over a meal—formal or informal—makes it doubly nice.
And my one “bad” experience certainly was not a deal breaker. It was at Corson Building and the bummer was that the couple between us and the rest of the fun, chatty table was mildly boring, didn’t contribute to the conversation and seemed depressed. Perhaps they were. My date and I still had each other, and the food was spectacular.
bethany, the reason you had such an awful time is because I wasn’t dining with you. you KNOW i would have SCHOOLED that logorrhetic couple something fierce. so bring me along next time, mmkay? deal?
@20: Funny, when I take the train, I usually bring my lunch back to my (single) seat and eat it there. You aren’t forced to use the dining room for eating.
Yes suddenlyorcas, I know that. And if you would re-read what I said, and CONCENTRATE this time, you will understand that I don’t regard it as being “forced”. I rather like meeting new people and sharing a meal. It’s part of the jolly little adventure of the long-distance trains.
Now if I am travelling local, I tend to take my meal back to my seat as well. Wi-fi, and all that.
Art of the Table was a fantastic experience! Seattle needs to take a load off!
I had an experience like this at Art of the Table and it was really fun and met some great people that went along with some amazing food! There is always the option to sit at a private table, but it was cool. Seattle needs to take a load off!
I am constitutionally unable to make small talk. And many people are made horribly uncomfortable by those who cannot. I would make everyone uncomfortable.
I don’t mind casual interactions with strangers in CASUAL restaurants, bars, pubs, coffeehouses, etc. But my fine-dining tends to be on dates. Which may be with someone I’ve never been on a date with before. I’d kind of like to sit quietly and talk to them, and some of the conversation may be kind of personal. I’d rather not do it in front of the very nice church lady and her husband who’ve never heard the term “polyamory.”