Why Won't You Sit With Us?

[DISNEY1975]

Some people have bad hygiene and if the food is served family style I would rather not have them touch my food before me (I am a firm Purell believer)... Plus having strangers at your table inhibits your ability as a group to talk about personal issues openly, and sometimes creates an awkward atmosphere. Some people are just rude, too lol.

Ewww..where is family style done at shared tables? Im afraid Ill be cancelling a ressie very soon! I have Beirgarten, BBQ and HDDR booked for Oct. I dont mind sitting with other people at a long table, but NO, please dont touch my food.

 

[kaytieeldr]

It's not, and I don't have any idea to what that poster is referring. I think I asked earlier and they never responded.

I'm 100% certain at Walt Disney World the answer is "nowhere". Community seating happens at only two restaurants: Germany's Biergarten, which is buffet service, and Japan's Teppan Edo which is, well, teppan service. At the latter, some of your food is provided by your server, while your entree is cooked in front of you by your teppan chef. While two or more diners' entrees may be prepared together because they're having the same food, it is served to each separately by the chef. No family style, no "yucky guests with imagined 'bad' hygiene" touching your food.

 

[At World's End]

While it's not quite the same as sharing a table, one of my favorite moments was sharing a bench with a mother & son in France at Epcot. My mother and I had just bought our treats from the bakery, and I asked them if we could join them since there were no other seats available. They were from England. I was sitting next to the boy, who was the same age as my older son. We struck up a conversation and he excitedly told me about all they had done and were planning to do, including swimming with the dolphins. His mother said he was normally very shy, and she was surprised to hear him talk this way to a stranger. It was fun to share in his joy over the trip.

 

[larryz]

It's not, and I don't have any idea to what that poster is referring. I think I asked earlier and they never responded.

I'm 100% certain at Walt Disney World the answer is "nowhere". Community seating happens at only two restaurants: Germany's Biergarten, which is buffet service, and Japan's Teppan Edo which is, well, teppan service. At the latter, some of your food is provided by your server, while your entree is cooked in front of you by your teppan chef. While two or more diners' entrees may be prepared together because they're having the same food, it is served to each separately by the chef. No family style, no "yucky guests with imagined 'bad' hygiene" touching your food.

I haven't eaten at Morocco in a long time, and I think the last time it was standard table service. But I HAVE eaten in some Moroccan restaurants that serve a prix fixe standard menu with everything served family style in a central lazy-susan arrangement -- everyone in your party eats with their hands and huge chunks of dipping bread. It's lots of fun, but only do it with people you know and like...

 

[Brian Noble]

We've had great luck with tablemates. No worries here!

But I HAVE eaten in some Moroccan restaurants that serve a prix fixe standard menu with everything served family style in a central lazy-susan arrangement -- everyone in your party eats with their hands and huge chunks of dipping bread. It's lots of fun, but only do it with people you know and like...

My local Ethiopian place does this. Great fun!

 

[LimoFam5]

It's nothing personal BUT I for one love to just sit alone just me and my family. There we are able to talk freely about any topic that comes to mind.....personal, silly, gross, funny......ANYTHING.
I love to be on vacation and it just be me and my family.....us in our own little Disney Paradise.

Nothing personal..........

 

[labattblue]

Nothing personal but...

I would never share a table at any restaurant, WDW or elsewhere. Not only that, but I'll go one step further...if I go to a restaurant that has the side by side tables(that are typically right on top of each other), I'll wait for a regular table or a booth.

I guess this is the reason why I have never been on a cruise.

 

[sophie832]

Well, for the most part I don't mind eating with strangers if I know ahead of time that I'm going to that type of restaurant (where the seating is "family style"). If I want a romantic, intimate meal with the DH, then I won't go to a restaurant like that, of course. We have an ADR for Biergarten on our Dec. vacation, and we're both looking forward to it.

I will, however, note that I had one bad experience when seated with strangers. I love Monell's restaurant in Nashville...the BEST restaurant in Nashville, hands down. The first time I ever went, I was with my best friend, and we didn't know we'd be eating with strangers, but it worked out very well since the family we were seated with was incredibly friendly and kind. The second time, I was with my DH and the same best friend. We were seated with two families. The first family was really nice, but the second one (a mom and her 2 young sons) was not. The mom said a couple of rude things to me when I had questions or comments about the food, which made me feel embarrassed about being an out-of-towner.

So, the point is, I don't mind eating at the same table with friendly people (or at least people who keep their mouths shut if they don't have anything nice to say). If you get seated with a not-so-nice group, it can really ruin the meal.

 

[tinkerone]

there are so many posts i wanted to use as quotes but it would fill a whole page.
long and short, if i have to i have to. i would not make someone stand if my table was the only option for them but i do hate sharing a table with strangers. dh will talk to a dirty sock on the table, i on the other hand will not. i hate bad manners (several examples were mentioned) and i do not like to make small talk, little chit chat, with strangers. i am not there to make new friends and i do not want to 'babysit' your children. i couldn't care less where you work or how long it took you to get to wdw.
what i do want is some quite time to relax with my family, discuss what we have done and what we will do. talk about how dh's meal is and how mine is. for me meal time is intimant (sp, sorry). its personal and i only want to share it with the people i love. i want to enjoy my food slowly and not have to gobble it down because a family i do not know, sharing my table, can't control themselves......let the flames begin!!

 

[crystaltink]

My 13 yr old son and I ate at Biergarten just last week. Great food BTW...anyway we were seated at our table with 6 strangers..total of 3 families. The group in the middle of our table disappeared, and later we saw them huddled at another table just the 3 of them, all by their lonesome. I decided to not be offended, lol! My son and I were wearing matching Mickey tye dye shirts...so we didn't look too offensive!
When I got back to the table our neighbor made a joke about the other group not wanted to sit with us and we shared a laugh! Turns out, when we started talking with our neighbor we found out we lived within 20 miles of one another, both of us from the Gulf coast. We had a great time making small talk! The people who left our table lost that chance to get to know us...even for a brief time.

 

[babyrich]

there are so many posts i wanted to use as quotes but it would fill a whole page.
long and short, if i have to i have to. i would not make someone stand if my table was the only option for them but i do hate sharing a table with strangers. dh will talk to a dirty sock on the table, i on the other hand will not. i hate bad manners (several examples were mentioned) and i do not like to make small talk, little chit chat, with strangers. i am not there to make new friends and i do not want to 'babysit' your children. i couldn't care less where you work or how long it took you to get to wdw.
what i do want is some quite time to relax with my family, discuss what we have done and what we will do. talk about how dh's meal is and how mine is. for me meal time is intimant (sp, sorry). its personal and i only want to share it with the people i love. i want to enjoy my food slowly and not have to gobble it down because a family i do not know, sharing my table, can't control themselves......let the flames begin!!

No flames here, I couldnt agree with you more! Sharing a table doesnt mean we have to become life-long friends. I do not want to pretend to be interested in your vacation. I do not want to pretend I am interested in what your children are doing. I would rather say hello and not have to talk any more. I dont mind sharing the table, but it seems to come with obligations to the other families.

 

[Cee]

I don't think sharing a table means you must share your entire meal and conversation. I've had experiences where we've had wonderful conversations with the others at the table, and times where we've greeted each other, enjoyed the meal conversing with our own party and then said good-bye to the table upon exiting. It has worked nicely both ways. You just never know!

 

[nbs2]

For us, it comes down to table manners. Most people have them, but enough people don't that I'm wary.

If you have food in your mouth, close it. Chew. Don't talk.
If your kid is fussing, take him/her outside or walk around.
If your kid is acting up (throwing food, making a mess, etc), discipline.
If there are kids around, watch your verbal and body language. Really, it isn't hard.
Politics and religion - not what I'm here to debate. I'll go toe to toe with you all day, but not while I'm on vacation with my family.
If you have a complaint, go to management. I can't do anything about it (unless I'm violating one of the aforementioned), and I don't want to hear about it.

 

[cmpdw4me]

I am not opposed to sharing a table. For me personally, my DW vacation is about family time, so I'm pretty selfish, I want them all to myself. We don't ever make ressies where we share a table with others. On the other hand, I have no problem sharing a table for say lunch. But dinner, is our time to catch up and reflect on our day there, so yeah, just family for me.

 

[tinkerone]

For us, it comes down to table manners. Most people have them, but enough people don't that I'm wary.

If you have food in your mouth, close it. Chew. Don't talk.
If your kid is fussing, take him/her outside or walk around.
If your kid is acting up (throwing food, making a mess, etc), discipline.
If there are kids around, watch your verbal and body language. Really, it isn't hard.
Politics and religion - not what I'm here to debate. I'll go toe to toe with you all day, but not while I'm on vacation with my family.
If you have a complaint, go to management. I can't do anything about it (unless I'm violating one of the aforementioned), and I don't want to hear about it.

very well said and my thoughts as well.

 

[DVC-Don]

We love it there. We've met some really nice people from all over the world and the USA.

 

[dismichael]

Truly, I've never heard of a restaurant that serves food family-style AND seats strangers together. I don't think you'd have anything about which to be concerned.

Given the proximity of tables to each other in most restaurants, especially at Walt Disney World, any restaurant might not be the best place to talk about personal issues.[/QUOTE]

Well, I was not references a specific restaurant in DisneyWorld.... We go to Lancaster, PA, and most restaurants out there serve country food-family style-with strangers all sitting amongst each other at a table....My family is very close, and I am not saying we are discussing personal issues, but I have a deadly nut allergy, and sometimes it is embarrassing trying to set up accommodations in front of other people.... I just would rather have my privacy, and spend my dinner (that I am paying alot of money for) with the people I care about, and NOONE else.... It's even uncomfortable trying to explain to alot of these waiters about my allergy, cuz most don't understand, and don't care to take the time to help... So why would I want strangers staring at me while I'm doing this?

 

[luvthemouse71]

My 13 yr old son and I ate at Biergarten just last week. Great food BTW...anyway we were seated at our table with 6 strangers..total of 3 families. The group in the middle of our table disappeared, and later we saw them huddled at another table just the 3 of them, all by their lonesome. I decided to not be offended, lol! My son and I were wearing matching Mickey tye dye shirts...so we didn't look too offensive!
When I got back to the table our neighbor made a joke about the other group not wanted to sit with us and we shared a laugh! Turns out, when we started talking with our neighbor we found out we lived within 20 miles of one another, both of us from the Gulf coast. We had a great time making small talk! The people who left our table lost that chance to get to know us...even for a brief time.

We had a very similar experience...one lady pitched a hissy fit because she didn't like the setup..we ended up sitting with this nice family from New England who turned out to live pretty close to us. Had a nice time talking about WDW and the Red Sox.

 

[DrMomof3]

We had a lovely time at Biergarten in December. We're a family of 5 with very young children (they were 5, 3 and 1 at the time). It was our first day in Disney (but not our 1st trip) and we had gotten up at the crack of dawn, had a 3 hour flight delay, survived the 1 year old vomiting on the airplane, and were pretty exhausted. My 5 year old fell asleep in the stroller and spent most of the meal sound asleep! My 3 year old had a blast and insisted on dancing. And my 1 year old ate. A lot. I guess he was making up for whatever he had lost that morning.
We sat with a very, very nice older couple and also a solo-traveling woman (likely in her 50's?). The gentleman kept grabbing pretzel bread for my children whenever he went up to the buffet. They were all super nice and friendly without being annoying. My children were children but fairly well-behaved (especially considering the circumstances). There were a few drinks on the floor but no whining or tantrums!
I think we got the better end of the deal!!!

Amanda