Do you need space in restaurants

[jhlurie]

Oh... wait.  I'll grab the "gross" crown from Liza.  The best way to ensure proper space in a restaurant is...

(...drum roll...)

flatulance.

Um, before or After the meal?  :p

obviously DURING.  :D

[Jinmyo]

I simply will not eat in a restaurant if the table is out in an aisle. It must be next to a wall so that I can sit with my back to it. That way, I only need to defend myself from three sides and a good sweep of the ol' machine pistol or a spray of shuriken in a clockwise sweep of the right hand does nicely.

Well, actually, it's true I prefer to sit near a wall but not necessarily with my back to it. I won't sit at table where pulling back a chair will bump into a chair pulled back from another table.

In laying out a bookstore a decade and more ago I learned a great deal about spatial arrangements. If people walk into space betwen shelves that opens out onto another shelf running across, they often simply won't go down that aisle. The stock on those shelves is then inert.

Restaurant space is often more cluttered and obstructed than bookstores. I once cooked at a restaurant where a server could just wheel 'round to serve the next table. I won't eat at one.

[Wilfrid]

I hate the table two right next to the wall, so the wall is immediately to your left/right, and you smash an elbow every time you lift your arm to eat or drink.

When that happens, I haul the table out into the aisle, thus impeding the progress of servers.

[cabrales]

Some additional thoughts on the amount of "space" I need. Space includes space underneath the table for one's legs. I sometimes find, especially when seating is banquette style, that there is insufficient height between the level of restaurants' chairs and the bottom of the table. I like to cross my legs with ample room left over.   ;)