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SoloDiner Tip WINNERSfor 2001 |
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To read the winning tips for 2004, click: 2004 |
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THE How-to Booklet of Solo Dining Tips & Strategies:
The Art and Satisfaction of Dining Alone REVEALED!
is now available for purchase in PDF format!
Here are the reasons why I enjoy solo dining and why most people ought to also: You dine when, where and how you choose and at any place you choose. It can be most convenient!
D. Silvers Costa Mesa, California
Be pleasant to the host/hostess and your serving person and let them know if you want solitude or would like to chat.
Eat whatever you like best and smile other people will smile back!
R. Rowe Carson, California
Always enter a restaurant as if you were a preferred customer. If you act like you are at ease, you are treated more warmly.
Do not be afraid to make eye-contact, or if necessary, voice-contact with waitpersons just relax and enjoy!
P. Stich Alameda, California
I have been solo dining for years (even though happily married) and have perfected several techniques.
First, I plan my solo dining outings and revel in picking a great restaurant I have never visited before.
Once I arrive at the restaurant, I usually have a chance to look the place over and I decide where I want to sit.
Once the maitre d' arrives, I express my desire (with a big smile) and it usually works.
If I don't have a chance to view where I want to sit and they seat me in a place I'm not happy with, I will always ask for another location. It always works.
I grab a good book, or my palm pilot with my newly loaded book, and have a great time trying a new menu.
Jan Lasley-Payne
I am an expert on dining solo; I've had over 60 years of experience.
1st What do you want to eat chicken, fish, beef, ethnic?
2nd What is the best restaurant to find it? If it requires dressing up, decide whether you feel like it. If not find another place.
3rd Does it require reservations? If yes, call and make reservations for TWO. (Your partner will be indisposed at the last minute.) Most restaurants will not reserve for one.
4th If it has valet parking, good take it. You deserve it.
5th If you think you will be bored, take along a book, newspaper, or something to keep you entertained. This is a wonderful time to people watch, especially the professional staff.
6th Tip generously. Remember the waiter expected to be serving two people, not one.
7th Have fun. This is not McDonalds. Think forward, not backwards. This is not the time for 'If only' or 'why me.' Here you are, so make the most of it. This is not the time to problem solve. [or is it?] ENJOY YOURSELF!
Kay O'Regan age 82 and single forever
Don't let a restaurant treat you any differently than they do a couple or a group! Too often they shove you in the back or by the busboy station or near a drafty door.
Let them understand that you want to enjoy your meal as much as anyone else!"
L. Johnson Los Angeles, California
I dont feel any phobia about eating alone. In fact, I enjoy it supremely. The trick is to engage an attractive woman across the room, preferably one sitting with a macho man, to get her to notice you, to keep her totally distracted and diverted from the guy who is trying to impress her...and then to leave at the end without ever thinking of meeting her. Pure flirtation is pure pleasure, more so than most desserts, or appetizers.
G.S. New York, New York
I enjoyed reading about your newsletter in the Providence Journal this morning. I have been dining solo for a number of years and enjoy it. A comment I'd like to share with you is:
One time I was having dinner with a gentleman friend and we noticed a man eating alone. My friend commented that he always noticed that he did not see many women eating alone and he wondered why they did not feel they deserved to be "waited on" occasionally.
I always remember that comment when I am dining alone I deserve to be waited on and I do it often.
JoAnn Dubuc Rhode Island
To combat seating in a poor location, a solo woman should make a reservation for two. After she's seated, she should explain that he couldn't make it.
Name withheld by request.
Ask for a window seat, so you can enjoy the scene and watch the passersby.
Order a full meal and a good wine; don't order cheap. (Don't say, "I'll just have a salad." Go to a salad bar if that's what you want.)
Be a "serious diner"! Ask your waiter questions; regularly frequent a good restaurant so they get to know your name; walk in with authority and not like a coward.
S. Harb Lexington, VA
Choose colorful restaurants that are small and offer to share your table.
If someone accepts your offer, don't be afraid to initiate a conversation. If the other person doesn't wish to talk, it will be quickly apparent and nothing will be lost by continuing a meal in silence.
Name withheld by request.
I've been traveling, both on business and for pleasure for some thirty years and, after a long meeting-filled day, I enjoy dining alone with a book.
In all these years in many countries, I've never been seated behind the kitchen door or in other uncomfortable places. Why? Because I go slightly before the crowds, politely request a table for one in the smoking section with good lighting.
I tip appropriately to the service provided, ask the maitre 'd for his suggestions (and often follow his ideas), request a half-bottle of wine of his choice and proceed to enjoy my meal.
Even in Paris, where friends had told me I'd not be made very welcome, I had no problems. Occasionally the restaurant doesn't have a table when I haven't made a reservation, but there's always another down the street. Helpful, too, are good concierges, especially those who recommend restaurants other than your hotel's.
Bottom line? Look as though you can afford the place, hold your head up and request what you want. It does work.
Judy Rosner (neuwrite@earthlink.net) Chicago, IL
Planning a trip? Visit our sister website. Click here: SoloTravelPortal.com
