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> why would I pay DoorDash or Uber Eats $30 to deliver some fast food when I can go to a real restaurant and get much better food for cheaper? 1. I don't have

> why would I pay DoorDash or Uber Eats $30 to deliver some fast food when I can go to a real restaurant and get much better food for cheaper? 1. I don't have to drive 2. I don't have to listen to other people talking loud or being obnoxious while I'm trying to eat my meal and have a quiet private conversation with my wife 3. I can enjoy it in the comfort of my home, whether this means eating dinner in front of the tv, or enjoying a scotch or wine we have at home, or even just being able to get out of the clothes we've been in all day and enjoy comfort food in our PJs 4. I don't have to brave the cold or wet weather 5. I don't have to deal with wait staff interrupting my meal every 5 minutes to ask if everything is ok 6. I don't have to worry about music that I don't care for, or is distracting, being played while I eat 7. I don't have to worry about dirty dishes on the table, or the table itself being dirty (although to be fair I have no control over the dishes used to prepare the food and so some might consider this to be moot) 8. I don't have to worry about my home being crowded and busy with strangers, making for an uncomfortable dining experience. My mother once took me to a restaurant to celebrate my birthday, just the two of us. I'm a foodie and, despite listing several reasons I often prefer delivery / take-out over dine-in, I actually do love a great restaurant and the food at this particular place was supposed to be amazing. The two of us were put in a tiny corner in a crowded restaurant so close to the tables nearest us that the three parties (us plus our neighbours on either side) could hear every single word of each others' conversations. It was practically a communal table situation. Edit: I forgot to mention that we had a reservation which made this experience all the more frustrating. Which leads me to... 9. I don't have to worry about finding myself at a restaurant that has communal tables 10. I don't have to worry about people celebrating their birthdays receiving a loud and obnoxious group of wait staff bursting out of the kitchen to interrupt the entire restaurant's private conversations with an annoying song and cheer I recognize that a lot of the above points can be avoided by choosing a different restaurant. But sometimes you still want the food of a particular restaurant but that restaurant's dining atmosphere is what kills it for you.

sfink 3y ago
> 5. I don't have to deal with wait staff interrupting my meal every 5 minutes to ask if everything is ok I'm sure you know this, but they're actually interrupting your meal every 5 minutes to minimize any possible delay in seating the next person after you. They just accomplish that by asking if everything is ok. It's all about throughput. (And it's a US thing. In France, among other places, you're expected to be the only group using the table for that meal. Which means they're in no rush for you to finish, but also that they are not happy if a group sits down but only a subset of people order food. Sometimes to the extent of asking you to leave.)
- mckn1ght 3y ago
  I'm not so sure it's just a US thing. I've been to plenty of places in EU that are very interested in feeding you and getting you out the door for the next people to come in. Some high end, in-demand places will even tell you up front what the time limit is because with their limited space, they need to be able to accommodate the next reservation. And often, it just comes down to overcorrection, where the server is afraid of getting bad tips (so yes, that is US specific, and maybe related to throughput, though not exclusively), or incompetency, where they haven't learned how to read the table and predict their needs.

sfink 3y ago

> 5. I don't have to deal with wait staff interrupting my meal every 5 minutes to ask if everything is ok I'm sure you know this, but they're actually interrupting your meal every 5 minutes to minimize any possible delay in seating the next person after you. They just accomplish that by asking if everything is ok. It's all about throughput. (And it's a US thing. In France, among other places, you're expected to be the only group using the table for that meal. Which means they're in no rush for you to finish, but also that they are not happy if a group sits down but only a subset of people order food. Sometimes to the extent of asking you to leave.)

mckn1ght 3y ago
I'm not so sure it's just a US thing. I've been to plenty of places in EU that are very interested in feeding you and getting you out the door for the next people to come in. Some high end, in-demand places will even tell you up front what the time limit is because with their limited space, they need to be able to accommodate the next reservation. And often, it just comes down to overcorrection, where the server is afraid of getting bad tips (so yes, that is US specific, and maybe related to throughput, though not exclusively), or incompetency, where they haven't learned how to read the table and predict their needs.