The 8 Worst Places To Sit In A Restaurant

Back in the day, going out to eat was a pretty run-of-the-mill occurrence. Workers on a break would regularly sit down for lunch at their favorite casual spot in the neighborhood, and couples would go out on a whim whenever the fridge was looking sparse or motivation to cook was low. Nowadays — as food prices skyrocket and most of us don't have the disposable income to spend on an impromptu night out — sitting down for a restaurant meal is a much more calculated decision. Therefore, if you're going to shell out hard-earned dough on not just a meal, but the rare experience of going out, you naturally want it to be the best it could be. Believe it or not, where you sit inside a restaurant makes all the difference.

No matter the restaurant, there are good seats and there are bad seats. I've used my years of experience as a server and restaurant manager to lay out exactly which spots to avoid (if you can help it). If you get stuck in one of these unfortunate locations, know that a request for a seat change is usually a question you should avoid asking in a busy restaurant. However, if it's a slow time of day, staff are usually happy to accommodate. So let's dive into the seats to avoid and exactly what makes these spots potential night-ruiners; some are obvious, and others you wouldn't think twice about until you find yourself wishing you had stayed home with a microwavable dinner instead.

In most cases, a seat near the bar isn't ideal, but in some rarer cases, it's one of the better places to sit in a restaurant. Let me break it down. The most obvious reason that it might be unpleasant to enjoy a meal mere feet from a bar is the noise. During the day or on weekdays, it likely won't make much of a difference, but I'm sure I don't have to be the one to tell you that weekend nights at a popular bar-restaurant get loud. Heck, I'm sure you've even participated in weekend bar loudness at one point or another. Who hasn't? Chowing down near the booze-fueled revelry can be fun in some circumstances, but not if you're looking for an intimate date-night spot or a low-key family meal.

In addition to noise, the tables and seats near the bar at a lot of restaurants are usually the least comfortable, in my experience. You know the ones; they're always those awkwardly tall two-tops, otherwise known as high-top tables. Maybe that's your thing, but personally, I despise eating a meal at a high-top, and I know that a lot of restaurant patrons feel the same.

On the other hand, let's say you're flying solo on a trip and want to check out the dining scene in a new city. If you're on the hunt for a solo dining experience with the hopes that it could lead to chatting it up with some locals, sitting down to eat near the bar is a nice way to get the full-service restaurant experience while still being near the action.

A table next to the kitchen is the quintessential bad restaurant seat. It's a scene that's regularly depicted in comedies to illustrate an awkward night out, to the point that it's almost a cliché. In fact, the concept makes me think of the iconic episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," "The Gang Dines Out," where Mac (Rob McElhenney) and Dennis (Glenn Howerton) are trying to enjoy their monthly fancy dinner, only to be interrupted by the kitchen door swinging open again and again. Mac doesn't mind, contrasting Dennis' annoyance with, "It's where the action is!" I can't say I agree with him there.

On top of the heavy foot traffic from restaurant staff and a potentially noisy door swinging open over and over, there's one reason in particular that I despise a restaurant seat near the kitchen: Sudden loud noises — the exact last thing you want when you're trying to relax. Whether it's a chef barking orders or cookware clattering to the floor, a restaurant kitchen is an environment that's full of sharp, vibe-killing sounds. There's really no way to get cozy and relax next to one of the most famously chaotic working environments in the entire history of vocations.

This is one of the restaurant seats that you probably wouldn't realize is bad until you're halfway through a meal and can't shake the feeling that the walls are closing in on you. A seat directly in the center of a restaurant usually means that you'll be surrounded by staff running circles around you. It might also trigger some feelings of claustrophobia if it's a busy city restaurant where tables are jam-packed together.

For those sensitive to noise and crowds, sitting dead-center in a busy dining room might make you feel like you're being swallowed by all the chaos of the restaurant or that all eyes are on you. Personally, being in the middle of a loud room makes it difficult for me to concentrate on a conversation. The voices around me blend together until they become a swirling storm of sound, and I'm stuck in the eye of it.

This only really applies to restaurants with an open layout, and it usually feels overwhelming only if the restaurant is busy. If you're making weekend plans to have dinner at a spot that you know has an open-layout dining room, make a reservation ahead of time and request a table against the wall.

As a former server, I can tell you firsthand that — no matter how polite and low-maintenance they may be — waiting on an extra-large party is challenging. Running meal after meal from the kitchen to a big table takes a lot of time, on top of all the extra things that the party might need. If a server is waiting on a big party, it can be hard for them to give their other tables the attention they need.

This holds especially true when it comes time for the large table to pay their bill. I've found that many big groups forget to figure out how they'll be paying at a restaurant, which ends up being very time-consuming for a server as they rush to divide the check or write up new, individual checks on the fly. That being said, if you're just a modest two- or three-tops and you're sat next to a big party, the quality of your service may suffer as your server gets stuck focusing on these kinds of time-consuming tasks for the large group.

Most restaurants assign each server their own section of the dining room, which is why you'll often find that you're seated next to others in an otherwise empty restaurant. If it's a slow time of day, there might only need to be one server on staff, and it wouldn't make sense to have them run back and forth across the restaurant just to wait on a couple of tables. So, if you find yourself seated next to a large group, there's a good chance that their server is also your server. On top of the potential drop in service quality, a large group is more likely to be noisy, interrupting a quiet, comfortable dinner.

In some cases, eating a meal next to the front door of a restaurant isn't so bad; maybe you get a comforting breeze every now and then, and being next to the front door usually means you're near a window, and a view outside is always nice. But in other cases, sitting right next to the door is an instant night ruiner.

In the winter, getting blasted by freezing cold air every time someone walks into or leaves the restaurant will have your adrenaline sky-high for the whole night. If you're dining in a busy city restaurant, it could also mean getting bombarded by loud traffic sounds whenever the door is open. On top of that, it's guaranteed that you'll experience heavy foot traffic around your table as patrons enter and leave, and especially if the restaurant takes delivery orders. You might find that the eatery turns into a revolving door of delivery drivers picking up to-gos one after another after another, and that gets annoying fast.

Sometimes a seat by the front door makes a night out feel less special and intimate, almost like you were never fully absorbed by the restaurant and, therefore, the experience. A seat deeper into the space is always going to be cozier, especially a seat against a wall that's among the activity in the restaurant but isn't at the center of it.

This one is pretty obvious, and it's probably the situation that prompted the most seat-change requests from me when I was a server. A seat right next to a speaker or a loud TV could be the worst place to sit in a restaurant for some. Personally, I can't stand the concept of a TV in a restaurant (with the exception of those dedicated to watching sports), so I can easily sympathize with the frustration of struggling to hear your conversation partner over obnoxious commercials or extra-loud pop tunes. Sitting underneath a television also means that you'll have other guests staring in the direction of your table, potentially for the entirety of your meal, which really kills the mood.

If loud noises are particularly uncomfortable for you to tolerate, you can always request a table away from noisy speakers or televisions when you make a reservation, and staff are sure to happily help you out. A request for a specific table is much easier to accommodate this way than a request made when you show up, yet a lot of diners forget to take these kinds of important steps when making a restaurant reservation. This way, staff can hold a table for you ahead of time instead of awkwardly asking you to wait until a better, quieter spot opens up, however long that may take.

You might not notice it when you go out to eat since it's usually tucked away, but the server station is a small area that's usually close to the kitchen inside the dining room. Here, servers might prep takeout orders, finish filling out tickets, grab things for their tables like coffee and silverware, or do side work. It's like a server's home base, so on a slow night, it usually turns into a hang-out spot as they wait for tables to filter in. Sitting next to the server station doesn't automatically mean your night is ruined, but it makes it difficult to ignore the business side of a restaurant and fully get comfortable.

If you're sitting next to the server's station on a busy night, you'll find staff members rotating in and out of the area, usually looking pretty flustered. Even the most experienced server will still get caught up in the chaos of restaurant life from time to time, and bearing witness to that while you're trying to relax and enjoy a meal isn't ideal; it becomes pretty difficult not to feel some secondhand stress during a Saturday dinner rush. Unless you're really good at tuning out noise and movement around you, you might end up leaving the restaurant knowing a little bit more about the staff members than you would like.

Let's finish off this list with, objectively, the all-time worst spot to sit in a restaurant: right next to the bathroom. A seat next to the restrooms creates a perfect storm of night-ruining events. First, you have noise, which can be extra irritating if it's later in the evening on a weekend. Intoxicated people are notorious for being loud and for convening in the restroom. There's also the deafening sound of hand dryers constantly going off, which has the potential to leave even the most zen individual fuming by the end of a meal.

Second, there's constant foot traffic passing by your table, which makes a cozy meal with your sweetheart much less private and romantic. Between guests shuffling their cranky children into the restroom and staff members rushing in for a brief moment of respite in the middle of a busy shift, the vibes are always chaotic near the bathroom. Lastly, there's the potential for smells, which I chose not to elaborate on further. If the restaurant isn't very busy, staff might take pity on your situation (if it's particularly egregious) and honor a seat-change request if you really, really can't stand sitting near the bathroom — and no one would blame you.