Eating out
Saturday, 25 January 2003 17:54![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pneStella and I went to Block House (a chain of steak restaurants) today. What prompted me was the recent advertisements they have hanging out at bus stops all over Hamburg advertising their heated cow muscle with plant seeds in protective covering as a side dish.
The meal was rather nice (though I think steak isn't really for me -- I thought I'd give it a try again since some people seem to enjoy them a lot). What was icky was afterwards.
Block House has a couple of tables with a little "No Smoking" sign on them. Stella and I chose one of those. When we were done with our main course and most of the way through dessert, a couple came and sat down at a table just across the aisle(?) from us, and started smoking. Their table had no such sign (which rather negates the usefulness of non-smoking tables if they're surrounded by tables which do not have such a sign -- except, perhaps, for the fact that they're not surrounded on all four sides by [potentially] smoking tables), so they were within their rights.
Still, their brand seemed to be particularly nasty for some reason. I kept waiting for the waitress to come so we could pay and go -- which was a pity, since I had planned on sitting around for a while after the meal and just enjoying Stella's company.
Because it was rather busy, it took quite a while until the waitress came to our table again. Enough time for the couple to finish their cigarettes and for people at another table diagonally behind us to start.
I like to think I can handle a little smoke in a restaurant (after all, it's nearly inevitable -- the only place I can think of at the moment that's non-smoking is McDonald's) but it seemed worse today. Plus when we got home, our clothes smelled of smoke as well, which is unpleasant. Stella's having a bath to try to get rid of the smell; I just changed clothes and hope that'll be enough.
Still, I do wonder why they bother having non-smoking tables if there is no separate non-smoking section so that those tables are far enough away that smoke from smokers doesn't drift over. If they're not going to do that, they might as well get rid of the "No Smoking" signs on those few tables.
The meal was rather nice (though I think steak isn't really for me -- I thought I'd give it a try again since some people seem to enjoy them a lot). What was icky was afterwards.
Block House has a couple of tables with a little "No Smoking" sign on them. Stella and I chose one of those. When we were done with our main course and most of the way through dessert, a couple came and sat down at a table just across the aisle(?) from us, and started smoking. Their table had no such sign (which rather negates the usefulness of non-smoking tables if they're surrounded by tables which do not have such a sign -- except, perhaps, for the fact that they're not surrounded on all four sides by [potentially] smoking tables), so they were within their rights.
Still, their brand seemed to be particularly nasty for some reason. I kept waiting for the waitress to come so we could pay and go -- which was a pity, since I had planned on sitting around for a while after the meal and just enjoying Stella's company.
Because it was rather busy, it took quite a while until the waitress came to our table again. Enough time for the couple to finish their cigarettes and for people at another table diagonally behind us to start.
I like to think I can handle a little smoke in a restaurant (after all, it's nearly inevitable -- the only place I can think of at the moment that's non-smoking is McDonald's) but it seemed worse today. Plus when we got home, our clothes smelled of smoke as well, which is unpleasant. Stella's having a bath to try to get rid of the smell; I just changed clothes and hope that'll be enough.
Still, I do wonder why they bother having non-smoking tables if there is no separate non-smoking section so that those tables are far enough away that smoke from smokers doesn't drift over. If they're not going to do that, they might as well get rid of the "No Smoking" signs on those few tables.
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no subject
Date: Saturday, 25 January 2003 11:05 (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, 25 January 2003 21:56 (UTC)Yes, I've written them a letter which I'll probably send Monday.
restaurants usually consider it important to keep the non-smokers happy as well,
I was wondering about that... it sometimes seems to me that a majority of restaurant eaters smoke, so if keeping non-smokers happy inconveniences smokers they might decide to keep the majority happy. (Maybe I'm too pessimistic on that count, though.)
might also be why McDonald's is entirely non-smoking
I think it depends on the branch; the one in Harburg says "Auf vielfachen Wunsch unserer Besucher ist dieses wieder ein Nichtraucher-Restaurant" (or something like that) but I'm not sure whether that applies to all Micky D's in Germany -- I think each local management decides for themselves.