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 22:00 (UTC)I agree, but lots of others obviously don't.
Everyone is required to smoke outside (either a cordoned off area outside designated as the smoking area or just out on the street).
Wouldn't that mean that people going into the restaurant have to "run the gauntlet" through a huge cloud of smoke?
That's what annoys me a little about people who smoke outside the doors of a building (especially our local shopping centre): sure, it's polite to the people inside but when you want to go in or out you have to pass this cloud of smoke where lots of smokers are clustered together.
Still, it sounds like a decent idea. You want to hook me up with work in Vancouver?
Re:
Date: Saturday, 25 January 2003 22:20 (UTC)I find it's not as big a problem as actually being marinated in smoke inside.
Still, it sounds like a decent idea. You want to hook me up with work in Vancouver?
Send me your updated resume and a description of what you're looking for. I can keep my eye out for you.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 26 January 2003 05:06 (UTC)But I don't think we'll be moving to North America any time soon (though I have thought about it occasionally).
I'll keep it in mind, though.