Eating out

[pne]

Stella 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.

Comments

[timwi.livejournal.com]

Have you contacted them about it? As I understand it, restaurants usually consider it important to keep the non-smokers happy as well, which might also be why McDonald's is entirely non-smoking. (I never realised that until you just said it.)

[bride.livejournal.com]

Having a non-smoking section in a restaurant is like having a non-peeing section in a swimming pool. Second hand smoke is worse for you than actually smoking yourself.

You need to move to Vancouver. We have a bylaw where there's no smoking in ANY public commercial building, including restaurants and bars. Everyone is required to smoke outside (either a cordoned off area outside designated as the smoking area or just out on the street).

The only annoyance is when you're walking down the street, someone is smoking and walking at the same time and you can't walk fast enough to get past them.