Group tables: Eat a meal, make friends while dining

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Karen Fernau

The Arizona Republic

When attorney Barbara Ross meets friends at a Scottsdale seafood grill, they often dine elbow to elbow with strangers.

Ross and friends are the newest devotees of the communal dining table. These are the group tables you see in the middle of restaurants where diners eat together, even sometimes sharing appetizers with people they've never met before.

"We sit at communal tables whenever we can because you meet the most interesting people," Ross said. "It's like a dinner party with surprise guests."

Communal tables infuse a dose of nightclub adventure into the more staid dinner hour. These tables also depart from the decades-long cocooning trend where diners prefer private booths. Like small-town coffee shops and pub barstools, these communal tables offer a place for people to grab dinner, argue politics and complain about the weather without having to make plans with friends or family.

Popular for decades in Europe and a smattering of U.S. restaurants, the motivation behind the community tables was to provide a haven for single diners, especially business travelers. Today's resurgence attracts a more diverse group, from couples tired of talking about the kids to co-workers bored with office gossip.

The tables, popping up in fast-casual restaurants like Pei Wei to the fancy Elements at the Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa in Phoenix, provide a culinary antidote for isolation.

"People no longer seem to want the table in the corner where they can't be seen or heard by others. They like the feel, the high energy of communal tables," said Keith House, spokesman for Wildfish Seafood Grille in Scottsdale, which opened in the Scottsdale Waterfront with two experimental tables in the middle of the restaurant. By 6 p.m. most nights, all seats are taken. "We will never open another restaurant without these tables. They've been a big hit from Day 1, and we are even getting people calling for reservations at the tables."

Communal tables, however, do not accept reservations. It's first come, first sit.

No one tracks how many restaurants are offering communal tables, but industry experts say it's an emerging trend.

"We have lost so many of our opportunities to connect with others. We bank at a machine, not with a person. Our community meeting places are disappearing," said Marya Alexander,editor of Solodining, a California-based Web site that suggests communal tables coast to coast.

At La Grande Orange Pizzeria in Phoenix,the 18-seat communal dining table also promotes neighborhood harmony.

"Phoenix is so spread out that it's hard to establish a sense of community. For our neighbors, the communal table helps them do just that. They can drop in for dinner, and chances are pretty good they can eat with some of their neighbors," manager Beth Blunt said.

Nearly eight months ago, Pei Wei, a chain of casual Chinese bistros, added a "pilot" communal table with a bird's-eye view of the chefs in one Chandler location. The table's rave reviews are leading Pei Wei to consider adding communal tables in other restaurants, manager Terre Davila said.

"We've tested the concept," he said, "and let's just say it works."

For restaurants, the communal tables help maximize seating. Seating single diners at the table frees up other tables for couples, said Roger Dwyer, restaurant consultant and associate professor at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I.

Dwyer, however, predicts the upsurge in communal tables to be short-lived.

"We're maybe socially isolated, but we are also very busy and need private time alone with our wives, our family and friends. We do this while dining in private," he said.

And, Dwyer said, there is no guarantee that dining at a communal table will be a pleasant experience.

"How many times have you struck up a conversation on an airplane and quickly regretted doing so?" he asked. "I just wonder how many times someone will have a boring conversation at a communal table before deciding that dining alone is not so bad."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/n...tables0519.html

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

i've heard about this. but duno of any around here. any in your area steve?

Daniel

:energetic:

[one...two...tree 2,762]

i've heard about this. but duno of any around here. any in your area steve?

Daniel

:energetic:

Haven't seen any but it sounds like a cool idea.

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

i've heard about this. but duno of any around here. any in your area steve?

Daniel

:energetic:

Haven't seen any but it sounds like a cool idea.

yeppers. has potential. but you have to have enough cojones to push aways folks you know you don't want at your table.

Daniel

:energetic:

[one...two...tree 2,762]

i've heard about this. but duno of any around here. any in your area steve?

Daniel

:energetic:

Haven't seen any but it sounds like a cool idea.

yeppers. has potential. but you have to have enough cojones to push aways folks you know you don't want at your table.

Daniel

:energetic:

LOL...I think the idea is to dine with people you normally wouldn't want to mingle with.

[almaty 19]

yikes, i get enough of that on VJ

[Ta Ta 1]

I was born and raised in Germany and am used to dining with strangers on the same tables.

I was surprised that one does not sit on a table that has lots of empty chairs but waits for their own table here.

In Germany it's just like 'excuse me do you mind ? ' and you sit down.

You can strike up a pleasant conversation or just mind your own business.

I liked it.

Though on some days I would just want to have my own table.

[Ladylethal 12]

It's like the food court at a mall, except here and back home I've never struck conversation while sitting at one of those.