SE3: Restaurant Observations

Going into this assignment, I had a small amount of difficulty deciding which specific aspect to research. Should I research the importance of atmosphere in a restaurant? What about the general “theme” of the restaurant? Should someone consult a published restaurant guide when deciding where to eat, or perhaps the recommendation of a friend? How important, really, is it to have a bar/large selection of alcohol where you are eating? But I realized that it was all too simple. Why do people eat out at all?

For this assignment, a friend and I went out to dinner at Hacienda, an upscale Mexican restaurant on Colorado Blvd, just off of I-25. It is not decorated in a Mexican theme; it has ample yet dimmed ambient lighting with lots of dark wood, granite surfaces, dark shutters, and brightly polished steel trim. The food is typical Mexican faire, but in a sit down setting with slightly more exotic ingredients and accoutrements, but still very reasonable pricing for such a pleasant dining atmosphere. I had been there for dinner previously, with the same friend coincidentally, but it was during the middle of the week and was not very crowded. This time, I wanted to go at the opportune time to get the most out of the trip, so we went at about 7 pm on a Friday night. It was quite crowded, and we were told there was a waiting time of about 20 minutes for a table of two, but luckily we were seated in about 10 minutes. Right away I realized that the restaurant was indeed packed, and the wait staff busy. The waiting area to be seated is immediately inside the door, and we were led off to the right towards our table, which was a two-person table seated in a corner up to one wall, with significantly more room around it that the other tables had from other surrounding tables. A spatial coincidence, I’m sure, but on a busy night my friend and I found it a pleasant one.

Walking out of the waiting area I had a good view of nearly the entirety of the restaurant. There was a rectangular bar on the far side of the restaurant, and every seat was occupied. It seemed to be mostly comprised of one group of people, roughly 12 people (or 6 couples as best I could tell) of early retirement age, having a grand old time. My guess is that was the extent of their evening, as I continued to observe them they never were ushered to a table between my arrival and departure. There was another similar but slightly group that was seated when we arrived and left shortly after. These two groups were by far the biggest we saw, a few other tables had five or six people, but the largest grouping of diners we saw was three to four. I was actually surprised at the number of young couples with one baby/toddler with them. Their children were remarkably well behaved, I might add, so they were no detraction from our dining experience!

As you might expect at a finer, sit down restaurant, everyone was there to eat and socialize, typically a healthy combination of the two. No one had brought any kind of work to the restaurant with them, and as best I could tell, the “casual-slip-phone-out-of-pocket-to-check-messages” was minimal. Everyone was talking consistently, even after the food had arrived. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and everyone seemed to stay for about the same time, respectively.

Now that I have established that these people are having a grand old time, what on earth are they doing here? I would easily believe that these people come from homes with adequate sustenance, why did they venture forth from their own homes to this restaurant?

Keane, Lafky and Board sum up restaurant selection pretty well in their article “Altruism, Reciprocity, and Health: A Social Experiment in Restaurant Choice.” “Choosing a restaurant is not only an individual decision but also a social one...Restaurant choices are thus embedded in social practices that include giving and receiving, altruism and reciprocation.” People go to a restaurant because as a consumer or customer, it is fulfilling on many levels. You are buying a product, food, you are buying the service of your waiter/waitress who is serving that food right into your hands, and you are buying the skilled labor of a chef who, in all likelihood, is better at preparing food than you are! If you add in the (hopefully) comfortable setting and accommodations of a restaurant and the company of friends and family, the price of your meal seems more and more reasonable. And eating at a restaurant is not just an enjoyable way to fill our tummies. In 2009 alone, 7.8 billion dollars was spent on restaurant gift cards (“Altruism”). Not only is it the better way for us to treat ourselves and friends, we value it so highly we are giving someone a locked-in contract to go experience it themselves!

Restaurants are not just about food. “If a restaurant only sold food, it would be called a grocery store” (ibid). Restaurants rely on the perfect balance of food, service, atmosphere, and presentation to keep you coming back again and again.

Christopher R. Keane, Jonathan M. Lafky, and Oliver J. Board. “Altruism, Reciprocity and Health: A Social Experiment in Restaurant Choice.” Food Policy, 37.2 (2012): 143-150

(http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/science/article/pii/S0306919211001503)