"Do you want the table by the kitchen, the service area or the bathroom?"

It was Christmas in Las Vegas, NV. My brother had recently moved there. My folks flew in from Arizona and my husband and I from California. If I think about it, the name of the restaurant will come to me, it was one of those early 2000’s celebrity chef places (we all know the type). Actually, the name doesn’t matter as I have had this experience across the country in a variety of different types of restaurants for decades.

Black sign with white letters in a serifed font that reads "Please Wait To Be Seated" as commonly used in the front of restaurants. Creator: Jeremy Keith 

It was early evening (which in Vegas feels really early). The restaurant was practically vacant. I remember there was a wall of windows and booths that looked out on the interior mall (I think we were at the Venetian), which offered superior people watching. There were booths alongside the walls, tables for larger parties in the middle and as you moved to the back of the dining room booths along the back wall. Overall, there was a variety of prime seating options.

As the hostess beckoned us to follow, my spidey senses were alert. I took the first post so I can see what is ahead. We pass empty tables moving towards the rear of the restaurant along the path to the restroom. Before our destination is offered to us (the back of the restaurant in one of the free standing tables in the kitchen pathway), I ask if the booths at the front of the restaurant are available and might we have one given it is family reunion and the holiday. The hostess looked slightly bewildered – even shaken a bit – and escorted us back to the front of the restaurant to a lovely spacious booth with prime visibility out and in.

We all shake it off.

A lovely evening was had and the meal was excellent.

Is it just me?