Dining Out Isn’t What It Used to Be
Especially in major cities, the idea of simply walking into a restaurant and sitting down can seem quaint.
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If you live in a big city, the idea of heading to an area filled with restaurants, finding one you like, and proceeding to sit down with friends or family might seem quaint. Dining out has changed: In recent years, restaurants in major cities are getting harder and harder to book tables at. Over the summer, my colleague Saahil Desai reported on how certain credit cards now give people a leg up in the reservation competition. Meanwhile, my colleague Lora Kelley wrote this week that some Americans are favoring fast-casual chains while others are going big on upscale dining, leaving mid-tier American classics such as TGI Fridays and Denny’s struggling.
What we lose without those mid-tier spots, Lora noted, is another place to hang out and spend unstructured time with loved ones and strangers; the reservation wars at trendy restaurants contribute to that same problem. Whatever the restaurant calculus looks like where you live, it’s always worth trying to find a local spot where you can sit down and simply be with other people.
On Dining Out
A Fancy Card Is Becoming the Only Way to Get a Restaurant Reservation
By Saahil Desai
The game is rigged.
Nothing Is Cooler Than Going Out to Dinner
By Amanda Mull
Why it’s so hard to get a restaurant reservation right now (From 2022)
Who Wants to Sit at a Communal Table?
By Ellen Cushing
A lot more Americans than you might think.
Still Curious?
- How America lost its taste for the middle: TGI Fridays, Denny’s, and other restaurants in the country’s middle tier are struggling, Lora Kelley writes.
- No one has to settle for bad pizza anymore: With a bit of practice, you can make restaurant-quality pies in your own yard. And you should, Saahil Desai argues.
Other Diversions
- The movie that mattered most in 2024
- The celebrity machine never dies.
- Do yourself a favor and go find a “third place.” (From 2022)
P.S.
I recently asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. “After a dreary, rainy day in June” a few years ago, “the skies started to clear and I walked up into the field behind our home” in Cropseyville, New York, Karen B. writes. “There, in all of its glory, was a full rainbow.”
— Isabel
