Try booking a table for one. If nothing appears, change the party size to two. When availability opens up, you have a question for the restaurant before you have even seen the menu.
Now comes the phone call, the seating request, or the search for somewhere else.
This is the solo tax: the extra money, effort, and compromise a meal can require because you arrived without a companion. It shows up at three points in the evening.
The booking: extra work to become a customer
When booking for one requires a special request, you are left negotiating access that a larger party may get with a few clicks.
Sometimes the condition is financial. In 2023, London’s Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal introduced a policy under which certain solo reservations could require a minimum spend equivalent to two tasting menus, with limited exceptions. Management cited its small dining room, staffing costs, and lost revenue from empty seats. The Caterer reported on the policy.
The economics are understandable. So is declining to pay for an absent companion. A restaurant can set the terms that sustain its business; a customer can decide those terms make dinner poor value.
At minimum, those conditions should be clear before anyone commits to the evening.
The menu: a second appetite required
A dish for two. A succession of sharing plates. A whole fish you want to try but cannot reasonably finish.
The problem is more than portion size. It is access to variety. One dish might be enough food, yet offer little sense of the kitchen. Three dishes might deliver the experience you came for, along with a bill and quantity you never wanted.
Leftovers help when you are going home. They are less useful when you are traveling or heading to a show.
A thoughtful menu gives one person a satisfying route through it. That might mean smaller portions of selected dishes, a set menu, or a few combinations the staff can recommend.
Every dish need not come in every size. But one person should be able to experience what makes the restaurant worth visiting.
The seat: hospitality with conditions
A counter can be the best seat in the room: a view of the kitchen, conversation with the bartender, plenty to watch.
It can also be a high, backless stool you find uncomfortable, in a noisy space you did not choose.
The distinction is choice. Offering the bar is welcoming. Making it the only option for someone dining alone limits the experience before it begins.
The same applies to pacing. One guest may want a quick main course or a leisurely three-course dinner. Party size does not tell a server which. Asking does.
Take the customer seriously
There is a commercial reason to reconsider assumptions about solo diners. OpenTable’s 2024 analysis found they spent an average of $84 per person, 48 percent above the overall per-person average, based on data from June 2023 through May 2024.
That does not make one guest more profitable than a full table. It does suggest that party size alone is a poor measure of a customer’s value.
The request to restaurants is practical: make booking for one straightforward, offer comfortable seating, and provide a satisfying way to order for one appetite. Explain any restrictions upfront. Let the guest’s preferences help shape the pace of the meal.
Extend that welcome to someone ordering a main course and water, too. Spending more strengthens the business case; it should never be the price of thoughtful service.
A table for one is a complete booking. Build an experience worth coming back for.
