Yesterday, I walked by a restaurant that was empty except for two people eating a meal. It was about 7:45pm on a Wednesday. Other nearby restaurants had plenty of people in them. My first thought was "hmm that's odd I wonder what's wrong with that restaurant!" which got me thinking - would I eat in an empty restaurant? Or perhaps more to the point does it matter how crowded the restaurant is? In college one of my advisors would use the number of empty seats in a restaurant as a gauge for whether or not to go in a restaurant for which we always made fun of him. Yet, I'd have a hard time freely choosing to eat in an empty restaurant. At what point does the number of empty seats matter to you when choosing a restaurant?

I absolutely do think an empty restaurant isn't as enticing as one that has patrons. So unless it is earlier than usual or later than the typical meal times, or I've eaten at this restaurant before, I would be affected by how many people were eating in a restaurant and probably continue on down the street in search of a more populated restaurant.

While living in Cambridge England many years ago, Andrew, a co-worker of my husband, had a rule to never eat in a restaurant that didn't have a fair number of people in it. Now when passing a restaurant that doesn't have many patrons, my hubby or I will say "Andrew's Rule" and just laugh about it. I do think there is this perception of an empty restaurant not being as good as a full one.

For me - the more the merrier!