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Are Restaurants Hard for You?
Always 13%  13%  [ 10 ]
Most of the time 17%  17%  [ 13 ]
Sometimes 51%  51%  [ 40 ]
Rarely 13%  13%  [ 10 ]
Never 5%  5%  [ 4 ]
I don't know 1%  1%  [ 1 ]
Total votes : 78

eric76
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30 Oct 2017, 12:36 am

We only have one restaurant in the local town where my office is located that is open after 2 pm. Last week, the weekly food truck didn't show up. I went over for supper Saturday night and they had no hamburgers, no french fries (they had been out of french fries since at least Thursday), and no onion rings. I don't know what else they were out of.

I was told today that the company owning it owns 18 restaurants in the chain and that they cancelled all deliveries last week to all of their restaurants. The rumor is that all 18 closed for good Sunday night.

I also found out Sunday afternoon that my favorite hamburger place in the area closed for good at the end of September. I'm only in that town once a month and so I didn't know anything was out of the ordinary until I showed up last Sunday at 7 pm and they were closed. The only remaining hamburger place in that town worth going to is an old time drive-in and I really hate to eat in the car. The hamburger place that is across the street from the one that closed has great reviews on Yelp, but their food is terrible. There's still a good Mexican place in the town that I like. There are also a Japanese restaurant and an Italian restaurant that I really like, but they are rather expensive.

The best hamburger place in the county is still open, but I don't know for how long. It is an old time lunch counter in a drugstore another town over that closes at 2:30 in the afternoon. There is no place in that town that is open after 2:30 where I will eat.

So my choices, for the most part, are now to cook my own supper, get something at the taco truck down the street which is only open on weekdays and only when the weather is good, or to drive to another town. I'm hoping that the local cafe starts staying open after 2 pm or at least reopen in the evenings.

To the best of my knowledge, there will be no restaurants open anywhere in my county at all on Sundays after this.



Noca
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30 Oct 2017, 11:07 am

I struggle with restaraunts that have too many people, are too noisy or have loud music playing. I never am able to interact with the waiter either without being socially awkward at some point.



casuard
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30 Oct 2017, 1:01 pm

I've never been a big fan of crowded or overly fancy restaurants. Otherwise no problem. Just now starting to notice sensory issues could be driving that, after reading other's experiences here on this site. For instance, today I went one of the two local fast food restaurants I eat at for lunch when I don't bring a lunch. Normally, the restaurant isn't crowded at all, but today it was packed. I resisted the urge to just go somewhere else. No one was in line to order, so I got through that process without any issue. Finding a seat away from others was impossible. After eating for a few minutes, I noticed I was having a very hard time concentrating on my book I was reading. I was hearing conversations from all directions, a radio station that I couldn't even decipher what music was playing, ice machines, babies, air conditioners, some electric whirring sound, etc. A few minutes later a couple of groups behind me got up to leave, so all noise was now coming from in front of me. I got absorbed in my book, and only later snapped out of it momentarily to realize that the conversations were no longer as loud, I could make out the music on the radio, no longer could hear the ac as loud, etc. Is this something that NT's don't experience?



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30 Oct 2017, 1:30 pm

Mine:

Noise/Crowded

I have been known to stand up and walk out of restaurants if the ambient noise level is too loud. This is especially difficult because many of the best restaurants in Utah are built to be noisy (restaurant-industry experts say that tables can be "turned over" more times a day if guests realize they can't hear each other talking). Watch out for restaurants which have tiled floors, cramped table arrangements and loud music.

Sticky tables and sticky menus

Even at more reliable and expensive restaurants, I am shocked at the condition of menus. Chunks of food, syrup, and grease smears festoon most menus these days. It lets me know the management (in)abilities right away.

Overall, I check the food-establishment inspection ratings from my county health department (most counties offer this information online). The ratings are the best indicator of the care, abilities and knowledge of the management staff. Restaurants which have few reported violations of health codes are more likely to care about the other aspects of the businesses, too. I have actually developed an ongoing list of restaurants near me which succeed in avoiding health violations and accommodate their guests in all other ways.


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30 Oct 2017, 1:55 pm

When I was young , my family had the nerve to drag me along to cheap, dirty Chinese restaurants, to eat with relatives. And I hated it

Pressured to make awkward conversation. Having to answer questions that took much energy

Hated drinking tea. Sometimes they had water but just hot water

Everything was greasy and oily

And too much pressure to eat too much

:cry:

In college, once in a while I went to a restaurant with someone

Usually just dining hall or food court

After that, almost never



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01 Nov 2017, 8:59 am

I only ever use restaurants with drive thrus, that way I still get food but in the comfort and security of my car.


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eric76
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01 Nov 2017, 4:23 pm

JT_ wrote:
I only ever use restaurants with drive thrus, that way I still get food but in the comfort and security of my car.


Even when I'm getting something to go, I generally go inside to order it and wait.



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02 Nov 2017, 12:37 am

At times when i go out and dine with someone. Too much noise, people talking forcing my brain to listen to 3-4 conversations at the same time. I try to block it out and focus on the person i went out with, but it's hard.

Also crying/screaming kids and waiting in line makes me go out when it is not lunch/dinnertime, and i do takeaway more often than i eat at the restaurant.


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02 Nov 2017, 12:57 am

I don't do drive-thrus. I'll go inside & order to-go first. Too many things go wrong with my order when using a drive-thru.

Televisions in restaurants are my big annoyance. I'm going out to eat to talk & spend time with people, not watch/listen to the boob-tube. It's a huge issue when they have multiple tvs on & they leave the audio on & turned up. I frequently ask for tvs to be turned off, muted, or for us to be moved to a different table. Hell, I often ask if there's a "tv off" night. I'd pay extra! I expect tvs at BW3s. I do not expect tvs in every fast-food & sit down restaurant. (To be fair, I was raised that keeping a tv on during a meal was the height of bad manners. I still get hot-headed when my in-laws serve dinner in front of the tv. They're gonna be unhappy when we start hosting holidays, & they find I've removed the power cable.)

I actually prefer to eat out rather than at home; it's much less stressful than trying to make sure everything's around & ready to be cooked. The food tends to be consistent from visit to visit, there aren't any dishes/pans to wash up, & my social skills & manners get practice. We also tend to eat late, so there are fewer people around.



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03 Nov 2017, 8:51 am

Blue_Star wrote:
It's a huge issue when they have multiple tvs on & they leave the audio on & turned up.


I'm somewhat different about that-- if the televisions are on sports channels or anything nonoffensive to me, I don't really mind it. It's when they're on FOX News Channel and I feel like I'm being bombarded with Republican talking points masquerading as news (the kind of stuff that Donald Trump insists is real news, it seems) that would drive me crazy.



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03 Nov 2017, 7:26 pm

livingwithautism wrote:
What is hard for you at going to a restaurant? Here are my main things:
1. Noise
2. Crowded
3. Smell
4. Reading the menu
5. Waiting
6. Finding something to eat that I like
7. Ordering my drink and food
8. Interaction with others
9. Sharing the appetizers
10. Sitting still
11. Cutting my food
12. Keeping my napkin on my leg
13. Trying new food (something I have to do on my new diet)
14. Going to a restaurant I have never been to before
15. Sticky tables and sticky menus
16. Table manners

Usually I panic midway through and I have to go sit in the car.


Restaurants aren’t always really bad for me, so I voted sometimes. Here are my main problems I have from your list:

1. Noise isn’t always that bad, or at least not as bad as school assemblies and things. If somebody makes a loud or sudden noise than that is a different story, but in general a little noise is okay.

2. I really don’t like crowds, but I can deal with them somewhat.

3. The smell depends on what type of restaurant I am at and whether I like the food.

4. I have such a hard time deciding what to get on the menu so I always get the same thing because at least then I know I will like it and I don’t have to choose from so many options. They are really hard to read and I hate it when the waiter comes quickly to take our order!

5. I don’t really like waiting, but I can deal with it most of the time.

6. I always get the same thing so I don’t really have this problem. If it is a new restaurant, I order something that is plain and pretty simple.

7. I have such a hard time ordering my food because it is hard telling the waiter/waitress and I always feel like I am going to forget so I have to practice what I am going to say a bunch of times. The best thing is when somebody else just does it for me.

8. If I am with family or a close friend, I am okay with interaction.

9. I don’t like sharing appetizers either.

10. I usually stay in my seat but I do stim.

11. I can’t use a knife at all, unless I want to cut my hand off. As a result, I eat really messily so I usually get something I can eat with my hands (or I just pick it up anyway :D ).

12. 8O I hate this. It annoys me so much that I just keep my napkin on the table.

13. I don’t try new foods :D .

14. Most of the time I go to the same place, but if I have to go somewhere new than I get something I am familiar with and then I end up eating it every other time I go there.

15. I don’t really care for sticky menus/tables, but I can tolerate them.

16. I have pretty bad table manners.


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Fraser_S
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03 Nov 2017, 7:39 pm

I don't like people looking at me when i'm eating..... so it doesn't help too much feeling like people are staring at me all the time.



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03 Nov 2017, 10:11 pm

StampySquiddyFan wrote:
4. I have such a hard time deciding what to get on the menu so I always get the same thing because at least then I know I will like it and I don’t have to choose from so many options. They are really hard to read and I hate it when the waiter comes quickly to take our order!


There is one local Mexican restaurant that has background images on the menus that are nearly the same intensity as the print. It is so hard to read the menu that I quit going there.

StampySquiddyFan wrote:
10. I usually stay in my seat but I do stim.


I read. Sometimes I take a laptop if they have wifi and I read online.



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04 Nov 2017, 7:53 am

I do often wish they had restaurants that did not allow babies (kids under 4). Even the fancy restaurants get noisy with wailing toddlers. This stupid country is too soft with young families.


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04 Nov 2017, 8:09 am

Joe90 wrote:
I do often wish they had restaurants that did not allow babies (kids under 4). Even the fancy restaurants get noisy with wailing toddlers. This stupid country is too soft with young families.


Right?!? I get nervous every time children are present and if they start wailing or crying then that's a massive trigger for me and I usually have to run out of the place and go through the whole meltdown phase. Ugh...


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04 Nov 2017, 8:44 am

Yes, restaurants are indeed a problem for me. Sometimes I opt out of going to them if I think it's going to be an issue. If I do go, then it's usually to somewhere that's familiar to me. Simple, plain food is preferable and at a less busy time with the least screaming toddlers.

I can't sit too close to the door due to my asthma (people tend to smoke right outside and smoke tends to waft in, smoke can trigger an asthma attack in me) and I like to sit at the edge of the table (so then it's easier to escape to the toilets if I feel overwhelmed and need to get away from it all).

Usually it comes down to a choice, do I sit at the edge and risk triggering my asthma, or do I sit in the middle and risk feeling uncomfortable about being squished in and potentially have a freak out in public and lose my cool?

Sometimes I will retreat to the toilets if the smells and sounds become too much, but unfortunately sometimes the toilets smells heavily of perfume which isn't great for my asthma either. Die by smoke, or die by perfume...yay...

Music is a good way to block out sounds, and sometimes I listen to my old mp3 player as a source of comfort in a restaurant if it's particularly loud and crowded. As for smells, I tend to rub some liquid soap under my nose (and rub it in well so people can't see it) and a little bit on my knuckle so whenever I start to feel uncomfortable, I can lean on my hand (inhaling the smell of the soap in the process) so it looks like I'm just fidgeting/bored when in actuality I'm doing so as a means of relaxing myself via the smell of soap.

Not a great fan of speaking to waiters/waitresses, but I am capable of it. If I can't get to the toilet, at least I have my music (although without being able to top up on soap it isn't great...but hey, at least I don't have to choke on perfume). But if I am able to get to the toilet, I can hold my breath a bit (if it smells heavily of perfume), get some soap and leave. Potentially take my inhaler if necessary.

Yeah...there's a lot of planning I go through when it comes to going to restaurants. I usually read the menu before going, and I tend to order the same thing, or the same couple of things each time.


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