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Tuesday, May 9, 2006
How do you weather Friday night dining lines?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are few things more provoking than the crawl of snarled traffic on Ga. 124 in Snellville – that mayhem of travel that spills its venom onto North Road, U.S. 78 and any other artery that risks getting near our beloved “Scenic Highway.�
But running a close second, and sharing quite a few similarities, has to be the crawl of snarled traffic at Snellville restaurants on Friday evenings. Surely you know the scene — Ahhh, Friday night! Work week’s over. School week is done. Time to relax, go out to eat.
You and your spouse pile into the car, perhaps with kids, perhaps not, and out you go.
We used to try and get a consensus among the car occupants on where to go. Not any more.
Even if we could agree (which we can’t because an adult’s first choice is rarely Cici’s, the pizza paradise for sports teams, birthday celebrants and eating contest participants), our exercise in democracy takes a dive at the sight of “The Lines.�
The Lines are not really lines at all, but assemblages of the weary and forlorn perched on benches, planter walls or cars lucky enough to get good parking spots. Children settle for the sidewalks with their little heads leaned against the wall, their eyes rolled skyward, looking too much like they are in their fifth hour of C-Span.
We start at Chain Restaurant No. 1 (almost all of Snellville’s eateries are of the chain variety) and work our way down, driving by, checking the lines against our patience level and trying to guess the waiting time. Sometimes we do a little research: “Sue, hop out and see how long.� Sometimes we just sigh and move on to Chain Restaurant No. 5.
How this came to be I’m not sure. Reservations are no longer favored as a promise of business, a sign of planning, an agreement between restaurateur and customer. “First come, first served,� is the name of the game, so that dining out requires the same fierce determination as getting through Main Street when First Baptist lets out on Sundays.
Timing, I’m sure, is important although I have yet to identify a Friday night slot when Snellville restaurants are not packed.
You can save a few minutes by having an advance man — someone who jumps out before you park. That person crawls and elbows his way through the crowd to find the Keeper of the List and adds your name.
Once the name is safely on the list, The Wait begins. The problem with waiting is that you aren’t just waiting, you are watching. You see a vacant table and wonder why you can’t have that one. You count how many are in the party that came in after you and bristle and mutter if they get a table first. You eyeball your competition and stare at people who are eating, silently urging them to forego the dessert and get on with it, man, so we can sit down.
Some restaurants say they have a “Call Ahead� list – which is like reservations, but not really. By calling the restaurant and telling them you are on your way, theoretically you will get a higher spot on The List. It has never worked that way for me.
If you persevere, however, you can finally get a table, order and settle in for a meal. Then you notice the people hovering at the door, staring.
We’ve about given up on Friday night dining in Snellville. But as I head home from work I still see The Lines. Surely those people are stronger than me, I think.
What is their secret?
How do you cope? I’d like any helpful hints.
I’m tired of my own cooking.
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Meet Susan Gast
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Susan Gast lives in Snellville with her husband, three children, three cats, two dogs and a tankful of fish.
Born and reared in Columbus, Ga., she moved to the South Gwinnett district (Go Comets!) in 1986, a time when she mistakenly thought the area was already developed to its limit.
She worked for the now defunct Gwinnett Daily News until 1992, when she joined the AJC.
She has served as Gwinnett bureau chief and deputy metro editor and now oversees the suburban opinion pages for the newspaper.
You can email her at sgast@ajc.com.
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