For a great read while you are at that dining table alone (or to help you make the hurdle to solo travel, or just to enjoy a good writer's chronicle of her solo journey to Paris, London and Italy...)is: Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach (a Pulitzer Prize winning Baltimore journalist). It's quick, light and entertaining and I highly recommend it.

Offering to share a table, with a single or with a couple or more, is a great way to enjoy a meal and get some company. I once did that in England, for tea, at Fortnum and Mason. The table was tiny, and an older couple and I were knocking knees. He eventually fell asleep snoring in the scones!
"He's had a busy day," his wife offered. I could hardly control my giggles.
Lea