Have you noticed how fast everyone eats these days? I generally like to spend between 90 minutes and 2 hours for dinner at a "better" restaurant. I frequently notice that many people will spend just over an hour for dinner, even at the best of restaurants during the prime seating on a Saturday night. I guess I still look at going out to dinner as an "event" to be leisurely enjoyed as opposed to just functional eating. Probably a generational thing.

And your travel question is.....?

You must be French or Italian!!

I'll speak for the 'expedite my dinner' crowd.
When travelling in Europe my wife and I regularly wrestle with the difference in culture which practically forces us to spend two+ hours on an evening meal.

Reasons this bothers us: we eat out 10-12 times per week when at home, so eating out in itself is not 'an event', when we go to a very nice restaurant we're happy to spend up to 90 minutes or so on dinner, but when we're abroad we often don't want to give up so much time away from other things that we spend up to 3 hours on dinner, 90 minutes on lunch, etc. There's so much else we'd rather be doing. Now when we dine at someplace 'special' (not a daily occurrence) we don't mind the extra time.
Of course most places in France and Italy take offense if you want to leave the restaurant in less than 90 minutes, or they simply scoff at the 'silly American custom' of dine and dash.

Americans are rather rushed and tense compared to most Europeans. In fact we're rushed and wired compared to almost all other cultures worldwide.
America is the land of fast food and instant gratification.
It's most definitely a double edged sword....cuts both ways, good and bad.

Man, oh man! When I read this post, I just had to share my experiences with you. Egads!?!?! How can anyone want to spend 3 hrs eating dinner? Man, those crazy Europeans. I currently (and the past 4 years) live in South Korea. The eating habits of Koreans (Men) would drive most normal people to insanity or the exit. Koreans (men) will sit down to eat and begin shoveling food down their gullets as fast as the spoon can hit the rice. The soup that just came off the burner and is still boiling, dip the spoon and slurp it right on in as loudly as possible. Then when they go to put another load of rice on their spoon, shovel it in and then proceed to talk to you with food dropping out of their mouths. As if that wasn't bad enough, then expect you to talk back to them.

Well, enough about my father and brother-in-law (wife's Korean)'s eating habits.. They are the same for almost all Korean males. Dinner usually takes less than an hour. That means more time for drinking boilermakers for hours on end until they can't stand up alone nad then dinner makes its reapperance all over the sidewalks. Fun time had by all. Of course, it is winter here and that means we can't really smell it. Summer is just wonderful though. Have a fun day.

Margartiaville Dan

Count me among the group that thinks the Europeans have it all over us on this one. I love savoring those long, lingering, multi-course dinners with bottles of wine and it is a big part of what I look forward to in Europe. The standard mode here in the U.S. is to get everything together, all at once --unless you order an appetizer first and a dessert at the end. Most servers aren't really tuned in to an alternative to that -- and their procedures aren't set up for it, in any case. The server typically takes your order; delivers it; asks "is everything okay?" once (early in the meal, while your mouth is full) and then shows up with your bill at the end and asks (rhetorically - the check is in hand) if you want anything else. The focus of both diners and restaurants often seems to be turning tables around and "getting it done". While that is unfortunate for the few people like me, I don't think it's likely to change any time soon. Many people in the U.S. have neither the time nor the patience to do things differently and that's just the way it is. I'm not certain that is a generational thing as much as a cultural thing.

From a woman's perspective I can tell you part of it stems from years of eating meals with babies and small children along. How many of you remember bolting your food both at home and in restaurants so as to be done when babies starting crying, pre-schoolers got restless or siblings started fighting? Really, my kids are teens now and I'm just starting to calm down and eat slowly again--some habits are hard to change!

Restaurants try to turn over tables quickly so they can accomodate more diners that adds to the feeling of being rushed. I can't even begin to count the number of times the server whisked plates off of our table before we were finished...

Jim: RE: The server typically takes your order; delivers it; asks "is everything okay?" once (early in the meal, while your mouth is full) and then shows up with your bill at the end and asks (rhetorically - the check is in hand) if you want anything else. THIS IS TRUE more often than not. My question is do you still tip the same as you would if service had been excellent? My husband tips 20% across the board. I think he thinks 20% is carved in stone. I, on the other hand, think tipping IS.... "to insure promptness" and should be given accordingly.

I absolutely hate people who rush through a meal. I refuse to have lunch or dinner with friends, relatives, or associates who ask for the check in the middle of a meal. I have one friend who called for a lunch date and I told her I hated to eat with her because I could never relax because she had to rush through our lunch dates. Why would I want to eat with someone who made me anxious??????? I mean, what are you rushing to? Death?

I once heard someone say to an American friend: "All this time we are saving by rushing around in the car, taking short-cuts and shoveling in our meals... does it get added on at the end?" Kind of cute.

Because I like hot food hot and cold food cold. What's so tough about that?