how long to allow for dining AND party of 9

[waxing witch]

i'm trying to book some shows around meals and i'm not sure how long to allow for dining, particularly at le bistro. dh and i will be eating there on our anniversary and 'rock of ages' is showing that night. what is the service like at le bistro? would a 7pm dining reservation allow us enough time to get to an 8:30 show?

 

also we're traveling with a group of 9 - should we make reservations together for the MDRs, or will we be okay showing up and 'freestyling' it?

 

tia!

[cigarboo]

I would allow at least 2hrs for dinner. You don't want to be rushed and if you have reservations for a show, I think they "release" the seats to standby guests 10 minutes before the show. You would probably still get in, but seats may be limited.

 

We had no problems being sat for our group of 13 in the mdr. Usually no more than 5 min wait. We were willing to sit at 2 adjacent tables if necessary. We really enjoyed freestyling it with the group. This was on the Epic West Med, so we didn't want to be tied down to dinner reservations due to long excursions.

[theloo]

On a related subject, would you say that dining in the MDR also takes 2 hours? We will be a party of 7 on the Jewel.

[cigarboo]

I would say dinner in the mdrs could be about 1 1/2 hrs... but I'm more willing to rush my "complimentary" dinner than one that I had to pay for. Push comes to shove, I could skip mdr desserts as most(except choc volcano)are found in one form or another in the buffet.

 

I think the bigger the party, the longer the dinner takes. Depends how long you linger with dessert and coffee. My experience with bigger groups is that we tend to talk more and eat slower leading to longer dinners compared to smaller groups. So not the server's fault. Just the nature of bigger groups.

 

Waxing witch, I was thinking perhaps the 1 1/2hr dinner slot could work if you can't get an earlier time. If it were me, I would show up at Le Bistro at 6:45 and perhaps you'll get seated a little earlier. With 2 people, service may move a bit quicker and if you let your server know you have reservations for a show, they'll probably move things along for you.