How to dress for dinner...

monipie

i think it is rude to wear a hat indoors, especially while eating. i am old fashioned though.

doorki

I wear a suit everyday to work so I am all about the casual on weekends. That being said, if the wife and I are going out some place nice, I will dress appropriately.

as for the baseball hat at the table, I don't like to because it gets in the way when I slurp off the plate.

lizzybethclaire

I completely agree. Even if I am going to some crappy chain restaurant I make sure I am wearing decent jeans and a nice top. I definitely dress up for a fancy place.

bluefox9er

a hat to dinner is just simple and plain bad manners, be it in high end place or a dive diner. The restaurant doesn't perceive it's self to be high end, as I am sure they would ask or request politely that they remove them. A tiny bit of culture is just too much hard work for some folks, it seems.

tashjs21

Oh Man, I used to be a hostess at a fine dining restaurant in a casino. We had a dress code for men and women. Men could not wear hats and men and women weren't allowed to wear flip flops or jeans. You would be surprised how many people would come in looking horrible! And this was a nice place, no entree on the menu was less than $25.

What really burned me up is the people that would raise all kinds of noise and our manager would allow it in, then the next person would come up and we'd try to turn them away for dress code reasons, they'd look in and see the other person and we'd have to let them in.

It always shocks me how people dress at nice establishments.

Bentley2718

Of course, it didn't affect my meal, and has no affect on my life...

You hit the nail on the head right here. It had no impact on you, so why do you care? Personally, when I go to a nice restaurant I dress appropriately, but that is my choice. If the restaurant cared that much, they'd have a dress code. I'd also note that in the past, no one would consider jeans to be "nice" under any circumstances. Even places like skating rinks and arcades commonly disallowed jeans at one point--just something to think about before one makes statements about how people are getting lazy, rude, etc.. Things change, if it doesn't impact you (or if in the case of your bf, you like the way it impacts you), I don't see why it matters.

mrmanmeat

I understand your point of view, and my wife would agree with you but honestly I just dont care. If its a really high end place sure I would dress up but if its a regular resturant then im going to wear my hat, shirt, and pants.

You should care for your wife's sake, especially if she agree's with our points.

BAMFMeredith

$100 for 2 people really isnt that much(you could spend that at a national chain like Fridays if you have a few drinks). so for me i wouldnt put too much thought into what i wore to a place like that nor would i care what others were wearing. id probably wear t shirt, shorts and flip flops.

if i was on a date or it was at a nice restaurant i would certainly think about my attire.

$100 before drinks. Of course, there are plenty of other more expensive places, but this place was more upscale than a Fridays or Chili's...

also ETA that in Austin, if you have to make a reservation, it's considered an upscale restaurant (like I said in the original post, it's a REALLY casual city, I think I'm the only person I know that can't wear jeans to work on a daily basis). Oh and nowhere here has a formal dress code except for a couple nightclubs. Seriously, I think somebody could technically walk into Eddie V's (extremely nice steakhouse) wearing a t shirt and hat and nobody would tell them they couldn't wear that. I probably wouldn't have even noticed the t-shirts and shorts if it hadn't been for the guys wearing hats at dinner, that was more my question.

But jeez guys, it was just something I noticed, and I wondered if I was the only person who thought it was bad table manners to wear a hat during dinner.

bethgames

ugh, my dad wears shorts with holes in them, sandals that have been chewed by the dog and shirts that are ripped EVERYWHERE. he wears shorts in the winter too. there's just no helping him

i dont care what you wear to eat, but take your hat off.

LOL - You sound like our daughter. She holds out no hope for her father either. :laugh:

mrmanmeat

Hats are never appropriate dinner wear. Aside from that, unless the restaurant has a dress code I don't really care what other people are wearing.

My friend was going to propose to his wife, and he wanted to take her to a nice place for dinner afterwards to celebrate. We went to a place called Chophouse 47 so he could look at the menu.. We just walked into where the host table is, no intentions of eating, didn't ask for a table.. I was asked to step outside because I had a plain white tshirt and a hat on lol.

Laces_0ut

$100 for 2 people really isnt that much(you could spend that at a national chain like Fridays if you have a few drinks). so for me i wouldnt put too much thought into what i wore to a place like that nor would i care what others were wearing. id probably wear t shirt, shorts and flip flops.

if i was on a date or it was at a nice restaurant i would certainly think about my attire.

$100 before drinks. Of course, there are plenty of other more expensive places, but this place was more upscale than a Fridays or Chili's...

$100 for 2 for sushi isnt that much but i really like sushi. order some toro and you are well on your way to $100

DMZ_1

No hats during dinner and yes, many people are getting lazy when it comes to dressing up. I believe in dressing for the occasion.

mrmanmeat

$100 for 2 people really isnt that much(you could spend that at a national chain like Fridays if you have a few drinks). so for me i wouldnt put too much thought into what i wore to a place like that nor would i care what others were wearing. id probably wear t shirt, shorts and flip flops.

if i was on a date or it was at a nice restaurant i would certainly think about my attire.

It's not a HUGE amount, but for two people w/ 1-2 drinks, it's a decent price.

$100 at Friday's? Maybe if you get two apps, two entree's, two desserts, 4-5 beers a piece and tip $20. lol

tcunbeliever

Gentlemen remove hats indoors.

budhandy

I understand your point of view, and my wife would agree with you but honestly I just dont care. If its a really high end place sure I would dress up but if its a regular resturant then im going to wear my hat, shirt, and pants.

You should care for your wife's sake, especially if she agree's with our points.

I do care, like said nicer place i dress up, other places i dont.

kayemme

I am reasonably old-fashioned. A baseball hat, really, should only be worn during athletic activity. A nicer hat on men should be worn if he should want to wear one in public.

There's an old joke about Americans:

How can you tell an American abroad? White tennis shoes (and a baseball cap). Horrifying.

It doesn't matter if it's taco bell or if it is the nicest place in town. One should always dress themselves as nicely as they can afford. It doesn't need to be fancy, but it should be considered.

Laces_0ut

should we go back to the time where people got dressed up for dinner at home? and while we are at it lets bring back "finishing classes" for the ladies. a proper lady wears gloves to dinner right?

BAMFMeredith

$100 for 2 people really isnt that much(you could spend that at a national chain like Fridays if you have a few drinks). so for me i wouldnt put too much thought into what i wore to a place like that nor would i care what others were wearing. id probably wear t shirt, shorts and flip flops.

if i was on a date or it was at a nice restaurant i would certainly think about my attire.

$100 before drinks. Of course, there are plenty of other more expensive places, but this place was more upscale than a Fridays or Chili's...

$100 for 2 for sushi isnt that much but i really like sushi. order some toro and you are well on your way to $100

Haha yeah, I only got a couple specialty rolls this go-round, but it would've been easy to go to town on the sashimi!

kayemme

And they also tip them at passersby.

I got hat-tipped the other day and it made me feel like a real lady.

nakedsun

I feel like i was raised pretty differently than a lot of people I know or see.

To me it's not acceptable for hats to be worn indoors let alone at the dinner table. It's not respectful. I actually had an ex who wore hats EVERYWHERE. It was the only reason my family hated him. Kinda funny actually.
I notice too that people don't dress up the way they used to whether at fine dining or the theatre. The theatre is what gets me. To me that's where you dress up VERY nicely. I remember when suits and evening gowns/cocktail dresses were worn. Now Ripped jeans and hats are worn. It takes away from the magic in my mind but that's kind of how our society is going with the casualness.

I can't dictate how other people are so I just dress nicely as do the people I tend to go with. The only people I would really care about are how my significant other dresses (and he dresses pretty nicely all the time so its not a big deal) and like... family, cause they're the ones who raised me to feel this way. I just find it kinda sad that people don't like to get all razzle dazzle anymore.