Mum divides opinion with controversial restaurant habit that left people tutting

A mum has divided opinions after divulging her ‘life hack’ for eating out with kids.

Let's be honest, we’ve all had that sinking feeling, right? We’ve laboured over the food menu, finally picked a dish and made our purchase only to realise there weren’t any free seats in the restaurant to sit down and munch.

If this is you then one Mumsnet user has a genius, tried-and-tested solution that is proving pretty controversial online.

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The anonymous woman posted her method to the popular AMIBU? (Am I Being Unreasonable) thread and began by saying she’d recently taken out her mother and young children for food.

She said that they headed to a café that they had visited in the past but hadn’t been to for quite some time.

Upon arrival though, the group found that there wasn’t a table available for them to eat at.

Not wanting to miss out, the family headed for a spot of quick shopping before returning to the cafe and securing a table.

“We went straight to it and sat down/took coats off etc and went up to order,” wrote the mother.

While placing their order at the counter, the woman overheard a couple complaining about her family and the fact they’d walked in and just sat down at the table.

The user said: “Apparently they had been about to sit at our table and as it was the last one available in there they now had nowhere to sit.

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“Staff were very good and moved things around to get them some chairs but they spent the whole time in there tutting and giving us dirty looks.”

The mumsnet user then revealed a trick she has when dining in busy restaurants - secure the table first and order after.

Explaining her life hack, the woman said: “My logic is that when going in to somewhere busy we always find a table first and then order.

“If we waited in line with the kids and then went to find a table and couldn't get one we would be stuck as the kids are too young to take the food or drink as takeout.”

She then added that the aforementioned couple had made her feel quite ‘uncomfortable’ and had forced her to question whether her tried-and-tested method was wrong.

After reading the post, one user of the forum replied: “There will always be arguments for and against this.

“I run a coffee shop, when it’s busy, I end up getting tables and reserving them for people joining the queue to avoid any confrontation!”

A second replied: “Food first then table. Exceptions, elderly or pregnant.”

“I vote table first then food,” agreed another user.

“I'm not going to order food if there isn't a table, so the other way round seems a bit daft to me.”

“I don't think people should take up entire tables when they haven't even ordered yet,” commented a fourth.

“If it's not table service, you need to order first.”