Americans - do you really go to restaurants at 8pm or later?

A

Alter_Fridge

Member
In media (TV, Film), whenever a guy asks a girl out for dinner, they always organise the time for what seems pretty late to me, ie 8pm or later. Is this what happens in reality? Anything after 7pm would be considered pretty late here.
 
Most people eat starting 6PM - 7PM. Most normal restaurants are open until 9PM - 10PM.

Tons of places are open late though. Usually bars, or takeout.
 
Depends where you live.

California? Absolutely.

Out where I live? Nope. Get fucked. Everything's locked up by 9 and most do close by 8. It sucks.
 
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Montréal restaurants, you usually go at 8pm and stay up to 1-2am. I know that's different than other cities in North America.
 
Very rarely, but yes. I think that's mostly to move the story along; so they can eat, have sex, sleep, and get on with the next day.
 
Depends on the city.

Places like LA, Chicago, NYC, and Las Vegas eating later is pretty common, but if you live in a mid western non nightlife type city most people eat around 5-6pm

When I visit my family in Italy we ate like 8 or 9pm.
 
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If I'm having dinner with family, it'll be a normal dinner time like everyone meet there at 5:30 to 6:30 pm.

But if it's friends, hanging out or a date, it's anywhere from I'd say 6 - 8 pm for my experiences.
 
I'm not from the USA (I'm from South America) but one of the things that took me a while to get used to when I lived in Europe was your ridiculous early dinner times (not everywhere, I know). Who wants to have dinner at 5-6pm?
In my home town a lot of restaurants aren't even open before 19:00.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
If I'm having dinner with family, it'll be a normal dinner time like everyone meet there at 5:30 to 6:30 pm.

But if it's friends, hanging out or a date, it's anywhere from I'd say 6 - 8 pm for my experiences.
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Yep, I get off work at 5 so dinner isn't until 5:30-6:30 with the family during the week. On Fridays and Saturdays we typically eat later.
 
Yeah come to think of it, all the dinner dates I've ever had were more around the 7 - 8ish range, 5ish just seems way to early and not romantic! But that was years ago before I got married.

Plus if it was a date it would usually be on a Friday or Saturday, and those are stay up late nights anyway, so a late dinner fits.
 
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Pagusas said:
Yeah come to think of it, all the dinner dates I've ever had were more around the 7 - 8ish range, 5ish just seems way to early and not romantic! But that was years ago before I got married.

Plus if it was a date it would usually be on a Friday or Saturday, and those are stay up late nights anyway, so a late dinner fits.
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5 is too early, surely between 6:30-7:30 is the sweet spot before your body starts eating itself
 
In my younger days (ie when I actually hung out with friends) sure. Now I'm nearly 40, I don't really hang out with anyone except my wife and kids. Nah we don't go out that late.

Great now im sad
 
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Sometimes if I don't feel like eating at home, I might wait until around 8 to go get something just to be more likely to avoid a long drive-thru line.

Hell, sometimes when I hang with my friends on Saturday night and we go really late and wrap up around 1-2 A.M., I'll grab some White Castle or Taco Bell on the way home. At that point, I normally am just energized anyway so I usually don't fall asleep until around 4 A.M. so might as well grab a bite. And it's not outlandish behavior or anything, the drive-thru will usually have at least a few people in it even at those hours.
 
American tourists in Paris usually fill the restaurants starting 6-7pm , seems so early to me.
It's usually 8:00 or 8:30 for locals.
 
I dunno where OP lives but here in Italy (Central area) restaurant appointments are at 21...

I actually go out at around 22 most of the times.
 
I collect VHS tapes said:
I live in Los Angeles, but grabbing dinner as late as 9pm is not at all uncommon.
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dracula-bela-lugosi.gif
 
What? Too late? 7.30-8pm is perfectly normal in Italy, too.

I recently re-read The Dead Zone and there was a part with this guy going home for dinner and worrying he'd be late 'cause his wife had told him to be home for dinner at 5.30, and I was genuinely baffled. I only have dinner before 7pm if I work the night.
 
Korea is crazy. Go for a night out in Seoul, hit the bars until 4am then sit down at a restaurant for some BBQ or whatever you want and pass out on the 6am subway home. Nothing ever closes. Koreans always eat food with alcohol so it's a constant stream of business for restaurant owners.

sadly COVID has us at 9pm closing times everywhere, it's the worst and seemingly neverending
 
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Alter_Fridge said:
In media (TV, Film), whenever a guy asks a girl out for dinner, they always organise the time for what seems pretty late to me, ie 8pm or later. Is this what happens in reality? Anything after 7pm would be considered pretty late here.
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When you leave the restaurant, you will probably arrive home by 10PM to get your fuck on after drinks.
 
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What are regulars working hours there? Never been in a place where people are out of office or other working places before 6 or 7 pm.
 
8 pm is my regular hour and it's already early by many people here (Portugal). Couldn't imagine having dinner at 6:30 pm, nah man.
 
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20cent said:
What are regulars working hours there? Never been in a place where people are out of office or other working places before 6 or 7 pm.
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Really, where at? A lot of places around here (Northern Illinois, USA) for hourly workers are 7-3 for first shift, 3-11 for 2nd, 11-7 for 3rd, or 8-4:30 if they only have one shift. I'm salary so my hours are 8-5.
 
Not usually no.. in fact if it's a weekend I push my wife to get there earlier than usual (4:30-5) so we can beat the crowds, especially if it's a very popular place
in fact if I'm going to my favorite place on earth (Texas De Brazil) I'll have dinner at 2:30 PM so I can get the full dinner meal for a lower price.. and I'll feel better about pigging out
the way I want to there if I'm not going to eat again for the rest of the night.
 
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