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Dear Urban Diplomat: Is it rude to order dessert when there’s a line of people waiting for a table?

By Toronto Life
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Dear Urban Diplomat: Just Desserts
(Image: www.justgrobio.com)

Dear Urban Diplomat, My husband and I recently waited for two hours to get a table at a new restaurant at Dundas and Bathurst. While we ate, we could feel the people in line eyeing our table. After we finished our entrées, the server brought our bill without offering dessert, so we sent it back and ordered panna cotta and cappuccinos. As we did, someone in line let out an exasperated “C’mon!” which I found incredibly rude. But then I wondered if maybe we had violated some unwritten rule. Is it bad form to order dessert when there’s a big lineup? —Just Desserts, Dufferin Grove

No reservations, that most pesky and pervasive of dining policies, turns hosts into bouncers and queuers into glucose-deprived rage-aholics. You are perfectly within your rights to ignore them entirely. That said, if you simply can’t enjoy yourself while a throng of hostile diners hovers a few feet away, don’t fight it. Next time, hit up one of Dundas West’s many Portuguese bakeries for an espresso instead.

Send your questions to the Urban Diplomat at urbandiplomat@torontolife.com

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