Eating out should be the easy bit of a trip. It is often the most quietly stressful, because restaurants are full of small obstacles that nobody thinks about until they are in the way, and because it all happens in front of an audience.
Ring ahead. Always.
Not to check “if you’re accessible” — we have covered why that question is useless — but to ask for three specific things:
- A table you can actually get to. Say plainly: a wheelchair user is coming, please put us somewhere we can reach without moving four other tables.
- A table with legs at the corners, not a central pedestal. A pedestal base is the number one reason a wheelchair cannot get near a table. Nobody ever mentions it.
- Confirmation there is an accessible toilet on the same floor. An accessible loo down a spiral staircase in the cellar is not an accessible loo.
The other things worth asking
- Is there a step at the door? A single 15cm step is enough to end the evening, and it is invisible on every photograph on their website.
- Fixed booth seating? Lovely for everyone else. Useless if you cannot transfer out of the chair.
- How loud is it? Not an access question for us, but it is for a lot of people, and hard surfaces plus music makes a room where nobody can hear anybody.
- Is the accessible entrance the same as the main one? We have been sent round the back through a kitchen more than once. It is not the end of the world and it is also not a nice way to arrive somewhere for your anniversary.
What good places do without being asked
They have already moved a chair away from the table before you arrive, so there is a space rather than an obstacle. They bring the card machine to the table. They do not remove the wheelchair to “store it somewhere safe”. They ask where you would like to sit rather than deciding for you.
It costs them nothing and it is the difference between being a customer and being a problem to be solved.
Your turn: if you have experiences of your own — the places that got it right, and the ones that got it badly wrong — tell us in the comments below. Every report helps the next traveller.