Since When Did Dinner In Beirut Come With A Two-Hour Time Limit?

If you’ve been making dinner reservations lately, you may have noticed a little detail becoming increasingly common: your table comes with an expiration date. Two hours. That’s it…take it or leave it!

Before anyone comes for me, yes, I know it’s announced when you book and that you can opt out, bla bla bla. I’m not acting as though someone is forcing me to go out for dinner, but I am commenting on a strange cultural shift that is happening in our city’s dining scene.

Is two hours actually enough time to have dinner in Beirut?

Dining in Beirut has always emulated Lebanese hospitality and generosity. Half the party shows up late, we order half the menu (wasteful, we know), we linger… the waiter suggests one more thing, we linger some more, dessert is served, then another drink, then a round of sparkling water.

Anyone who has ever had dinner in Beirut knows that the meal itself is only half the story. Eating is socializing, catching up, gossiping, arguing, drinking, and generally refusing to acknowledge that the night has to end at some point. I guess we don’t get to show off to our European counterparts anymore with our classic, “Yiii, in Beirut they’d NEVER kick us off the table.” What’s next? Taking a credit card number upon reservation?

Obviously, restaurants have their reasons. Keeping a table occupied for four hours when another group could be seated is not exactly great business, especially when the cost of running a restaurant in Lebanon has gone through the roof. And let’s be honest, Lebanese people aren’t exactly famous for showing up at the exact time they booked either.

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What I find interesting, though, is how quickly the two-hour rule seems to be spreading. Restaurants that didn’t have it before suddenly do, and even when you’re sitting there at 9:30 with plenty of empty tables around you, your reservation still technically has a countdown attached to it.

At what point did this become the norm?

Because the problem isn’t really being told in advance. It’s the fact that we’re slowly getting used to the idea that going out for dinner means eating within a designated time slot, rather than sitting around until somebody finally calls it a night. It’s also forcing my hand to make other plans post-dinner, or go home at 9 PM which is not something I ever expected having to do in this city.

And maybe that’s just the reality of running restaurants now. Maybe the later reservations really are filling up, and the only way to accommodate them is to put a limit on earlier tables.

But if Beirut has finally decided that dinner needs a curfew, I would like to formally object on behalf of everyone who has ever ordered a another entrée at 11 PM.

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