Eating Alone At Restaurants Is Fun And Good. But Only The Truly Self-Confident Eat At Benihana Alone.

I eat at Benihana alone because I am strong and brave.

I love eating at restaurants by myself. Most of the time, I do it at fairly mediocre restaurants, but it is especially rewarding to go to a really nice restaurant by yourself. Everyone else is there to celebrate something, but you? You’re just there for the food. It’s an invigorating power move to go to a Michelin-starred restaurant with a 6-course tasting menu by yourself.

Le Bernardin, alone, 2019

The only restaurant I have ever been anxious about going to alone is Benihana. Benihana is teppanyakiki. You are seated with other parties and then the cook does a “show” which involves some participation. The idea of going alone was even too much for me.

But in 2013, I decided that I had to go alone. I had to push my limits. I had to force myself to do a masochistic test of my own self-confidence.