If you answered yes to this question, please explain why in the comment section below. Clearly, if your answer was yes, I do not know about your culture or society and I’d love to learn more about it. It’s important for us to realize how ignorant we all are, but bringing us back on track, my answer is an emphatic, no!
Obviously, you can break this question down to make it a lot more specific. What do you mean by okay? What exactly are you smoking? Where in or around the restaurant are you smoking? No matter what loophole you want to try to pull, however, the answer is still no.
A restaurant is a place where meals are served. People pay for their food, and no matter how they got their money or why they are eating at that restaurant, they deserve to enjoy that meal. Except you if you’re smoking or having a greater negative than positive impact. By smoking anything, you’re most likely having a negative impact on their and everyone else’s experience, but let’s get even more back on track.
In the picture above, these two individuals stood up and walked away from their table to smoke (what I believe were cigarettes) in the corner of the deck/patio where our table also was. This was at a high(er) end Italian restaurant called Ferro in Idyllwild, CA. The servers and staff did not say anything to stop them, so we politely asked to sit in the back of the restaurant instead.
I’m not knowledgeable of the laws in Idyllwild, but I’m fairly certain you can’t smoke within 50 feet of the building, by law. If you have any manners whatsoever, you wouldn’t smoke within a distance that could carry the smoke via wind to where people are eating.
But they clearly lacked manners, common sense, or are from a cave in a very isolated part of the world. I love smoked food, but I prefer applewood to cigarettes. Thanks for taking care of these guys, Ferro! Also, thanks for taking care of the party of eight screaming throughout our whole meal in the back patio. Great customer service.
Don’t be a jerk at a restaurant. If you’re going to be a jerk, invite your jerk friends over instead and don’t grace us with your miserable presence. Cigarettes, ugh.
The Hangry Life 