How long's the wait?

On a busy night, many restaurants will openly tell you the wait time for seating, often letting you know how long you can expect to wait for a table to be available.

On the other hand, almost none of them are quick to tell you how long you can expect your food to arrive once it's ordered.

This means that an understaffed restaurant with ample seating might appear to be less busy than one in a smaller space with a full-house staff.

It certainly means you'll have to wait longer than you anticipated if you opt for the former (perhaps more than double the wait time of the latter).

Point is, not all metrics can or should be treated equal. Many are often stand-ins for others; false evidence appearing real.

It pays to be informed. It pays double when what you know is contextually relevant to the situation you're in.

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Worth noting that the benefit goes to the waiter (or manager) who acknowledges and addresses this fact, since it's often better (when it comes time to compensating waitstaff) for patrons to have been informed rather than left in the dark.