I always get thrown off by the expectations about whether you should seat yourself or wait to be seated. In most places in Germany (where I studied abroad years ago), it was seat yourself, but I noticed on a more recent trip that more places had hosts to seat you. What's the standard in Vienna/Salzburg, especially at the Viennese coffeehouses?
Posted by
1902 posts
Nothing to worry about. Most places allow seating yourself, unless otherwise noted. If there are little cards on the tables saying "reserved" just ask the waiter where you may sit down. This is a common practice to manage the seating, but without having to queue (which is hated by most Austrians).
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
7545 posts
I think it is good form to always acknowledge the staff when entering an establishment. Even if it is "seat yourself", asking won't be seen as unusual, and you will get service sooner. If wait to be seated, you will at least be in queue. So walking in, catch the attention of the staff, and the rest will be obvious.
About the only circumstance that this would not work is in a place where you order at the bar or counter...no table service, then just sitting down may not get you anything.
Posted by
Vienna, Austria
5382 posts
In a coffeehouse, I seat myself. In a restaurant with table service, I wait to be seated - or better yet, I make a reservation to ensure no waiting.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
Thanks everyone! We'll plan to seat ourselves (for the most part).
Posted by
824 posts
Every establishment with wait-service which we visited in Salzburg had a reception counter or pedestal. Only the counter-service establishments were seat-yourself. Of course, we only spent four nights in Salzburg so we visited only a small number of places. I did notice, especially away from the city center (tourist zone), some establishments had tables reserved for locals' use so you might want to be on the lookout for that.