Seating Arrangements

It may seem like an easy enough thing to do, but we are not sure how to arrange the seating. We have ideas, but ideas don't always turn out to be realistic. For example, there is an existing set of booths in the restaurant we want to use. Some people like to sit in booths, and we want to be able to offer that. We also have several tables we want to use. AND we have these really cool tables and chairs we want to use to create a Tapas (Appetizer) bar. Where if you are not necessarily wanting to sit down for a formal meal, or if you are working on your laptopn, or maybe just want to get a drink and watch the show (yes, hopefully there will be shows!) - it will be a perfect place to sit.

Problem number 1 - the furniture for the Tapas bar, while very cool, also takes up a lot of floor space and doesn't seat very many people.

Problem number 2 - there is a stage that we would like to retain for possible future entertainment and it takes up a lot of floor space as well, and is not very mobile, so it pretty much is stuck where it is or we have to get rid of it.

Problem number 3 - the tables we have are perfect for four people, but what if we want to seat two people? Then they are wasting space.

So, we have been experimenting with different arrangements. One thing we did was to cut down the stage to half-height. This makes it safer, allowing us to put seating there as well. We are also going to put the booths (despite our original ideas of having them against the main brick wall) up on the stage. Tables and chairs didn't seem to fit very well, weren't space efficient, and weren't as safe.

Regarding the tables we have. We can approach this two ways: we can either buy smaller table tops or we can cut down some of the ones we have. Given the tight budget and the do-it-yourself mentality I am cursed with, it is looking like the latter.

Here are some pictures of what we have tried out. We have to bring more tables and chairs into the restaurant to figure out the Tapas bar, but are holding off until we get the floor painted, because if we bring a bunch of stuff in, there's nowhere to put it. So we really need to move on the floor it seems, so we can do the rest.