Mmmm, if I’m just going to get some food locally, I avoid eating in but that’s because I’d rather go home and eat in front of my computer. Most of my reading is done online now.
If I’m on a trip or something, I don’t care.
I enjoy sitting down to a relaxing meal with a book. It’s pretty awesome to have someone serve me food and beverages while I chill out for half an hour.
I used to be a bit embarrassed, but I’ve traveled enough for work that I got over it.
I’ll usually sit at the bar, if it’s an option. Not because I’m embarrassed to sit at a table. I prefer bar service, and I’d rather not take up a whole table for just me.
At home, I won’t eat out alone, but it’s not because I’m embarrassed. I’d rather get take out and eat in my own house.
I would like to eat out alone if I could have no troubles like I’ve had. I don’t mean stares, but creepy stuff like the last time I was having a quick lunch at Taco Bell, had some errands and just wanted to sit down and eat peacefully. Just about when I was sitting down some dude comes in and asks if I owned the green car just outside the entrance. I said yea I owned it and he said someone hit the front corner. I look outside the window and didn’t see anything so I figure it was just a dent so I said, thanks for letting me know and I sat down to finish my taco.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw he sat at the far end of the restaurant oddly not ordering anything or eating anything. I quickly finished my taco and hurried out. Then I heard his voice of him behind me trying to point out to my car and I blurted out at him that I would get it checked out at the mechanic shop and it stopped in his tracks. I’m a very conscious person and I was so afraid he was trying to mug me or something. BTW, there was nothing wrong with my car!
So if I can’t find someone to eat with (and usually the times I meet friends are times we eat out at restaurants) I’ll take it to-go.
Embarrassed?! Uh, no. 
I prefer to eat with someone so I can socialize with them, because hey, I like talking to people over meals. I feel no embarrassment over eating alone, though, and I’ve done it many many times. I can’t even imagine what there is to be embarrassed about. I did avoid peak times, but to be decent to my server, so I wasn’t camping out with my book when they really needed to turn the table. I tipped well, too.
What’s even more bizarre is that these women are so pathologically insecure that they care what total strangers in a town they’re just passing through think of them. That sounds emotionally crippling, right there.
I’m assuming when you say “eating out” you mean at a more upscale restaurant right? I wouldn’t say I’m embarrassed, but for me eating out is an occasion. One I’d prefer to share with at least one of my favorite people, otherwise, why bother? If I had to I would, but I’d definitely bring my nook. Not because I’d be embarrassed, but because it would be boring. As much as I love food, it’s not enough to keep my whole attention. 
Otherwise, I prefer to eat at home where I can snuggle in and watch a movie or something.
If ever there were an excellent sig line…
I LOVE eating out alone. I bring a good book, order whatever I want and have a fabulous eating and reading experience. It’s my idea of Heaven!
I have eaten out by myself on rare occasion, and didn’t feel embarrassed. I just don’t travel much alone or in fact, eat out all the much or I am sure I would eat out alone more often.
I don’t understand “embarrassed”. Bummed you don’t have any one to chat with, I get. Lonely, I understand. But embarrassed? Why? Why is it embarrassing? I have seen people dining alone in restaurants, men and women, and I don’t even give them a second thought, let alone look unfavorably on the fact the aren’t with anyone. Who cares?
People would feel embarrassed for the same reason that they feel embarrassed going to the gym or dancing out on the dance floor. They assume that people see them as sticking out like a sore thumb, thereby forming negative opinions about them. Which may or may not be true.
I have frequently gone to the movie theater alone. It’s not as enjoyable as when you’re with someone, but it’s still an enjoyable activity. However, I will admit that I feel embarrassed standing in the line to get my ticket. Everyone always has someone with them, so it feels strange. Like I’m doing something that Just Isn’t Done by Normal People. I will concoct a little story in my head just in case I get asked to explain myself. “Oh, my friend’s running a little late and told me to hold our seats.” Or “I’m a film critic and I’m reviewing this movie for my column.” Or “My friends are already inside. See! There they are, waving at me!” I don’t really worry so much about strangers, but about bumping into people who know me and have already bugged me with their commentary about my social life. I’m constantly asked to explain my “situation”. On one hand, it makes me tougher and resistant to fears about what other people think. But the shame of being a loner always sticks with me. It never stops me from doing what I want to do, but I have to admit that yeah, sometimes I feel embarrassed being Just Me all the damn time.
The funny thing is that when I’m going to the theater and I see a singleton, I feel sorry for them and wonder if something’s wrong with them. Even when I’m also a singleton.
I’m male but all else being equal I’d rather eat with a good friend than alone.
But I would much rather go to the movies alone, because talking distracts from the movie, and what’s worse, no one I know likes to sit where I sit: a couple rows back from the front in the exact center. I’m so spoiled that I can’t enjoy the movie if I’m not in that exact position (if the theatre has an even number of seats I can tell that I’m a couple inches off but I get over that in a couple minutes.)
My female friends have told me they don’t eat out alone. I always thought it was a crazy thing, but apparently its a crazy woman thing :dubious:
Nope. Don’t mind it in the slightest. Even at fancy-pants restaurants. I enjoy drinking a glass of wine and watching the other people. I don’t even need a book.
However, I do not like going to a bar/pub by myself if I’m feeling like a drink. I feel like everyone thinks I’m there to pick up a guy.
Not embarrassed. I’d seen this thread title when it was first posted but hadn’t opened it since I didn’t think responding “nope” would be helpful to anyone.
I thought of it last night when I was watching an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents from 1955. A woman walked up to a bar wanting to ask a question of the bartender. Before she had a chance to speak the bartender told her “We don’t serve unaccompanied women at the bar.” I thought women being embarrassed to dine alone might be some kind of holdover from an era when it was much harder for them to do so.
Most often when I travel it’s to a conference or class and it’s actually hard to dine alone. I do make one solo trip every year. It lasts two dinners and two lunches. for most of the meals I stick with takeout, but I always treat myself to one really nice dinner. Never thought to be embarrassed. I’m not aware of anyone ever having even noticed me.
Not a woman, but I won’t even eat alone at a fast food. Generally I’ll go through the drive-through and then park in their lot and eat it. I’m 40 and have never dated so I eat alone a lot.
Female here. Nope. It never occurred to me that anyone would be until I heard someone else say something about it. I’ve never had anyone hit on me in a restaurant, either, although it happens with some regularity if I look like I’m unaccompanied (i.e., my friends are playing pool and I’m sitting out) at a bar.
I end up eating by myself a fair amount. If I’m downtown, it’s often easier to find a sit-down restaurant than a fast food place. This is what small, easily portable books are for. 
I used to be embarrassed but when I started traveling for my job, I gave that up. Who cares what strangers think of me when I am eating?
Many restaurants cope with it well. Some have a small area set aside for solo diners. Sometimes I get takeaway - I’m usually in it for the food, not the atmosphere.
In general though, I do not go solo to bars or sports bars. As a woman along, I just found that I would get hit on all the time. It seems like there is always at least one guy who thinks a woman eating alone means one thing - and it’s not that she’s there for dinner.