Doggie Bag Policy

[sciguy]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:05pm

We went to La Maseria for dinner last night before seeing Avenue Q. Harvey Fierstein was sitting behind us. Anyway.... we get to the theater and the outside ushers would not let me bring the doggie bag to my seat. "No food in the theater". When asked what to do with it he replied to leave it on top of the garbage can out front.He told me that a homeless gentleman passes by every night and collects them. I hope he enjoyed my shrimp risotto with saffron and my tiramasu. This is the first time this has ever happend to me at the theater and I go quite often. I would have eaten more of my dinner had I known of the theaters policy.

My two questions are:
1. Do you agree with this policy? Maybe I'm in the minority.
2. Does anyone know of any other theaters that do not allow doggie bags at the seat?
My leftovers were securely wrapped. I'm just aggrivated because last year someone sat next to me at a show and proceeded to eat a very smelly tunafish sandwich.

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:07pm

I don't want your dinner stinkin' up the audience!

I find doggie bags, in a Broadway theatre, to be an extremely rude gesture.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:09pm

You sort of answered your own question.

If you don't stop people from bringing in food to the show you can't stop them from eating it.

[lildogs]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:11pm

I think it should be left out as well--it smells, bothers other people (eve if it smells good) and it's also a health risk--you are going to be in the theatre for at least 2 hours and probably at least 30 minutes of travel time back home--that food is CRAWLING with bacteria--especially since you have no idea how long it was out before you got it.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:13pm

I've never seen a theater that outright allowed people to bring their dinner in (dinner theater obviously nonwithstanding). I think it's horribly rude to bring "doggie bags" into the theater. Not the place for it. And since you couldn't bring it in, you would obviously have to wait to eat it. Leaving the food outside is a good idea. It probably would have been gross and spoiled by the time the show ended and you got out of the theater and made it home, anyway.

Updated On: 5/19/08 at 01:13 PM

[sciguy]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:16pm

Thanks for the very candid remarks. Never in a million years did I imagine it bothered people so much. I promise not to bring my leftovers to the theater ever again!!

[verynewyorkcurious]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:17pm

What if one of the other audience had a doggie bag but wasn't securely wrapped? The theatre couldn't take that chance.

Technically, your food wouldn't have been good after the show anyway. I believe it's 2 hours in temperature danger zone (above 41˚F) before things start growing on your food.
Updated On: 5/19/08 at 01:17 PM

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:18pm

Thanks for the very candid remarks. Never in a million years did I imagine it bothered people so much. I promise not to bring my leftovers to the theater ever again!!


Everyone will appreciate that . (As will you, when you end up throwing out food that will spoil by the time you leave anyway!)

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:20pm

I find eating in the theatre (no candy, no nuthin...) more objectionable than bringing wrapped leftovers in, but it's still gross.

[goldswann]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:24pm

I guess I'm in the minority. I don't see a problem with bringing in doggie bags as long as they don't smell and they are not eaten during the show.

This has happened to me before at the Marquis Theatre. I bought some popcorn from Dale & Thomas (to take home) and the usher made me throw the bag away (the popcorn was in a paper bag that was in a plastic bag).

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:25pm

I think the "No Doggie Bag" policy is OK! Last night, heading out to dinner, I went past the Golden Theater, only to hear someone bickering with the usher about not being allowed to bring his doggie bag in. So I waited a bit and after he left, scooped up his doggie bag! SCORE! It was a Shrimp Rostto and Tiarmisu! MMMMM! God it was good. I'm going to hang out there every night.

[lildogs]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:25pm

verynewyork: Food can be in the danger zone (40-140 degrees F) for a max of four hours---that includes ANY time spent out of refrigeration--meaning unloading the food off trucks, how long it sits on the counter, any time where it isn't being cooked or refrigerated--so you're talking about a VERY short period of time.

[MusicAndPassion]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:30pm

When I saw Grease I ate at the Olive Garden before hand. I arrived at the Olive Garden at 1 and the show was a 2. The watier and hostest told me I'd make it to the show on time. At 1:55 our food came, so my friend and I ate as much as we could in five minutes and left (we paid when our food came). I had a breast of chicken parm in a "doogie bag".

When I arrived the ticket take joked saying I had to leave the food with him to eat. He let me in without a problem and I saw in the last row of the mezz and the food wasn't a problem. It was in a box, in a bag in another bag under a bag. I didn't smell it and I was starving the whole time. It made a great lunch two days later.

[WestVillage]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:35pm

I can't believe anyone would even think of bringing a doggy bag into the theatre. Even double bagged, that food can smell. And honestly, what's to stop someone with a doggy bag from opening it up and eating it inside the theatre?

If you can't finish your meal at the restaurant, leave it there or get a doggy bag and leave it somewhere for a homeless person.

[Elphie3]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:35pm

I think you can bring it in if...

1.) It's something like a chicken sandwich that wont smell. No tuna. :)

2.) You can put it in a larger bag (actually this solves the problem. Put it in your bag, don't let the ushers see it, and it will help the smell)

3.) DON'T EAT IT!

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:38pm

I've taken leftovers into a theater but always securely wrapped and always within another bag (backpack, messenger bag, etc. that I brought) so it is neither noticed nor smelled.

If you intend to do this in the future, just bring a larger inconspicuous bag to put it in, to ensure no one notices it and no one smells it.

And maybe I'm stupid but I've eaten plenty of things that have been out for more than 2 hours, and knock on wood I'm still alive and kickin'.

[sciguy]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:46pm

Thanks TV.
I also have never gotten sick from restaurant leftovers.
Thanks for the advice.

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:49pm

I think you're more likely to get sick to your stomach from the show than the leftovers, actually.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:52pm

This thread is making me hungry.

[flaemmchen]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 2:00pm

Nevermind the smell, most theatres have mice that would absolutely loooove some of that sandwich you have in the doggie bag under your seat.


I know that at the Shubert, they have a designated area in the outer lobby to leave doggie bags until the end of the show.

Updated On: 5/19/08 at 02:00 PM

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 5:29pm

Most theater allow you to bring food in but it's frowned upon. They don't like you eating but you can mostly bring it in.

[bertandrew2]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 5:36pm

Policy??? Its not about policy. Its plain old common sense that you don't bring food into a theatre. Its just wrong.

[nitsua]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 5:39pm

"...I ate at the Olive Garden before hand."

That was your first mistake.

[hotjohn]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 7:18pm

Surely, doggie bags are de rigeur at A Catered Affair! (But never at CAT On A Hot Tin Roof)

[Anna_Elizabeth]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 7:28pm

Or you could have left it in the coatroom, which is where all packages should be left - whether its food, clothes from last minute shopping or soaking umbrellas. I guess I was lucky that the theatre I used to work at had a refrigerator in their coatroom.