Mannersisms...

I don't find what they did particularly rude. And Bitt, you're assuming that the most common configuration of people sitting at the bar is two people. I don't think I've ever eaten at a bar with another person. I think couple 1 could reasonably expect a single person to sit in seat A.

Along the same lines, what if there's a single person in seat E? That person could move to A, but it's not likely.

I would definitely wait for that couple to leave. The amount of time to eat dessert would be far less than an hour wait (which I'm completely used to in my area), and I think it's unlikely that the couple would sit at a bar for a long conversation afterwards.

Anyway, there are much more annoying practices from restaurant patrons. I've been in a party of four at a crowded restaurant with a long wait. Almost all the tables are four-person booths. I'm standing with my party by a freezing cold entrance, and 12 feet away there's two people occupying a booth who have clearly finished their desserts a long while ago and are now just chatting away. I find that rude.

Similarly, my favorite breakfast place has extremely busy weekend mornings. Nearly every week I'll see someone who obviously came in before the rush, but has decided that he has every right to sit alone in his four-person window booth and read the paper and have cup after cup of cofee, even though there's a line out the door, and will do this until the lunch period starts. Will they move to one of the two-person booths which are essentially for one person? Nope.

Damn, why'd you start me on a rant?

it's at a bar, so slightly different (i.e more relaxed) rules apply.

I think that if I really wanted to sit at the bar I would ask the couple if they would mind moving down to C and D, if they don't want to, then fine.

If I don't care too much about sitting at the bar, then I wait.

Just the other night my girlfriend and I were sitting down at the bar in a restaurant with four seats open. Prefering to not sit next to anyone, we asked the bartender, who assured us that it was fine. Soon after we sat down, the party to our right left, and it wasn't an issue. The bartender has a much better idea of the eb and flow of the place, so they're a good person to ask.

I personally wouldn't ask people to move. Having a space between parties at a bar isn't unreasonable if the place isn't burssting out the seams with people. If as you sit down you insist on monopolizing extra seats that other people would like to use right then, you're being a jerk. If you're the only party approaching the bar at that point, I don't see a problem with it.

Perhaps we're all ignoreing the real reason why bars serve food in restaraunts: the dinner for one crowd. And with all this moving about, you seem to be filling up their spaces. Leave 'em for the lonely people so they've got somewhere to eat.

Matthew

We are talking about a bar, even if it is at a nice restaurant.
I wouldn't have any issues with asking if B/C could shift down. It's more informal at the bar, anyway.
They don't both have to move- B could take D and C stays seated. That's just my engineering brain talking- in reality I think it's more likely that they'd both move.

If I wanted them to make the offer, I'd seat my gal at A and stand next to her while we ordered drinks. This gives them the option to move away from the not-so-nice end of the bar.
If I didn't want to push the issue and they didn't make the offer, I'd rely on my charm and charisma to make the hour-long-wait-for-a-table go by in an instant.

While we're talking about a bar, the initial premis implied eating at the bar. If everyone's just ordering drinks, it's probably not much for people to move down. If everyone's ordering food and there for the long haul, it's a bigger disturbance.

Matthew