Which is correct?

[Buzz123]

Does a restaurant have an outdoor seating area, or an outdoor sitting area?

[Rocky Raab]

The convention is "outdoor seating area" because it is a condensed version of "an outdoor area for seating customers."

From the restaurant's viewpoint, it's a seating area. From a customer's viewpoint, it could be considered a sitting area (or an eating area, a fork-dropping area, an undertipping area, a complaining area...)

[JerZ]

Yes, it is "seating", "seating" being a noun here (an area to sit in; a group of seats).

It's not a verb ("sitting") though technically, that would of course make sense, since that's what people are doing there.

But yes, technically, the phrase is "outdoor (or whatever) seating area", "outdoor" and "seating" going together as a descriptive and a noun.

[newmex]

Sitting seems to be just that of one or a few, while seating seems to anticipate an event while in a larger collective venue.

In one sitting, he ate 50 cheeseburgers in 10 minutes, while others seated around him watched in caloric horror.

[harry chickpea]

Why not just call it what it is - an outdoor smoking and farting area?

"In one sitting, he ate 50 cheeseburgers in 10 minutes, while others seated around him watched in caloric horror."

Hmmm... That is another good one - "the outdoor caloric horror area." It has a nice seasonal Halloween ring to it.

I'm still trying to get my head around "baby sale"

[Tzaphkiel]

"it has an outdoor seating area"

"there is an area for sitting outdoors"

[Buzz123]

Gracias. Smart folks here.

[20yrsinBranson]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

Does a restaurant have an outdoor seating area, or an outdoor sitting area?

If meals will be served in the area, it is seating. If it is simply a bench that people will sit on to smoke a cig or wait for their names to be called, (no food involved), it is a sitting area.

"It was so beautiful outside, we took advantage of the outdoor sitting area while we waited for our names to be called. We requested outdoor seating, which was very popular this time of year".

20yrsinBranson

[linicx]

We requested a seat near a window. I think of sitting as an action word whereas 'outdoor seating'" is a discription as is wine celler or an upstairs apartment. In any case it will not be inside a building. Outside seating an be on the Left Bank or hear a pool.

Words are regional. I never heard a waiting room or wating area called a sitting area. When I was a kid a sitting room was a small room attached to a bedroom. On ther other hand I never heard a common screwdriver called a 'flat head' until I moved to another area of the United States.

I think outside seating as it pertains to a restaurant indicates an area where drinks or dinner will be served and smoking, and in some cities, pets are also allowed. .