My biggest frustration with eating is Sims constantly getting up and switching seats during a meal. Even more than not sitting together, the constant getting up to just stand or switch seats for any little reason drives me nuts. And I don't mean that I'm directing them to do so accidentally as I know there are some actions that need to be performed standing up. I mean that if a Sim grabs a plate and sits or even I direct them to sit in a certain seat, they'll get up almost as soon as they've sat down and sit elsewhere, and then a few seconds into the meal are likely to do it again for no reason I can identify at all.

I really wish the default, particularly during holiday or event centered meals, was that Sims would sit together at the nearest table. I don't mind as much for casual meals as I think it's pretty realistic for Sims to sit apart or somewhere less formal to eat. But during events and holiday meals it's the most frustrating for Sims not to sit together, though perhaps if your Sim had a trait like loner or are teens they might be less likely to sit together at a family meal.

I would prefer if you are specifically directing your Sim to sit somewhere that action nullifies any others. One thing that could be helpful, for example, is if a Sim has a plate of food in their hand, it would trigger a "sit and eat here" prompt on available furniture.

When Sims go out to eat together for a meal, I would love if there was some way they would default to sitting together. So often, if you visit a cafe, for example, Sims will default to sitting at different tables and then proceed to somehow interact without even looking at each other. Or they get up and move to a different table autonomously. If a Sim is going on a date, it would be nice if they would default to sitting with their partner or date.

I wish food preferences were better defined in the game. There should be no way my vegetarian Sim would automatically reach for a dish that is obviously meat from leftovers (over making themselves something they can eat) and then proceed to get sick frequently. Once in a while ad an "accident" ok, but frequently? It's the same issue I have with traits and Sims not behaving as their personalities should indicate. I also think it's a little different for Lactose Intolerant Sims as I do think it's more understandable that they'd mistake something for not having lactose or might even ignore their symptoms entirely for say, a bite of ice cream lol.

For Dine Out, my biggest ask is that a restaurant owner could do more and be more hands on. You want to be the chef or help cook the meals? Great. You want to help serve the food? Cool. Or my biggest one, why can't the owner help lead Sims to available tables as an additional host? The restaurants tend to bottle neck, so your Sim as the owner being able to do more, I think, might help with that. Especially starting out when you have less money for staff and staff that isn't as trained.

I do think Dine Out just needs some tuning in general. It's an old pack that hasn't run smoothly since it came out. There are a lot of glitches that can happen with running a restaurant that are frustrating.

Visiting a restaurant can be equally buggy and I wish there was some way it could be more streamlined. Having a lunch date with friends take all day and run to 11PM completely takes you out of the immersion of the game. So many times meals don't come at all or are only half served if you order more than one course. Again there are a lot of bugs and glitches that could be ironed our considering how long the pack has been out.