Eating alone in a restaurant can be a hit-or-miss venture. Servers don't always
welcome single diners; a single customer typically rings up a small check, which translates into a scrawny tip. Too often, when we're eating alone, we find ourselves contending with half-disguised scowls from our servers as well as a lot of hovering and not-so-subtle attempts to drop the check early. Not so at Café Rumi. There, the vibe is casual and laid-back, and servers treat a single diner the same way they would treat a table of philanthropists. But it's not just the service that's a plus at this Middle Eastern restaurant at the corner of 39th Street and Wyoming. There's always something fun to watch, especially when we're sitting under the tent outside in the parking lot or inside the lower, open-air dining room off the kitchen. The corner bustles with interesting-looking people entering or leaving nearby shops. In the city, after all, we're never really alone.