Blending Physical and Augmented Dining: Exploring Social Acceptability in Mixed Reality Restaurant Experiences

Dining is a multisensory experience that is often shared with others and done in public places, e.g., restaurants. As such, it is characterized by interactions with both tablemates and the specific social norms of the venue where it occurs. The recent introduction of eXtended Reality (XR) technologies in this context, mainly through Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs), offers new opportunities for engagement while raising questions about their social appropriateness in public settings. This study explores the social acceptability of a Mixed Reality (MR) dining experience during a university-hosted public event. Twenty-four participants engaged in an immersive dining experience in an MR-based Restaurant using the Meta Quest 3 headset. Postexperience questionnaires assessed the perceived appropriateness of eating in public while wearing the device, feelings of isolation, openness to communication, comfort, enjoyment, privacy, satisfaction, willingness to recommend the experience, and willingness to use the HMD across different locations and with various audiences. Participants showed a positive attitude toward the MR dining experience and expressed openness to engaging in similar experiences across different scenarios. These findings highlight the feasibility of using MR in real-world dining contexts, opening new perspectives for the integration of immersive technologies in socially shared experiences.