The Chinese Restaurant

Jerry, Elaine, and George go to a Chinese restaurant for dinner before going to a movie - a rare theatre showing of "Plan Nine From Outer Space". Jerry is correct when he says it's the worst movie ever made, but I digress. The proprietor tells them it will be 5 or ten minutes, but the waiting drags on in real time as they watch group after group get seated before them and even one guy who just walks in off the street, but is clearly chummy with the owner. Meanwhile, George needs to call a new romantic interest, Tatiana, but the guy on the pay phone is talking forever and just smiles when George says he badly needs to use the phone. This is the set-up for the comedy consisting of the growing frustration of the group and in Elaine's case, severe hunger.

It is the first episode that really pushed the envelope for Seinfeld. Certain executives at NBC thought it would flop because it was shot entirely in one location, but they let Larry David do it anyway. It was well received, mostly because it was actually pretty relatable at the time. It's so aggressively about nothing, yet it has all these bits of urban life that resonate (or did at the time). The dilemma of when to cut bait on a reservation, the sense that the reservation guy has made a mistake, the frustration when you need to make a movie time, the protocol over time on a pay phone. It's all that minutia that is actually compelling in the moment, even though it's absolutely trivial.

One interesting point - It is one of only two episodes with no Kramer at all.

This is where the show really finds its identity and embraces its role as a show about nothing.

This is the first time I watched Seinfeld as a new show. I was so amused by the cleverness of the episode and its difference from other sticoms that I began watching.

ON the other hand, I don't like any other the early season episodes.

What is different for a younger viewer: having to wait to use a public pay telephone.

The Cartwright reference. I love when the manager calls out Cartwright....

Plan 9 from Outer Space....

I can hear David's voice over as one the table of older customers when Elaine goes over to eat off their plate on a dare.

Very cleverly written and in real time.... J L Dreyfuss's sitcom with unknown and very annoying Steve Carrell in real time was terrible.

Had I seen any other of the early episodes, I"d have passed on this show.

Ten years before 24 was created, Seinfeld experimented with the real-time format, facing negative reactions from NBC and an increasing risk of cancellation. However, the choice eventually paid off, and The Chinese Restaurant should qualify as one of the show's Top 10 episodes on the sole basis of sheer, groundbreaking creativity.

As already mentioned, this episode plays in real time. How is that possible? Easy: Jerry, George and Elaine are about to go to the movies and see Plan 9 From Outer Space (Jerry claims the worst movie ever produced deserves to be watched on a big screen) and enter a Chinese restaurant for a quick dinner. Unfortunately, they made no reservation, so they will have to wait for five, ten minutes, or at least that's what the owner of the place says. The result is 23 minutes of waiting, with Jerry and Elaine trying not to get bored and George desperately looking for a phone so that he can call his latest girlfriend. As for Kramer, he is nowhere to be seen.

What, no Kramer? Yes, but before the screaming starts, one should consider this: in a storyline that involves staticity and repetition (Bruce, the waiter, keeps saying:"Five, ten minutes..."), what use could there have been for the show's king of unpredictable physical comedy? Of course, he is an integral part of the series (and was never written out of an episode again, except for one time in Season 3), but in this case the sole presence of Jerry, George and Elaine is more than enough. That and the real-time gimmick, which gives the viewer the impression of really being there with the characters, struggling to get a meal (as Elaine wisely notes, restaurants should serve you based on who's the hungriest).

All in all, a great episode, from start to perfectly timed finish, and one of the finest treats Seinfeld's second year has to offer.

Decent early episode of Seinfeld, maybe first one that has some rewatchability value. Plot constructed in a clever way, but episode lacks a usual charm that later seasons have. Maybe it is cause of absence of Kramer, or George's neurosis not as funny as it could be. Elaine and Jerry are just there. Egg roll and 50 bucks part was funny, as well as chinese guy at the counter.