Does it count if I was eating dinner with the Celebrity? Back in the 1980’s, I went to Mike Ditkas restaurant in Chicago to eat solo. I saw Tommy Lasorda and a group of about 10 others waiting to get seated, as was I. I told him my name, and that I had been a friend of his son, Tommy Jr. in High School (class of ‘76.) He asked who I was there with, and when I told him I was by myself, he insisted that I join his group which turned out to be all Dodger coaches, front office people etc. I have to admit that too much wine was consumed by all and it was a great time.
14 Likes
I’m hopeless at recognizing celebrities 
I’ve likely bumped into a few in NYC over the past 25 years that I’ve worked there… but unless they were wearing a name tag, I wouldn’t have noticed.
10 Likes
I used to live in a high altitude town and would see lots of olympians in the grocery store by my house. Some were household names and recognizable. They would come there to train so they could push their conditioning. They ate a lot of bagels.
4 Likes
Ha! Thats usually me. Someone needs to point folks out!
3 Likes
Speaking of - I was in W Palm - we left lunch - and the work person I’m with said did you see who was at the next table ?
Nope
Dustin Johnson and his wife Wayne Gretzky’s daughter.
I don’t watch golf so no clue.
Dick van Dyke, Mitt Romney
7 Likes
D worked in a Nashville area Starbucks, which is loosely a restaurant. She served many celebrities. Her favorites included Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, and Brandi Carlile & the Hanseroth twins. They came in often enough that she was able to determine that they were all truly nice people.
D & I once saw Kid Rock and his posse sitting in an outdoor restaurant in Chicago. Let’s just say that I wasn’t impressed.
3 Likes
Nobody at a grocery store.
Recall seeing actor, Jason Robards, at a restaurant in Boston. Saw Robert DeNiro in a very small country inn restaurant in the ski resort community I used to live in, located in Vermont.
Saw/spoke with Hillary Clinton at a private party venue, not sure if considered a restaurant, though it served food and drinks.
I have a daughter who has met many famous people, as well as worked with some, eaten out with others, but I wasn’t there.
3 Likes
Some of us on CC actually have kids who are celebrities (not me … but definitely some of the parents). They have probably been to restaurants and grocery stores with them plenty of times! 
10 Likes
If we are sticking just to restaurants and grocery stores, I have seen Bob Woodward and Cal Ripken several times at a restaurant attached to the business where I work.
This happened to my husband, not me, but since it happened at a grocery store, I will share. 
He was headed into our local grocery store a few months ago and went to get a shopping cart. He said there was a beautiful young woman about the age of our daughter, walking ahead of him with a much older man. He said he noticed the woman initially b/c of how she was so (over)dressed next, to the man who he assumed was her grandfather based on his age, sloppily dressed in an old t-shirt and shorts. She was wearing a very fancy, tight dress. After the man got a cart, he turned around - it was Bill Belichick! He didn’t realize the woman was his girlfriend until a store clerk made a comment to DH. DH had not heard that Belichick has a much younger girlfriend. When I pointed out that Belichick is 15 years older than DH and his GF is younger than our oldest daughter, he was disgusted! I said “That would be like you dating a woman the same age as our son’s GF” (she and our son are 24 like Belichick’s GF).
I have yet to see Belichick but he owns a home here (as does Ripken) so there are occasional sightings of him and his GF posted on local media.
4 Likes
Not me, but my daughter who was waitstaff at a high end restaurant:
George Clooney (super nice --he tipped every server in the restaurant even if they didn’t work his table); Jonah Hill (during his Superbad days–a bit of jerk)
Bryan Cranston was sitting at the bar of a local brewpub.
Demi Moore who was shopping at a children’s boutique at the local mall.
1 Like
I’ve had several celebrity encounters and sightings, a few of my favorites:
James Taylor at a bagel shop in the East Village, NYC - he recommended the onion
Kevin Bacon and his wife Kyra Sedgwick in the shoe department (totally goofing off and being silly with one another) in Saks Fifth Avenue
Jackson Browne in front of a record store, Westwood, California - fun story, early morning, walking through Westwood to my waitress job, I was 18, when I stopped in front of a record store…the display was announcing the release of The Pretender - as a huge(!) fan I stopped to look in the window and sigh. A guy walks up, I don’t look at him. He quietly asks “you like this guy?” I barely muttered back “yeah, I’m looking forward to the new album” to which he enthusiastically replies, “me too!” - I turn to walk away, and look up, to see, it’s Jackson Browne! We both laughed.
7 Likes
One of my co-workers has a son who is a musician who my kids and their friends know of but he’s not a name known to most older people (he’s played Lollapalooza and Coachella but not as the top billed artist…more midlevel). My co-worker lives in our quiet suburb and one day he found a young woman in his driveway. He asked her if she was lost and she said that her “destiny” was to “get together” with the son and she wouldn’t leave til she saw him. My co-worker tried to get her to leave telling her truthfully that his son lived in a different state, but she would not go. He eventually called the local police and in his words “had the most awkward conversation of my life tying to explain how my son is like sort of a celebrity…I think they thought I was nuts.” (the police did eventually come and determined that the young woman was having a mental health crisis and took her to a hospital.
John Lennon asked my mother to light his cigarette once at an airport, does that count?
13 Likes
I saw Neil Patrick Harris at my local Ralph’s (Kroger) grocery store. I think it was around 1997. He was at the La Jolla Playhouse (near my house) performing in Rent at the time.
1 Like
1 Like
Debbie Harry (Blondie) at a grocery store.
3 Likes
I likely would NOT know celebrities unless someone tells me that they are famous. We have quite a few famous folks in our state because normally no one bothers them.
1 Like
@abasket @DadOfJerseyGirl consider me appropriately chastened. Sorry that my single celebrity sighting didn’t occur in the correct location. Please delete my inappropriate comment.
3 Likes
Really it’s fine. No worries.
And John Lennon is pretty cool. REALLY cool. 
6 Likes