Perhaps that’s a reflection of where you live. Ever since I was a child, it’s always been the case at a restaurant that if you want to be seated faster, you sit in the smoking section. (Now it’s called “first available,” which invariably means the smoking section.) Everywhere I go, people are willing to wait to avoid the smoke. I’ve been to plenty of local restaurants where there are almost always seats in the bar area while the nonsmoking wait approaches 30 minutes.
We have to wait for non smoking too. Wonder if it’s the type of restaurant...we tend to frequent kid friendly chain type places.