I have a fairly small bladder and I like beer, coffee and soda, so I've had to develop a bit of expertise in this area.
My standby move is to find a decently busy restaurant that's upscale enough to not have a lock on the bathroom like a big-city Starbucks / McDonalds. They'll almost always have a host / hostess stand at the front where people intercept you and prevent you from using their restroom unless you're a customer.
So I've started just walking straight past the stand while 'scanning' the restaurant. If they slow you down (they probably will) to ask if they can help you, just tell them that you're meeting some people and are going to check if they've already been seated.
Walk straight to the bathroom, do your business, and right back out the front. "I didn't see them, I'm going to wait outside." It's never failed me. Use responsibly.
Or be like plenty of places in Europe, chuck 50c in the basket outside the toilet. More if it's a number 2. Or if it was really clean.
One of the worst moments I had was in a rural part of Belgium, I had a call of nature whilst in the cafe, after completion I realised I had no euros left. Walk of shame to my table, the waiter notices nothing went in the basket and says something about Englanders just loud enough for me to hear.
My standby move is to find a decently busy restaurant that's upscale enough to not have a lock on the bathroom like a big-city Starbucks / McDonalds. They'll almost always have a host / hostess stand at the front where people intercept you and prevent you from using their restroom unless you're a customer.
So I've started just walking straight past the stand while 'scanning' the restaurant. If they slow you down (they probably will) to ask if they can help you, just tell them that you're meeting some people and are going to check if they've already been seated.
Walk straight to the bathroom, do your business, and right back out the front. "I didn't see them, I'm going to wait outside." It's never failed me. Use responsibly.