unamochilla2 said:

I agree it worked well in the original film, but the diner and dinner scenes in AOTC felt off.

That's because it was stiff characters sitting at a dinner table staring at each other while spouting flat dialogue.
The dinner scene in Star Wars works because the actors make it look natural and create a scene we can relate to. They pass dishes and drinks and look like they are actually having dinner while talking and getting information across. Just as many of us will do this evening.