Kramer is the main Seinfeld character absent from “The Chinese Restaurant.”
Jerry, George, and Elaine spend the episode waiting for a table, while Kramer never appears. This absence was unusual because Michael Richards’s Kramer was one of the show’s four principal characters. The episode instead concentrates entirely on the trio’s increasingly absurd problems inside and around the restaurant.
The production explanation reflects Kramer’s early characterization. Larry David said that, during Seinfeld’s early seasons, Kramer generally did not go out with Jerry, George, and Elaine. He was presented primarily as Jerry’s eccentric neighbor, usually bursting into Jerry’s apartment rather than joining the group’s outside plans.
Michael Richards reportedly disliked being left out because he recognized the episode as an important creative breakthrough for the series. “The Chinese Restaurant” became famous precisely because it tested how far Seinfeld could build a complete story from waiting, impatience, mistaken identity, and minor social humiliations.