What Happened to Quiet Restaurants and Bars?

That sounds sooooo familiar on this side of the Atlantic also...

Rgds

 

All so true. Even here in Detroit. It's a topic when picking a place to go (or not) for my wife and I. Not only restaurants, but also private parties with music/bands. Even for little kids!

 

Never really thought about it.

I know it's not the "fanciest" restaurant, but Maggiano's used to really quiet. I used to go there fairly often with a friend of mine while we were in college and home for Christmas/Summer.

Now it's pretty loud and seems to be more of a family style atmosphere.

 

I think things went downhill with the advent of the sports bar concept and then other restaurants thinking that they had to add TVs to compete in a market that was probably irrelevant to them. Aside from the sound from TVs, there is also the visual distraction, especially when the sound is OFF and closed captioning is taking place or other eating patrons are turning their heads to look at something on the screen. It is difficult not to look.

 

My own "personal level of acceptance" here in Paris is when it is impossible to have a normal conversation with your table neighbors / friends. If you have to raise your voice to shout "what? what?" (well, being polite, it would rather be "excuse me", or "pardon me"...) because you can't hear a thing, then it means the level of noise is too high. And this is more and more the case, and no, my hearing is still very good (!).
When you leave the place after lunch or dinner with the impression that you were with nice friends indeed, but you feel tired and couldn't remember the conversation because you couldn't understand a thing, then the lunch/dinner is somewhat spoiled by noise.

Rgds

 

I know of plenty of quiet restaurants, but not bars. Bars, by their very nature, are social places, so it makes sense that they're louder.

I'll agree there are far less quiet restaurants, and I think that's a function of how restaurants have changed over the years. The best, nicest, and quietest restaurants are no longer "date" restaurants. People dine in larger groups, which will always increase the noise.



Mark

 

I think that's a good way to look at it.

 

I agree with much of what is said here. Going out for a meal seems now more of a noisy, festive occasion, rather than an opportunity to converse. If we want the latter, we invite people over to our house, in small groups...T

 

Almost every real "Bar" I've known was a very quiet place. Now, "pubs," "taverns," or "clubs," were loud, but a real "bar" was a place that mostly served nothing but drinks, and mostly to a fairly loyal/frequent group of patrons.

 

Not only restaurants but gas stations as well. Have you ever been in a WaWa? The friggen' music is cranked up to 11. Not just at one store, but everyone I go to. I feel sorry for the employees as it must be a management decision. I go there for cheap gas and great cheesesteak subs.

 

A while back, our company built a new cafeteria, and many of us noticed how loud it was inside.

Someone I worked with, made the comment that it is the new "thing" in design. Apparently, the noise makes the restaurant seem more busy, and therefore makes it seem more attractive to others.

 

3 Reasons Why Restaurants Are So Loud - Bon Appétit

How Restaurants Get You Drunk - The Daily Beast

Why New Restaurants Are So Noisy - WSJ

Basically, it's deliberate. Faster musical beats and higher sound energy makes tables turn faster, get people to drink more, and the place seems lively and fun. Also, there's a trend toward informality and modernity in design, so stripping carpets and tablecloths out for glass and hard wood surfaces, makes for even more acoustic reflections. Finally, some places overdo it, because they're just following a formula, and those places cross over into unbearable.

 

Well, this is interesting, but I am rather surprised by it. I mean, the acceptance of noise may have something to do with age, but from an income point of view (and a turn-over point of view from the restaurant perspective), I would think that customers in their forties and fifties are more important than the younger one, who may actually accept, or even like, noise but – usually, as there are of course exceptions – spend less?
I am now in my mid-fifties, supposedly at the peak of my spending power (If I believe what I read&#8230, and I do actually have lunch in restaurants at least once every week, sometimes more. In fact I have one scheduled for today, in an hour from now; one for tomorrow; one on Friday.
These lunches are usually to meet friends that also work in Paris, or are coming to Paris from time to time, and that I have no other occasion to meet; so the fact that we could be able to speak together, enjoy the lunch…is at least as important as what we will be eating.
There are literally hundreds of restaurants in Paris, at least a dozen less than ten minutes by walk from my office. If a place is too noisy for me, usually I won’t come back if I need a good time with a friend (or friends) ; I know a few lovely places that I like a lot but are simply too noisy, so if opting for a lunch-time outside the noisiest bracket of the day is not possible, I don’t go; simple as that.
So, to sum-up: I spend money, order wine and I do it often. Am I not, from a turn-over point of view, among the easiest customer there is? Of course, this has to be moderated by the fact that I am not speaking of expensive restaurants here (usually there is still no noise in expensive restaurants&#8230 but on the other hand this is Paris, where restaurant are aplenty: if a place is not suitable, you just go somewhere else.
So I would have thought that restaurants would have to focus on the business from older people like me, rather adverse to noise, but with money to spend, not on younger customers, who may like noise, but have less money to spend?

Rgds

 

Are you sure about that?
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My uncle had more kids later in life. So have some cousins in between 17 to 25. Its spooky when they visit with their friends. They'll sit in my family room with the TV on but ignored. Their noises in their phones, maybe a giggle or two. They don't talk with each other. Its like some new phone cult! I'm glad I grew up in the pay phone and no technology era of the 1980's.

 

I'm not a fan of quiet restaurants. Unless the tables are far enough apart you might as well join in the conversation of the table next to you since you can hear everything they are saying and Vice versa. Noise stops people from listening in on your conversations.

 

There is a reason why - about four years ago- the NY Times had to include "Sound Level" rating in every one of their restaurant reviews. I hate it and will not eat in a clamorous place.

 

We have one place in town where you can talk, get a bite to eat or sit at the bar. THEY DON'T HAVE ANY TV'S ANYWHERE. NONE. ZERO.

They do play music, but not too loud. Th obvious problem with loud music is then folks have to yell to be heard OVER it.

This place takes pride in the ability of folks to talk inside without yelling.

That's one bar/tavern out of maybe 100 in the county? 1%.


Oh, it's usually very busy, and is the only place to survive Hurricane Charlie and be open the entire time in 2004. Nice Irish Pub. The Celtic Ray in downtown Punta Gorda.

 

Am coming a bit late to this discussion, but I wish to add my voice to those who crave peaceful eating. Good company and good conversation around a table, be it two or more people, do not need added input from music. JCR's photo is revealing though, recently I lunched at a restaurant where a family of six (parents and four teenagers) spent the entire meal on their respective smartphones.

This may have been discussed on another thread, but will take the opportunity of mentioning another bugbear, quite noticeable in the UK. When a table for two is set against the wall, etiquette requires that the woman sit back to the wall and facing outwards. All too often here, the man hogs this seat and places his partner facing inward, the wall. Once, and only once in a modest Italian restaurant in Southampton, did I observe the owner skilfully ensuring that etiquette was observed. Unobtrusively, he blocked any attempt by the man to take the seat-with-the-view, by holding back the chair and indicating to the woman that it was hers. I congratulated the owner, when I left his establishment.

 

Rene. Thanks for this post. I agree 100%. The lady should always face the room. I imagine we could list a lot of annoying things here...men wearing baseball caps through dinner in nice restaurants comes to mind.