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Joe Kieve
06-07-2013, 8:52 AM
A number of restaurants to which my wife and I have been recently have had music turned up so loud that we had to ask them to turn it down. We even got up and walked out of one because it was so loud.

Is there some sort of restaurant psychology that prompts this. Maybe they want me to hurry up and get out...and I usually do.

Just ranting.

Joe

Jerome Stanek
06-07-2013, 8:59 AM
I used to go to Cracker Barrel a lot when I was working out of town but as I got older it seemed that it was to noisy in them for me. The people I worked with said the same thing as you couldn't even carry on a conversation.

Montgomery Scott
06-07-2013, 10:01 AM
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20080718/loud-bar-music-makes-you-drink-more

Fred Belknap
06-07-2013, 10:11 AM
If a restaurant advertises live music I stay away, I do enjoy music with a good meal but only in the background. Live translates (LOUD).

Greg Peterson
06-07-2013, 10:16 AM
You have simply becoming self aware of 'The Grind', and therefore have developed an intolerance for situations that contribute to the aggravation and fatigue associated with 'The Grind'.

There are restaurants I refuse to patronize because of their engineered acoustic experience, if you will.

I also won't go to Olive Garden because rather than seat patrons, it looks better to have patrons milling about outside waiting. I won't be used as a prop for any business, let alone a national chain.

Red Robin seems to do a pretty good job of engineering a loud and lively environment. Too chaotic and 'vibrant' for my taste. I simply want to sit, relax and enjoy a meal.

Rick Potter
06-07-2013, 11:53 AM
You're just getting old. Bugs me too.

Rick Potter

Brian Elfert
06-07-2013, 11:58 AM
I went to a birthday party recently held at a bar. They had live music and it was loud enough to shake your fillings loose. A number of folks, including myself, left early as it was way too loud.

Why does music have to be so loud? A co-worker of mine goes to a lot of concerts and invested in a custom pair of ear plugs.

Rod Sheridan
06-07-2013, 12:33 PM
You're just getting old. Bugs me too.

Rick Potter

That's my excuse too.

I go to a restaurant to have a nice meal with friends and family, and engage in pleasant conversation.

It's hard to do that when you have to shout over the music............I tend to patronise places that provide a nice atmosphere, I don't mind hearing a bit of noise and conversation or music, as long as it's only background........Regards, Rod.

Jeff Monson
06-07-2013, 12:35 PM
When I cant carry on a conversation while eating at a restaurant,t its time to find elsewhere to eat. Loud bars annoy me also, if I go to a bar at my age, its to socialize with friends not have my eardrums ruptured.

Mac McQuinn
06-07-2013, 2:49 PM
You're not getting old, well maybe slowly:rolleyes:.......Society has evolved into people who can't function in life unless they're on a Cel phone adding to the loud music drone while at eating or drinking establishments. I have a friend who works in the hearing aid business and she stated their business is booming(pun fully intended) with people coming in much earlier in life than normal for hearing aids.

Mac


A number of restaurants to which my wife and I have been recently have had music turned up so loud that we had to ask them to turn it down. We even got up and walked out of one because it was so loud.

Is there some sort of restaurant psychology that prompts this. Maybe they want me to hurry up and get out...and I usually do.

Just ranting.

Joe

Jerry Thompson
06-07-2013, 2:50 PM
Music Then there are TV's. I will not go to a Sports Bar. They have more TV's than Best Buy. We went to one restaurant that had Rap playing. We never even asked to be seated. Ever try to hum Rap?

Don Morris
06-07-2013, 3:51 PM
Sometimes I think it's the people who work there that decide what the sound level should be and what the music should be. If they're young, it may be rap even though it's a restaurant that normally caters to an older crowd. The management is in the back and might not be aware of it. Mostly though, I think loud is "in". That means i'm "outside".

Jim Matthews
06-07-2013, 4:57 PM
The way I see it, real life doesn't require a sound track.

Sam Murdoch
06-07-2013, 5:26 PM
Funny story apropos to the topic = On my 40th birthday (long ago and far away) some friends took me to a restaurant in Boston for a celebration. We picked a corner table and as soon as we were approached by the waitress my slightly older (than me) host asked the waitress if she could get the music volume turned down. Well she looked at him as if he were demented as did the rest of us in the party - we were at the HARD ROCK CAFE :rolleyes: :D.

We ended up leaving... had a terrible but relatively quiet dinner elsewhere.

I think of quiet as the picture frame around an interesting life. I like music too but in a given time and place and volume.

Allan Ferguson
06-07-2013, 5:56 PM
I get the impression that you are supposed to feel as well as hear the music. And I have hearing loss to boot!

Joe Kieve
06-07-2013, 6:47 PM
So glad to hear I'm not alone in this. (Pun intended) As they say, "misery loves company".

joe

Scott Shepherd
06-07-2013, 9:31 PM
Oh, you've pushed my buttons now! Went to dinner last weekend. Music so loud it actually hurt my ears (and I'm not an old timer). It was all treble and no bass and was painful to listen to. I whipped out my cell phone with the decibel application on it. 85 decibels. Nice. Just want I wanted for dinner with family, the noise of a woodworking shop with all the machines running. I told the people I was with to enjoy it because it was the last time we'd be eating there for a long time.

Next on the list is temperature. What's the deal with making it 68 degrees and putting ceiling fans blowing directly on you. I don't have any desire to to carry a winter jacket in the summer, just so I can eat at your restaurant. I've asked a number of times for people to turn the fans off, only to be told "we can't turn them off, it's for air circulation". Well, how about flipping the switch so it's not blowing on the customer, moron??????

Last one on the list- walking me by 30 empty tables to sit me at the 1 table in the restaurant with the sun shining in my face. I've watched them walk elderly people with canes, walkers, AND crutches, past empty tables, to the table furtherest from the front door. Come on idiots, pay attention. If someone is using a walker or on crutches, seat them at the closest, easiest access table available.

Oh, I could be a restaurant critic. Not for food tasting, but for customer service. I'd say 95% of the people running restaurants don't even remotely pay attention to customers needs.

Chuck Wintle
06-08-2013, 4:50 AM
where to start on this subject...went to one restaurant with my 2 sons and the music was blaring but my sons never commented on the music. Staff that look at you like you are the enemy upon entering establishment, having to ask for water and getting the treatment after.

ray hampton
06-08-2013, 2:42 PM
Oh,

Last one on the list- walking me by 30 empty tables to sit me at the 1 table in the restaurant with the sun shining in my face. I've watched them walk elderly people with canes, walkers, AND crutches, past empty tables, to the table furtherest from the front door. Come on idiots, pay attention. If someone is using a walker or on crutches, seat them at the closest, easiest access table available.

Oh, I could be a restaurant critic. Not for food tasting, but for customer service. I'd say 95% of the people running restaurants don't even remotely pay attention to customers needs.

at a restaurant couple of months ago ,the waitress tables was the farther from the front door but I ask for a table up front , I understand the waitress who want a tip but I do not walk no farther than I had to

Bill Huber
06-08-2013, 3:31 PM
I am with everyone on this one, I hate it, when I have to yell to talk to the person across the table that is just to loud.

My wife and I went to the Olive Garden Friday evening, no music but you still could not talk because the noise was just so high. When you look at the way the room is made, hard walls, hard ceiling, hard tables and chairs, the only thing that could maybe absorb the sound is the carpet but there is not much of it.

The worst one I have ever been in is Abuelos, it is a Mexican restaurant, the floors are marble, the walls are marble and yes the tables are marble. I was in it one time and there was any a few people and you still could not hear yourself thing.

Bob Rufener
06-09-2013, 8:46 AM
In Wisconsin, it has been a tradition for many decades to have a Friday night fish fry or dinner. Many places offer fish fries on Fridays. Many of them have no sound deadening interiors so we don't go to them. Back ground noise kills me and my half deaf ears. We try to find a quiet place that we can enjoy.

Frank Drew
06-09-2013, 9:25 AM
The way I see it, real life doesn't require a sound track.

Agree completely, I like a bit of peace and quite; apparently a lot of our fellow citizens feel otherwise, and the noise isn't limited to restaurants: gas stations (outdoors, out at the pump), waiting rooms of all kinds, airports... it's often impossible to avoid the constant background noise. For some strange reason, it's considered "value added".

ray hampton
06-09-2013, 12:33 PM
Agree completely, I like a bit of peace and quite; apparently a lot of our fellow citizens feel otherwise, and the noise isn't limited to restaurants: gas stations (outdoors, out at the pump), waiting rooms of all kinds, airports... it's often impossible to avoid the constant background noise. For some strange reason, it's considered "value added".

the only place that are mention above that I want noise is at the airport

Ted Calver
06-09-2013, 11:24 PM
IMHO it's done on purpose to facilitate turnover and prevent dawdling at the table after the meal. The more cycles you serve the more you make.