If you opt for a meal out at a restaurant, chances are, you'll have to deal with noise. Whether it's whimpering babies, clattering dishes, or raucous bachelor parties, it's gonna be noisy, and it will probably increase as the evening continues.Last week, Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema published an article on this very controversial topic (NPR then interviewed him about the article, which you can listen to here).
Sietsema claims the main reasons that restaurants seem to have gotten noisier in the past few years has to do with both new technology and building design. In addition to diners chatting and typing away on cell phones and Blackberries, restaurant design trends are leaning toward hardwood floors and tall ceilings, with wooden and glass accents.
Combine these characteristics with limited space and tables being shoved close together, and you're practically yelling at your table mate to make yourself heard.
Just how loud are these restaurants? Sietsema took a sound level meter to about 20 DC restaurants in the evening hours to measure their decibel levels. This video gives a good example of his findings: while some restaurants clocked in at 60 decibels (the level of a normal conversation), many approached 90 decibels, which is the sound of trucks in city traffic, or a gas-powered lawnmower.
So, you've heard Sietsema's take - what's your take? Do you enjoy noisy eateries, or do you prefer a quiet, more subdued setting?
And for the record? In the twenty minutes or so it has taken me to write this in my local cafe, the noise level went from practically silent to so distracting that I was forced to jack up my iPod to concentrate.
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