Noisy Restaurants Make More Money

jnmeade

jnmeade

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Jim Meade
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https://consumerist.com/2010/04/19/loud-restaurants-make-you-eat-and-drink-more/

There is a fair amount of credible research that indicates people eat faster, drink more, and there is faster table turnover at noisy restaurants.

Do loud restaurants bother your or do you like the amped-up atmosphere?

I confess when I dine out with friends, I'd prefer to talk in a near normal tone of voice rather than have to half shout, and I tend to not return to noisy eating places. Apparently, I'm the exception and most like the noise.
 
It's not that I prefer it outright, but louder family-welcoming venues allow me to dine with wife and 4 year old in tow without the scowling of the misopedic Dink and Co. crowd. All that said, I support childfree establishments in order to keep the peace between the two demographics.

Of course, there's plenty sources of adult noise (presence of a dedicated bar et al) that have nothing to do with children. I'm not sure how establishments keep the peace in those cases, but I got no dog in that fight.
 
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jnmeade said:
https://consumerist.com/2010/04/19/loud-restaurants-make-you-eat-and-drink-more/

There is a fair amount of credible research that indicates people eat faster, drink more, and there is faster table turnover at noisy restaurants.

Do loud restaurants bother your or do you like the amped-up atmosphere?

I confess when I dine out with friends, I'd prefer to talk in a near normal tone of voice rather than have to half shout, and I tend to not return to noisy eating places. Apparently, I'm the exception and most like the noise.
Click to expand...

Which came first, the drinks or the noise?
 
Chipotle...like being locked in a dumpster with a running lawn mower. Used to hit it for lunch, but conversation isn't possible, so I don't anymore.

Five Guys - same same, except I get it to go, so it's tolerable.
 
Definitely prefer quiet and somewhat private. The general public just annoys me anymore. I don't think it's because i'm getting older, because my kids are the same way.
Maybe the public is just getting louder (and stupider).
I can't say for sure, but I think I, as well as others, probably tip less if they are annoyed by the crowd (and stupidity)
But yes, as the study might suggest, we'll get the hell out quicker if it's loud (or stupid)
 
Yeah, maybe after yelling for an hour or so people say lets get the hell out a here. Although, my wife eats very slow no matter what, that's why she's skinny and I'm fat.
 
Noisy restaurants are busy restaurants. Quiet restaurants are not busy. There is often a reason for that.
 
if I'm in the mood for loud n noisy I go to loud n noisy. if I'm in the mood for quiet, I go quiet. each has their time and place for me.

kinda reminds me of the local hangout back in jersey. it was known for live music, usually rock, hard rock and heavy metal. good bands came through there. but the place was smallish and the LOUDEST place I've ever been to. literally we used the speakers to hold our beers. to this day I have no idea how I didn't lose my hearing from being in that place one time, forget about every friday night for a long time. I don't think I'd frequent a place like that nowadays, but man, good memories from there. which is funny cause once the music started there was basically NO conversation at all.
 
Generally I prefer quiet restaurants with minimal little humans.

If it's a group thing I'll go. Also if it's lunch with co-workers I'll go to a loud place so there's less chance of it turning into a lunch meeting.

There's a difference between places that are loud because they are full and places that are deliberately loud (music to make the experience type of thing)
 
Pre-kids I never liked loud restaurants. And when my wife and I get to go out just the two of us, we want quiet.

With the kids, loud is great. That way their being kids doesn't disturb anyone else. And we get out of there faster because kids.
 
I like the quieter ones. We go out with friends and loud restaurants combined with declining hearing makes it difficult to carry on a conversation.
 
jnmeade said:
Many newer restaurants seem to deliberately decorate with materials that echo or at least don't deaden sound. Cheaper? Trendy?
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Both. The old Irish pub decor created by painting molded foam brick and timber panels just doesn't get it for me.
 
Is the correlation causal though? Lots of things correlate but aren't causal...
 
Can't stand echoing, painfully loud restaurants. Stressful- why am I paying for that environment? $100 for two and it's like being in a school cafeteria. If I have to raise my voice to place my order, I'm outta there.
 
paflyer said:
Can't stand echoing, painfully loud restaurants. Stressful- why am I paying for that environment? $100 for two and it's like being in a school cafeteria. If I have to raise my voice to place my order, I'm outta there.
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You're doing it wrong. In and outta there for $36.75 plus tip, with unlimited breadsticks. Love me some Olive Garden. There's benefits to being lower class. :D
 
hindsight2020 said:
You're doing it wrong. In and outta there for $36.75 plus tip, with unlimited breadsticks. Love me some Olive Garden. There's benefits to being lower class. :D
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100 bucks for dinner minimum practically anywhere we go. that's one drink each. No OG or Roachouse, thanks.
 
On our way to buffalo wild wings now. I don't like fancy quite tink tink fork clinking on plates background noise restaurants.

But loud like loud loud places drive me nuts.
BWW use nearing the high end of noise tolerance.

My preference is an outback steakhouse medium ambient rumble.
 
hindsight2020 said:
...without the scowling of the misopedic Dink and Co. crowd...
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Animated-gif-speed-reading.gif


Misopedic: Having hatred, contempt, or both for children.
Input!
 
News of the stupid. Restaurants that are noisy are so because they're full of paying customers. Quiet restaurants usually don't have anybody in them, that why they're quiet. Restaurants full of paying customers make more money than dead ones. And someone felt they needed a headline.
 
I avoid loud ones. There are plenty of ways to reduce sound levels, but too many places do concrete floors, hard top tables, hard concrete ceilings with no sound deadeners, and "live" walls. Pretty easy to reduce the sound level without turning it into a morgue.

I applaude the restaurant critics that now include sound level measurements.
 
jnmeade said:
Many newer restaurants seem to deliberately decorate with materials that echo or at least don't deaden sound. Cheaper? Trendy?
Click to expand...

I've noticed this. Things like no ceiling at all, just exposed ductwork, hard (not carpeted) floors and no acoustic wall treatments. It's painful, literally. Now that I'm old with hearing aids that amplify everything, I simply cannot tolerate loud environments. Kids' screeching goes through me like a steel sword. I have to remove my hearing aids completely if they are too close, until they shut the f#%! up or a courteous parent takes them outside. It's got nothing to do with disliking children, it's a physical reality when you get old for some of us. It wouldn't be so bad if the restaurants still had good sound attenuation but I think you are right, cheaper is the way nowadays. One more insidious erosion of our quality of life brought on by years and years of a sluggish economy.

But I agree with Ted, when I was young and had small kids I preferred to take them where other people had kids and mine weren't the only ones. But if we wanted to go out for a five course $150 meal wouldn't have dreamed of bringing my kids to such a place I would have thought it rude.
 
jnmeade said:
https://consumerist.com/2010/04/19/loud-restaurants-make-you-eat-and-drink-more/

There is a fair amount of credible research that indicates people eat faster, drink more, and there is faster table turnover at noisy restaurants.

Do loud restaurants bother your or do you like the amped-up atmosphere?

I confess when I dine out with friends, I'd prefer to talk in a near normal tone of voice rather than have to half shout, and I tend to not return to noisy eating places. Apparently, I'm the exception and most like the noise.
Click to expand...

We walk out of noisy restaurants (or never get past the entry). We also walk out of restaurants with loud music. Once upon a time we were in Florence, Italy, and walked into and right back out of a restaurant playing modern music at ear-splitting level.

Bob
 
GlennAB1 said:
I have never received a senior discount, at what age does that start? In my case it should be the no hair discount.
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Some places it is 60, some 65 and other places have differing ages. All I know is at age 58 a lot of places give me the senior discount without even asking...

One restaurant gave me the menu and gave my wife a placemat and crayons......

Out shopping one time and we met one of my wife's students. The little girl looked at me and asked my wife.... "Is that your Grandpa.???" :eek2::lol::lol:
 
Zeldman said:
Some places it is 60, some 65 and other places have differing ages. All I know is at age 58 a lot of places give me the senior discount without even asking...

One restaurant gave me the menu and gave my wife a placemat and crayons......

Out shopping one time and we met one of my wife's students. The little girl looked at me and asked my wife.... "Is that your Grandpa.???" :eek2::lol::lol:
Click to expand...

more like dirty old man :D
 
steingar said:
News of the stupid. Restaurants that are noisy are so because they're full of paying customers. Quiet restaurants usually don't have anybody in them, that why they're quiet. Restaurants full of paying customers make more money than dead ones. And someone felt they needed a headline.
Click to expand...

I've been in plenty of packed, quiet restaurants.
 
Zeldman said:
Some places it is 60, some 65 and other places have differing ages. All I know is at age 58 a lot of places give me the senior discount without even asking...

One restaurant gave me the menu and gave my wife a placemat and crayons......

Out shopping one time and we met one of my wife's students. The little girl looked at me and asked my wife.... "Is that your Grandpa.???" :eek2::lol::lol:
Click to expand...
Well, she should be prepared for the next time... "No, this is my husband, he's a cradle robber!"
 
I really don't care for the places that have all hard surfaces (walls, ceiling, floor). They tend to be noisy, regardless of how many people are in there. Perhaps I'm getting old. :-)
 
steingar said:
And I've seen an albino alligator and a two-headed turtle. Doesn't make them commonplace.
Click to expand...

I'll agree that I'm not aware of any chain restaurants that are as quiet as the restaurant at The River Club in New York (where even the waiter spoke quietly). However saying that when a noisy restaurant (by design) is quiet it's empty is completely different from a quiet restaurant by design. There are plenty of quiet restaurants out there, virtually any town or city will have them. So I would say they are common, even if they aren't as common as noisy restaurants.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I'll agree that I'm not aware of any chain restaurants that are as quiet as the restaurant at The River Club in New York (where even the waiter spoke quietly). However saying that when a noisy restaurant (by design) is quiet it's empty is completely different from a quiet restaurant by design. There are plenty of quiet restaurants out there, virtually any town or city will have them. So I would say they are common, even if they aren't as common as noisy restaurants.
Click to expand...
Exactly. The Tower Club, where I eat a couple of times a week, is pretty quiet. But very busy. Other places, not so quiet. There is a restaurant near here that has good (and healthy) food - I'd go there more often but the last time I was in I measured the sound level as pushing 90 dB.
 
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