Post #200421 by Tiki-bot on Mon, Nov 28, 2005 11:58 AM

Loved your "review", SS. You should send that to Zagat's. V-Girl makes an excellent point: It is like eating in the middle of a nightclub. Why would people want that, you ask? We are bombarded by noisy, trashy media everywhere we go. Every bar has the big game on...loudly. Every tv show, especially the "variety" kind, is a nonstop monstrosity of quick cuts and loud soundtracks. Hell, we were watching a cake decorating competition on Food Channel and it was cut to within an inch of its life with bubbly narration, swinging, zooming and tilting camera work, and every kind of manufactured drama possible - a cake decorating contest!

I think that restaurant owners believe that the noisier it is, the more casual and family-friendly it becomes. Quiet = stuffy, and nobody wants stuffy. People live their lives going from blaring drive-time DJs to blaring headphoned music to outrageous commutes to screaming kids to squabbling reality shows to noisy nightclubs - why should dinner be any different? I think it's akin to the change in behavior in movie theaters. People now treat the theater like it's their own living room, and I somehow doubt those same people sit quietly and eat at the dinner table every night. They want a restaurant with the same energy (however fake) and noise level as the rest of their lives. I admit, I often choose a restaurant based on noise level, and sometimes I, too, want that festive, racous atmosphere. But I can get that at any number of good restaurants and would never resort to a Margaritaville.