The NYC Hospitality Alliance, a restaurant advocacy organization, last week rightfully called for a crackdown on unscrupulous “bounty hunters” who get paid to report alleged outdoor noise violations to the city.
Restaurants blasting music into residential streets are an occasional nuisance.
But the more common horror, both socially damaging and medically dangerous, is the noise INSIDE restaurants — a 21st-Century plague from simple taco joints to Michelin-starred temples of fine dining.
Shouting along with one’s meal may not bother young customers who consider it a kind of welcoming backdrop.
Perhaps it’s because many Gen-Zers no longer talk on the phone to send text messages, and spend so much quiet time at a computer screen that it’s liberating to scream over a plate of overpriced artisanal spaghetti.
But I eat out almost every night and day.
The main consideration in where to go — especially with people I haven’t met recently — isn’t the type of cuisine or the quality of the service or how much it costs.
On the other hand, whether we will be able to hear each other without having to put our mouths so close to our friends’ faces that the audience suggests we “get a room”.
Intolerable restaurant noise has many causes, but it has one effect: it spills over into the supposedly sheltered interior that dictates street noise and incivility.
We used to go out to eat to escape from everyday life. Now, a growing chaos surrounds every block and corner — rumbling illegal off-road vehicles; misguided e-bikers; construction site jackhammering; and random raving lunatics — pale in comparison to the racket of the dining room.
The frenzy reigns at many of the restaurants I’ve written about this year.
It’s easier to text across the table at Tatiana, Le Rock, Bad Roman, Sartiano’s and Cafe Chelsea than to discuss work, the kids, the Middle East — or just ask, “What’s new?”
Korean steakhouse Cote is notorious for prime cuts and high decibel levels — a growing problem across New York City.Stefano Giovannini
Even my younger friends in their twenties and thirties couldn’t stand it.
A couple insisted on skipping dessert at Le Rock despite being dismayed by their leftovers and the dramatic location of Rockefeller Center.
No wonder so many private restaurants, like Casa Cipriani and Casa Cruz, have recently popped up in the Big Apple where they were once rare.
One of the reasons restaurants are so noisy is that many owners have removed table linen because maintaining it can cost a lot of money.Stefano Giovannini for the NY Post
Their food may not be the best but at least you won’t leave with a sore throat and headache.
You also don’t need follow-up conversations with your friends, lovers, would-be lovers and co-workers to find out if they are saying what you think they are saying.
Many factors contribute to the inability or unwillingness of owners to tame noise levels.
Some deliberately engineer their place to be noisy.
Dino Arpaia, who owns Cellini in Midtown, recently put sound-dampening tablecloths back on the tables to help control the chaos. Brian Zak/NY Post
They know that for too many younger customers, annoying decibel levels are synonymous with cool TikTok posts.
High rents encourage owners to squeeze the last money out of their dining rooms, so tables are placed to pack as many bodies as possible.
Start your day with everything you need to know
Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.
And the cost of opening a new venue leaves no money for proper noise abatement efforts.
Washing table linens alone can cost a 100-seat bistro $70,000 a year
Among the few restaurateurs daring to change direction, is my friend Dino Arpaia, who owns Cellini in Midtown.
He recently put back a sound-deadening tablecloth after months of not using the fabric when he realized the dishes weren’t to his customers’ tastes.
I hope, perhaps in vain, that others will wake up.
The biggest and most overlooked reason to keep things strong is very simple – and evil. That is, to change the schedule as quickly as possible.
Dr. Darius Kohan, MD, who is the director of otology and neurotology at Lenox Hill Hospital/Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital, has seen almost as many restaurants as his ears.
“This is not scientific [analysis] but business sense. The model is, you want more people in and out for faster turnover. If you are not comfortable [due to too much noise]it makes no sense to stay there,” he chuckled.
Ear and hearing experts have seen serious hearing loss in those who eat out almost every night of the week.
Kohan, who treats patients with hearing loss from prolonged exposure to restaurant noise, says the danger is actually greatest to workers — even though federal OSHA regulations warn of permanent ear damage at decibel levels above 70. 90, equivalent to the roar of a motorcycle passing nearby.)
But the threat is to us all, victims of a civic corruption from which no one even the joy of dining should provide rare and precious protection.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
