The Noisy Restaurant Report

I dine with a Noise-O-Meter (otherwise known as Radio Shack's #33-2055, the Digital-Display Sound Level Meter). Although it looks a little like one of Radio Shack's original cell phones, it's still small enough to discreetly measure the decibel range of any location. I'll continue to add to this list; if there's a restaurant that you'd like to see on the list sooner than later, please email me or leave a comment. 

Pizzeria Mozza      78-84 dBs, Wednesday lunch

Tinto                      68-73 dBs, Monday evening

Tanzore                 60 dBs, Friday lunch (nearly empty)

The Bowery          78-82 dBs, Sunday night

Matteo's                60-63 dBs, Tuesday night

M Cafe De Chaya 62 dBs, Thursday evening

Comments

[Mike]

LOVE this idea!

[Keith]

What an awesome idea! One of my biggest complaints about L.A. restaurants is that they're WAY too loud and you have to shout to be heard by your fellow diners. Can you check out Maple Drive in Beverly Hills? I remember going there and thinking that while the food was good, I'd never go back because of how noisy it was.

[L.A. Kompany]

Fantastic, I need to get one. Recently, I entered the alley entrance of Sunset Bar and Grill in Santa Monica only to be overwhelmed by the insane noise level. Then, I found out the place had been changed to a Cabo Cantina. I gave up on sausage and peppers dream and took my poor ears and my business up to Monsoon for the happy hour sushi. Brian Aldrich, LAKompany.com

[Dana]

Hi, Keith. I can't check out Maple Drive because it no longer exists.Joachim Splichal bought the property and plans to open it as Paperfish later this year. However, when he does...

[Keith]

D'oh... Shows how much I keep up with the BH scene!

While I loved Josie, I also found it to be a bit on the noisy side.

[Lorin]

This is my favorite thing on the knife so far! Good luck finding quiet restaurants (and let us know when you do). Keep up the good work.

[John]

As a long time Sound Tech I have been very aware of the "SPL creep” – (Sound Pressure Level) in restaurants over the last 20 years or so. My wife and I used to like Maro's in Glendale (now shuttered I’m sure) but began to notice that the hard walls and ceiling made it like an echo chamber on busy nights. That design trend seems to have accelerated right up to the present. I have often wondered why contemporary eateries are designed with this kind of acoustics. Perhaps because today's diners, so used to their iPods and other such personal entertainment devices are uncomfortable in quiet environments, or maybe its just a strategy to keep the clientele turning over, since there isn't much point in lingering over a meal if you're having difficulty conversing. Sadly as we age our hearing ability diminished, for some more quickly than others Eventually it affects us all, to the point that dining in such high SPL restaurants will simply be out of the question because communication becomes to difficult.

In any event I'm glad to see more columnists adding this rating to their reviews. (The San Francisco Chronicle has noise rating in their restaurant reviews) and I have tried without success so far to get Zagat to do the same.

Keep up the good work, and by the way make sure that you choose the "C weighted scale". This is the one we generally use professionally for such applications.