The Best Restaurant if You're Over 50

[ElsieD]

4 minutes ago, fondue said:

I dine with those whom I love; if I can't hear myself think, there's not much point in breaking bread together *at that particular restaurant *. DH has a Minnesotan expression for such disappointments,  "Well, I've eaten there twice." (The first time/the last time.)

 

Or as my late FIL used to say "two visits in one".

[gfweb]

On 6/29/2019 at 10:08 PM, Margaret Pilgrim said:

 

Indeed it does!      For some reason that is totally beyond me, I find people calling me "Sweetie".    Now even you people who know me so little must realize that that is not my bag.    But they are well intended and I leave them with their illusions.   But what really galls me is being called "Young lady", mostly by butchers and ilk.    Nothing makes you realize your age more or faster than being called "young lady", and I cringe when someone calls DH "young fella".  

Funny what gets under ones skin. 

My wife and I cringe every time some young dipshit waiter calls us “you two”. 

 

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

You like "you guys" better?

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

You like "you guys" better?

Yes, but not by much. 

“You two “ is over-familiar.  Avoid that stuff. Servers should act like they respect the customer.  Just address people like they are normal folks.  I’m not your dad and I’m not your drinking buddy. Don’t be chummy, don’t be condescending. Just take my frigging order and don’t f it up. 

[gfweb]

12 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

You like "you guys" better?

youse guys would be best

and never say yinz guys  (unless in Pittsburgh and even then...)

[fondue]

  To return to this topic, I think what makes a restaurant especially endearing to me is that I am remembered by the staff.  The pizza joint, where when the owner sees my family, starts putting together an artichoke and garlic pie.  The waitress in the Chinese restaurant asking me, ( in Mandarin) if I would again like hot and sour soup, and mapo tofu? We are easygoing,  we are easily pleased: Q.E.D., We have returned many times. Servers and served will enjoy this hour.

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, fondue said:

I think what makes a restaurant especially endearing to me is that I am remembered by the staff.

 

 

There are some restaurants where I am definitely remembered by the staff, but not for the reasons I guess you are talking about!

[fondue]

Well, now, that's a topic for a whole 'nother thread: Restaurants I've Been 86'ed From (And Why).

[chromedome]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

There are some restaurants where I am definitely remembered by the staff, but not for the reasons I guess you are talking about!

Made me think of the old Bobby Bare song:

"I've been lost in Austin, juiced in Houston/don't remember Dallas

But Dallas won't be soon forgetting me..."

[Owtahear]

On ‎4‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 7:56 AM, liuzhou said:

In my professional life, I went through a number of "titles". I never took them seriously or used them outside that context.  But the one "title" that really threw me a loop was a young boy one day calling me "Mister"!

 

I thought I was a boy too!

(Half a century plus later, my heart and soul still think I'm that little boy!)

As to restaurants, my lifestyle and environment and friends require that I do go to places that are clearly not aimed at my generation. It doesn't bother me too much. But I can't stand noise. Not age related;  I never could.

Fortunately, it's the oldies here in China who love the noise. No more fun that going to eat and having a shouting competition. So I'm happy to eat with my younger friends.

 

 

Yes I completely understand.   I was always young looking, younger than my age.   Then gradually became more "sir", now it is always "sir".  Really, really deflating from "dude" to "sir" by kids and young adults.

[chromedome]

1 hour ago, Owtahear said:

Yes I completely understand.   I was always young looking, younger than my age.   Then gradually became more "sir", now it is always "sir".  Really, really deflating from "dude" to "sir" by kids and young adults.

I guess the advantage of settling into the whole "stocky, balding, bearded" thing at a young age is being able to rock the same look for 30+ years without anyone really noticing my slow deterioration...

[Alex]

42½ weeks later, Pete Wells blathers in the New York Times about the noise issue.

 

Quote

The longer I put off writing, though, the harder it was not to notice that I was avoiding the subject. And when I asked myself why, I had to admit that I don’t really believe loud restaurants are a problem.

 

The truth is, I love them. Not all of them, not all the time. I enjoy more than a few quiet restaurants, too, where you can concentrate on the food and the conversation without auditory distractions. But so many of the places I enjoy most tend to be at least somewhat noisy that eventually it dawned on me that one of the things I enjoy must be the noise itself.

 

[gfweb]

7 hours ago, Alex said:

42½ weeks later, Pete Wells blathers in the New York Times about the noise issue.

 

 

he may have a point. But its a matter of degree, of course. I can't see value in a place where I have to shout to converse and strain to hear. 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, gfweb said:

he may have a point. But its a matter of degree, of course. I can't see value in a place where I have to shout to converse and strain to hear. 

 

 

I saw this.  Did not waste my time to read the article.

 

[Katie Meadow]

Is it possible that this is an age issue for the most part? I know no millennials who object to noisy restaurants. I am guessing that most of the people who eat out at popular noisy restaurants eat out often and are used to the often cramped and noisy conditions, are perfectly able to up their own volume in order to be heard, and are indeed having fun. I don't know how old Pete Wells is but if he is eating out every night and getting paid for it he has to be able to maintain his ability to tolerate the commotion. I like to eavesdrop too, although sometimes I just can't help it if the closest diner is practically in my lap.

 

Me? I'm older than that, and my husband and I don't eat out very often. So I'm used to quiet dinners at home. My hearing is fine, but too much ambient noise can be an impediment . I might hear and feel that elbowing and sloshing person adjacent to my table easier than I am able to hear the person just across from me--the person whose sentences I can often finish anyway.

 

Quiet restaurants have great appeal for me, but newer restaurants are not designed for quiet. Some try harder than others to compromise or mitigate a din or an echo, but I don't think many care, and some believe that a din equals a buzz. And indeed, a crowded tight space means not going out of business. Those of us who require a less combustible atmosphere are outnumbered. And if you and your dining partner really want an intimate and unhurried experience, you do have choices. Find a restaurant that serves food all day and go at odd hours. Find a quirky old Italian place that is no longer popular with young people. When they were both alive, my mother and her Italian boyfriend, while in their eighties, used to frequent a lot of those place in midtown Manhattan. He was known and welcomed at all of them, as he spent his entire life living there and never cooked a single meal himself!

[heidih]

 I've been to venues where the volume is so loud it could be the default on a white noise machine. Perhaps younger folk are more used to constant insistent input.  The only thing I object to is hearing word for word people's' conversations or music I do not care for and again can hear every word. but I have felt this way since my first high end dining experience at 21 as well as at StarBucks.  As to treatment by wait staff - I do not think I ever feel treated differently (at 61) than I did at 21. I may get more respect cuz they think my expense account is bigger   I engage subtly and well trained staff know when to drop it a notch. 

[gfweb]

When I was in my 20s and 30s I didn't like it too noisy. Its worse now to my ear. I honestly think that they aspire to being noisy.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

One of my most memorable restaurant experiences was a pre-dawn breakfast while staying at a Lower Saxon castle.  The ambiance was a Beethoven string quartet.  Sorry I do not remember which.

 

[gfweb]

Last night I was in one of Nobu’s outposts. It was energetic/loud but I could still converse. 78 decibels. 
 

Today I flew in an Airbus 321...78 decibels too. 
 

Nobu seemed a lot louder.