Dim lighting in restaurants

[achevres]

I read that you like restaurants to dim the lights and I would like to know your reasoning. I can agree that a restaurant dining room is not an operating theater and that some mood lighting is appropriate, but so many times the lights are dimmed so much I can barely read the menu, and I'm only 44. In the low light my contact lenses dry out, since I have to keep my eyes open more. I often wish for more light when I'm dining out, so I can read the the menu and, especially, so I can see the food! Has it ever been too dark for you? What did you do? I have also read that in Italy the restaurants do not dim the lights. Thanks in advance.

[Mimi Sheraton]

I am surprised that you said I wrote about liking dim lighting, as I do not..I like to see the food and the menu, to say nothing of the check. It may be that a restaurant light was too bright and that a bit of dimming might create intimacy and atompshere, but I can't remember where that may have been. When very dim lighting is coupled with shattering noise, I almost go berserk, not being able to see or hear...