In Sunday’s Bee, Mike Dunne wrote a piece summing up some contentious items that food bloggers around the country had carped about recently. However, Dunne also noted that, “On the local restaurant scene, no issues seem to be stirring up diners much these days.” Au contraire, Mr. Dunne. As Mrs. Eats can attest to, there is no manner of things that I won’t complain about given the slightest opening. So, not being one to turn down as obvious an invitation as that of the Bee’s esteemed food maven, I’ll discuss one of them now: Music.Music is one of those restaurant intangibles, glaring when absent, almost unnoticed when done right. Now, I’ll preface this piece by saying that I have pretty aberrant music tastes. My record collection runs the gamut from jazz to swing, so I’ll not claim to speak for the masses on this one, but still, I think this topic needs to be aired.
Music Problem #1: Too F’ing Loud
As tangentially referenced in the recent piece on Lucille’s, overly loud music is a rather unnecessary part of the dining experience. Local joints like Pronto, Paesano’s, Tokyo Fro’s, Zocalo and Bistro 33 have, on several occasions, drummed my tympanic membrane so thoroughly during my meal with their alt-dub-contemporary-urban-core-trance background music that I spent the rest of the day in a tinnutis clinic. There is no reason to put up with this. If you are eating at a restaurant at which the music is too loud and there is no pole in the immediate vicinity, then tell your server, the manager or anyone who will stand still long enough that they need to turn that shit down.
Music Problem #2: Incongruous tunes
If you’re in the mood for Thai food, odds are you aren’t in the mood for 80’s dance tunes. Ethnic restaurants sometimes take advantage of their “otherness” to introduce you to music from the homeland, but all too often they turn the radio on to 92.5 and let ‘er rip. Music can set the scene, create a mood, underscore the meal in myriad ways. Restaurant owners/managers need to keep that in mind and not let the sixteen year old hostess choose the tunes. In almost every case, instrumental music is preferred over vocal. Lyrics can sometimes distract diners from conversation or worse, cause unintended connections between songs and food (Rock Lobster anyone?).
Music Problem #3: Not enough live music
This is an issue near and dear as I have many close friends who are professional musicians. Opportunities for instrumentalists are disappearing at a dodo-like pace, and there’s not much we, as patrons, can do about it unless we say something. So tell the restaurant owners/managers that you’d really appreciate it if they could hire someone to play a few nights a week, that it would really improve the atmosphere. To that end, let me single out several places–Tapa the World, Biba, La Provence– for consistently offering high-quality, live music to diners.Â
So, since we Sacramento diners have been heretofore silent with our displeasure, feel free to let it out and use this forum as a sounding board for the things you’d like to see changed. Are there restaurants with consistently good live music? Let me know. Is there a sushi joint playing “The Best of Poison”? Put it out there. We’re here for you.Â
Oh yeah, one more thing; if you get a chance, support music in schools. That’s all I’ll say on that.
The Sac Rag 
1. “Keep your fork” are the three words that will make me not want to come back. Buy enough forks so we don’t have to keep a used one on the table between courses.
2. I can’t stand restaurants that take a slow approach to everything other than bringing the bill.
3. Another peeve are wait staffers who want to take my plate away before I’m finished. What, are you running out of plates back there?
I’ve worked in food service before, so I know it’s not easy. These are just small requests.
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For me, the worst of the worst is when waitstaff begins to clear the table when others are still eating. Am I too slow? Is my dining companion a pig? Very annoying.
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My pet restaurant peeve is just plain noisiness. Many newer restaurants are designed with surfaces that actually reflect the noise rather than absorbing it, probably trying to create the illusion of excitement. The only thing they are creating is huge annoyance when you can’t even easily converse with the person sitting next to or across from you.
I went to Paesano’s for lunch with three co-workers eight years ago, and after miserably trying to converse throughout the entire ordeal, er, lunch, I opted to never return there and I haven’t. A good dining experience should not only include quality food, but also the ability to enjoy the company of those with whom you are sharing your meal. If I can’t, they lose my business. Plenty of other good places to eat in town.
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Overly friendly and talkative waitstaff.
We were in Elk Grove, hitting a movie, and stopped at BJ’s for lunch. There weren’t many customers. Our meals took forever..maybe that is why we had to hear her life story. Do you want to know your servers religious preference, how many kids they have, how long they’ve been single, and why they got divorced?! UGH.
We averted our eyes, we read the menu again, but she just kept talking.
I guess I could’ve said..”excuse me, we came here to talk to each other”..but why hurt a single abused Lutheran mothers feelings on a sunny Sunday afternoon?
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sarah said on 09/24/07 at 8:45 PM:
For me, the worst of the worst is when waitstaff begins to clear the table when others are still eating. Am I too slow? Is my dining companion a pig? Very annoying.
In my opinion, that is just unacceptable. Especially to clear a man’s plate while a woman is still eating. If the restaurant really thinks I am offended by my empty plate, they may add more food to it… not take it away.
I’m not big on service and ambiance critique, and that was my only peeve at restaurants, until this summer. We’ve had a relatively mild summer, and the heat was not unbearable. Warm-blooded people have the ability to acclimate to temperatures that are different than that of their own bodies’, but the threshold for comfort is probably more in the 15-20 degree range. I’d like to make a case that it is entirely unnecessary to alter the temperature by a 30-40 degree margin… and then serve me ice water. Save the energy bill and dump that ice water over my head then bring some hot tea so I can reacclimate to the season’s standard temperature.
Worse yet, don’t tell me that you cannot alter the temperature in your building. If you can pile 14 different kinds of sea creatures on a cylinder of rice and more sea creatures, top it with goo and keep it together long enough for me to fumble it into my mouth using only two sticks, surely you can operate the up and down button on a thermostat.
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My pet peeves in no particular order,
1. Loud music, coupled with the inevitable louder patrons makes for an unenjoyable evening.
2. TV’s Why is it that in Sac many restaurants feel the need to have a plasma screen TV. If I wanted to eat and watch TV, I’d stay home.
3. Pacing the meal. Serving the main course immediately following the appetizer is just plain wrong. A meal out should be a time to leisurely enjoy the food and converse with friends, not a feeding trough where the faster the meal is served, the better.
4. And like others have said, clearing plates before everyone is finished.
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Gawd, this is why I hate Mikuni.
Fine food. Decent prices.
But:
A) plasma screens all over.
B) so noisy you can’t hear your server.
C) overly-familiar servers.
The trifecta!
There are, unfortunately, a dozen places like this. Usually faux-classy chain places, like PF Chang’s (not that I’m a regular, far from). Even the relatively new Mana on Broadway is covered in plasma screens – why? Do I need to see the game from 3 different views? Seriously, it’s a restaurant. Put the attention on the food, and the money into ingredients and staff instead.
This is why more and more I go to places like that new ramen house in Curtis Park – they only care about the food, the staff are genuinely nice and are too busy doing their jobs to have a conversation, and there’s nothing to take your attention away from your food (aside from your dining companion, that is).
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Good call, jlt, with Mikuni.
And anyone that has been to Taro’s recently has most likely suffered through the looping footage of Taro patronizing everyone one of his sponsors, silent movie style. Ugh. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know.
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To be sushi-specific, how about some rolls that DON’T have tempura, cream cheese, mayo-based sauce, or any combination thereof?
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Oh- I thought you said Harmon*ica*. Jeb’s Fine Dining provides harmonica musac (sic) during lunchs. You can find Jeb’s in the Sac area on alternate Tuesdays/Fridays in the East/West Union Pacific Oakland-Boise-West Bend (IN) route (3rd rail car from the end). BYO Beans.
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