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When people talk about ambience in a restaurant, they cover a lot of territory: Decor, attitude, sound, comfortable seating - all those things go into that category. Most of us don't think so much about lighting. But three things popped up in succession that got me thinking about it.
First of all, a new local restaurant I visited had beautifully plated (and very tasty) food but the lighting at the table was so dim it was hard to appreciate. Then our fearless food leader here at St. Louis Magazine muttered in Relish about restaurants forgetting to lower rheostats. And finally, Bon Appetit's Foodist, Andrew Knowlton, said in the February 2014 issue that even his five-year-old is asking for more light, summarizing his complaint that restaurants are too darn dark (the article's accompanyiing "photo" is below).
Knowlton generalizes a little too much in his brief rant, of course. And I've been known to remark a couple of times that a restaurant was sufficiently bright that surgery could be performed on the bar. But several times a year, it's hard to read the menu. Before cell phone flashlights, my favorite ploy was to pull out my very noisy set of keys and use the little flashlight attached to them This was often short-circuited, unfortunately, by a vigorous glare from my husband, who knew we were being watched at all times.
And while restaurateurs may not care if we can discern what's on our plate - although at chef-driven spots, it's hard to imagine not wanting to spotlight the presentation - not being able to read the menu is foolish. And having waiters prepared with flashlights is admitting you don't care enough about your patrons to make things comfortable for them. The fact is that as we get older, we need more light - our eyes aren't as flexible as they once were. (Thus the puzzled looks from adolescents when admonished to turn on a light when reading - they're fine, it's just us.) This, per my pal the ophthalmologist, may well begin in our 50's
The fact is that income goes up as we get older. And especially once the kids leave home, we're a lot more apt to eat out. And while I hate the stereotype and it's way not my personal preference, we do tend to eat earlier in the evening than the younger patrons. Don't they want our money?
