Can You Tell A Loud Table To Hush At A Restaurant?
My wife and I went to dinner recently at a pretty fancy Italian restaurant that we have been to on numerous occasions. This time was different because there was a very loud table right behind ours.
Now, I don’t mind a noisy restaurant at all, because it usually means people are having a nice time and enjoying themselves. However, if you are seated next to a party of six, that has at least 3 extremely loud people, things can get out of hand quickly.
We had one of those nice clam shell booths that are great for intimate dining. The booth behind ours was so loud that I had to change where I was sitting to the other side.
What to do about a loud table
What are the options? I see that there are three or four. You can choose to ignore the noise and speak a loud louder so your company can hear you. You can ask the server or manager to ask them to please quiet down, or you can do it yourself.
Of course, you can always get up and leave, but who wants to throw in the napkin and call it a night? Remember, this is one of our favorite places.
We chose to just live with it and say nothing, a fall they were just having a great time and apparently celebrating a birthday for one of the guests. Sure, we had to speak a bit louder to hear ourselves, but it seemed like the best option.
It brought me to ask this question on the show last week and the overwhelming answer from listeners was to let it slide.
What would you do in the same situation? Would you be out of line to ask the loud table to be quieter? Would you ask the server or manager to do it for you? Could you deal with the ramifications of telling people to pipe down?
If you ever do that, please call or text our show because I need to know what happened next.
