Does anyone actually enjoy sitting in a restaurant with loud music?

[QueenOfIce]

I realise that at 40 I'm now a classed by some as an old codger. In my youf I loved loud music but that was when it was appropriate in bars and clubs.

Sitting outside having a drink earlier and after about an hour they put some drum and bass on really bloody loudly. We left. Went for dinner more loud music. What is it with restaurants these days you can't sit down and enjoy an evening without being deafened by shitty music! I want to talk to the person I'm sitting with not shout. Am I old and unreasonable?

I hate music in restaurants and in shops...went to a cafe recently in the morning and it was like a rave

I’m approaching 40. Went out for dinner with a few colleagues in their mid20s last week and I couldn’t hear a bloody thing over the music. I ended up tuning out of the conversation entirely and getting shitfaced on cocktails.

I utterly loathe it. I'd never, knowingly, go somewhere like that. But if I found myself somewhere like that, then I'd never return.

we had to leave somewhere in glasgow once...it was just so loud. We sat down before we realised, the waiter guy was really sweet but after I'd asked him to repeat himself I don't know how many times I could feel my head swimming

We did ask to sit elsewhere or if the noise level could be turned down, and he was really apologetic, but NO! management were happy with the noise.

Interestingly the place was not even half full. and less so once we left.

I wouldn’t remain to eat in a restaurant with music blaring out. It’s bad enough in lifts.

Agree. It’s unnecessary and bloody irritating

And once you've got the loud music, then people have to start shouting at each other and then the volume goes up and up and up.

YANBU. Also hate restaurants with rubbish acoustics so the sound bounces around and if it's busy you can't have a decent conversation.

YANBU, I refuse to eat in restaurants with this type of torture loud music. The volume is painful beyond description.

I always asl them to turn it down/leave. I also can't stand having televisions on in my line of sight so regularly end up adling for those to be switched off if I can't avoid having one in my line of sight and just leave of it can't be turned off. The flickering drives me mad.

Perhaps the staff enjoy it or appreciate it, but I suspect many others feel as the OP does.

I've got up and left before now - I just can't bear it. What is the point of going to a restaurant if you can't hear what the person opposite you is saying? Why does anyone think loud music in a restaurant is a good idea? Go to a club if you want loud. And yes, I'm really old.

No, when I go out to dinner I want to talk to my dinner companions.

Music is for pubs and clubs not restaurants.

I didn't enjoy it even when I was younger! Nothing worse than having to shout to make conversation!

"Perhaps the staff enjoy it or appreciate it"

Maybe they do. But, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought the ambience of a restaurant/bar/pub was supposed to be for the enjoyment of the customers?

I went out for breakfast once and the cafe had put their speakers on top of a wooden dresser which was amplifying the bass out of all proportion. The owner rolled her eyes when we asked her to turn the music down. Needless to say we haven't been back.

I do, in the right context. Our favourite pizzeria is very child friendly and also has loud music, so when kids make a noise, no one bats an eyelid and we can actuallyrelax a bit and enjoy a meal without worrying about disturbing anyone

I never liked it, nor in bars. If I want loud music I’ll go to a gig. If I’m going to a restaurant/bar I want to have a conversation.

I went in Frankie and Benny's a year or so ago. The music was so loud that I couldn't even hear what the waiter was saying, I kept having to ask him to repeat himself! It was like a bloody nightclub! I had a headache when I came out.

YANBU. It’s awful. I go out to dinner to enjoy conversation with a nice meal. If you have to shout and strain to hear your companions it spoils the enjoyment. I can’t bear restaurants with low ceilings and hard surfaces everywhere so the noise reverberates around. Maybe I’m just old!

YANBU OP. Hated it even when I wasn't a grumpy old woman !

We went into an interior design shop not long ago, a small local shop that has a reputation for making curtains very well. We walked in she had her music on so loud, she turned it down a little bit I still couldn't hear myself think so I asked if she could turn it down a little more. She huffed rolled her eyes but then turned it off, we left.

Those working in these places might enjoy headache inducing music but isn't it about the customers comfort?

How do those with autism etc cope? It must be awful to be incredibly sound sensitive and deal with this kind of noise and I suspect very isolating.

Absolutely nobody wants it. Its to keep the staff awake

Music in bars, cafes and restaurants is invariably for the pleasure of the staff, not the customers.

I hate it and will leave somewhere immediately if the music is too loud.