Cigarette smoke may be gone from restaurant dining rooms, but some owners say a new distraction is affecting the experience: customers glued to their phones.
Bars and restaurants are finding increasingly creative ways to get diners to focus more on the experience and less on their screens, from locked pouches like those used in schools to a free bottle of .
At Antagonist, a in Charlotte, North Carolina, guests receive a lockable pouch for their phones upon entry â one example of devices becoming the “new cigarettes” in restaurants, as The Wall Street Journal recently put it.
The goal is “to bring back a little slice of human connection that we all feel has been lost with technology,” Adam Horner, Antagonist’s general manager, told the outlet.
The Saloon, a Washington, D.C., bar with no televisions, prohibits phone use altogether. A regular told the Journal the policy pushes back against a bar culture that has become “very insular and not very fun” because of phones.
Eulalie, a bistro in Manhattan, states its no-phone policy at the entrance and on its handwritten menus. Co-owner Tina Vaughn told the Journal that diners welcome it.Â
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“People want an excuse,” she said. “They’re dying for someone to say, ‘You can get off that. Its OK.'”
Philadelphia’s Hop Sing Laundromat also bans calls, texting, photos and selfies as part of its tightly controlled speakeasy experience, according to reports, and guests are briefed on the rules upon arrival.
Other spots, meanwhile, are taking a more subtle approach.
The Edge Harlem in New York City does not offer Wi-Fi and displays a sign on the bar that says, “No Wi-Fi. No Screens. Connect With Each Other,” the Journal reported.
Across the Atlantic, restaurants are trying different approaches, according to The Guardian. Spy Bar in London places stickers over phone camera lenses, while AI Condominio in Verona, Italy, offers diners a free bottle of wine if patrons hand over their phones before eating.
The practice appears most common at curated, higher-end experiences such as tasting-menu , cocktail lounges and listening bars, Fox News Digital previously reported, but even some major chains are experimenting with phone limitations.
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The movement comes as phones have become as common as place settings, with people snapping food photos, taking videos, making loud calls and scrolling through social media during meals.
Phones can disrupt the carefully timed rhythm of service, especially when or dish is meant to be served at a certain temperature or with an explanation, Sanwar Mal Khokhar, a Dallas-based mixologist and beverage program leader, told Fox News Digital.
Flash photography, filming that blocks service areas and recording nearby diners without regard for privacy can affect both staff and other guests, he a
