Yes, and another 5% discount if you have to listen to someone at a neighboring table take a call.

YES!

Def! And agree with Bill. Way too many ppl have no cell phone etiquette!

I hate the people with the bug in their ear, talking out loud, now that's annoying..
I hope they realize how foolish and uncool they look...
as far as in a restaurant. if the person is sitting with me its rude, if they;re at the next table i don't really care.....if my phone buzzes i will see who it is but not answer or text...unless and emergency...

Yes, there is nothing worse than listening to an insipid conversation or watching someone text.

Not long ago I was in church when a fellow church goers phone went off. Next thing I see is her answering the call in the middle of services! We have let the phones run our life and we have forgotten common curtesies.

Absolutely. Nothing worse than trying to have a quiet dinner and some dork talking loudly on his/her cell. Take it outside. YOU are NOT that important unless your house is on fire or your family is in danger.

What is the difference between that person talking on the phone and talking to the person at the table with them. If someone is texting at the next table, again how does that bother anyone. I think too many people are looking for reasons to be bothered by things that should not be any of their concern. Another reason I would not want to require or expect people to turn off their phones is that this number is often an emergency contact number. I also agree with the person above who said misbehaving children are much more disruptive. I would rather be sitting next to someone talking on a phone than someone who decides that it is okay to sit there while their children run around the restaurant or crawl over the booths.

Maybe these days, but not when our kids were younger. What if the babysitter were trying to reach us?

I think it is a lovely courtesy to extend to those with whom you are dining (and those dining nearby) to get a discount on top of doing the right thing is a win/win.

How will I be able to instagram what I am eating and share it with the world

Diane, what courtesy, I guess if somehow I sit next to with in a restaurant I can expect to not hear you talk to whomever you may be sitting with. My wife and I go out often, I cannot say I ever can tell if someone is talking on a phone or to the dinner mate. I do know that I am disturbed by kids running around, kicking the booth or leaning over into my space. I have 3 childred and took them out often. They were taught early as to how to behave.

I think that people seldom realize the volume they're speaking at when they're on their cell phones in public. That's the primary difference between people talking face-to-face at the surrounding tables, and people talking on their phones. Quiet phone usage seems to be something of a rarity.

I was in in a restaurant recently and there was a group near us that spend the whole night, talking over each other and laughing loudly as they competed with each other to be heard, I guess that means we should not allow groups of more than 4 to eat out. I do not talk on my phone in restaurants at all, but I can say that more than one meal has been impacted by rude people not on phones or rude unsupervised kids, then someone talking on a phone.

I guess it would depend on the kind of restaurant. If it is a family-style restaurant, where noise from other diners or their kids is normal and expected, than cell phone use should not be a big deal, as you'd still be talking, just not to people physically with you. A restaurant with a quiter atmosphere would benefit more from offering a discount for no cell phone use, because it promotes a quieter atmosphere, which is important to the restaurant owner. The question could be, could the second restaurant example create a surcharge for people disturbing other diners due to their cell phone use?

Vivian,
I do not see how that would be workable at all. I do not talk on my phone that much and have to say that I am old enough to remember how we survived without them. I truely believe that a great number of cell phone calls are unnecessary and do not need to occur. However they are here to stay and requiring someone to turn off a phone, that may be an emergency number or perhaps their only number, makes not sense. There are and will always be rude people. They will find someway to annoy those of us around them. Talking on the phone is not the issue, it is just one more way people can be rude and inconsiderate of those around them.

For a restaurant to offer such a deal is nothing but putting forth an agenda to be different. This would cause nothing but trouble for owners.Cell phones are legal and people should not be trying to drive a wedge further into personal freedom and I have never and will never own a cell phone. However, when the proof comes out that cell phones are possibly dangerous ,all bets are off.

To be clear, I'm not for the banning of cell phone usage in restaurants, and rudeness is expressed in many ways having nothing to do with cell phones. :) I think that a ban, even in quieter restaurants, or an incentive to stop people from talking on the phone is sort of silly. If the noise is an issue, then the policy should be about the noise itself, not a piece of technology.

An update from last week on the Zagat blog : http://blog.zagat.com/2012/08/diners-taking-eva-up-on-no-cellphone.html

Cellphones = the new cigarettes? I don't like when those I'm eating with are texting, surfing, or totally ignoring the table with electronics, but what others do, I really don't care. Just turn off your annoying ring, that you think is cute, when it sings "I'm too sexy" or like song.

Michelle,
To equate cell phones to cigarettes is just dumb. The use of the cell phone does not impair the health of people who are standing next to the user. The issue is not how the people sitting at the table feel about it, it is the people sitting at the next table. I may not agree with the iuse of the phone and the fact that other people may be ignoring each other, but I am not usre how it impacts on me. As far as the ring tone, if the tone of your voice annoys me, do I get to tell you to not talk if you are sitting at the table next to me. of all the things to worry about, this amounts to a first world problem.

Cell phone etiquette is almost unheard of.....if you can,t shut off yourcell phone at a restaurant....I guess you all are as important as the president........and this is getting way out of control.

Rude, that's what it is. I would like the full attention of my meal mate, am very offended when their phone takes presidance (SP?) over conversation with me. As for hearing the loud telecons of others, it is annoying but I can live with that. Kids who misbehave in public, be it a restaurant or other place, can boil my blood & make me ever more grateful that I never had such a problem with my own, who are now grown with kids of their own whose behavior I sometimes question but, for the most part, I am never ashamed to take them places. NO Phones in restaurants, discount or not, or any where else that is public.

Cell phones do = the new cigarettes in a way that they are just as addicting and harmful to you and others around you. Perhaps not as harmful as cigarettes in the inhaling toxic fumes but, driving and texting is an epidemic and does kill people. I also have a serious issue with the cops in town on detail, texting while traffic just whizzes by. Wow, to get paid what they get paid for details and just stand there to text whoever, what a deal....but i digress.

Cell phones have their place, just not in a family or dining atmosphere where it takes precedence over everything around you.

One thing I'm surprised nobody has mentioned yet: what about accessing the internet on cell phones at restaurants? Do folks consider that comparable to texting or calling? Should the 5% discount be geared more toward quietness or the lack of the device?

Mike,

The issue was use of cell phone is restaurants, not while driving.

Also, I think the issue is does someone else who I am not sitting with using their phone bother me and the answer is no. Do I sit in wonderment as to how can people sit with each other and not talk to the person in front of them and talk on the phone instead, yes. However their rudeness to each other, while it is unfortunately way to common, is none of my business.
I do agree with the comment about the police though. I actually saw cop texting at a red light one day in his car. I drive through town and it seems like most of them are on their phones.

Jimmy W...You should just stay home. You clearly have some terrible dislike of people being affectionate at dinner and about children. To use your own logic, if the kids aren't at your personal table, you shouldn't "let" them bother you. Obviously you are not in a relationship and not a parent. Otherwise you would understand that children are people who cannot always be controlled. How are they going to learn restaurant manners if they don't go to restaurants and learn? As a parent I never took my child to a fancy place until she was old enough to behave properly. And I do agree if a child is melting down they should go outside. But I am a single parent; what do I do, leave my dinner on the table or use some patience (which you clearly do not have either) and try to calm the situation? When you eat out you have to have tolerance for other people (again something you do not seem to have). Frankly cell phones have taken over our lives and are intrusive and people using them or yelling into them with inane comments are rude and unacceptable. One of the saddest things I see on almost a daily basis is a family sitting at a table and all of them have their heads bent over their devices not even looking at each other. You know, communicating. Relating to each other. I guess families are no longer important to some people either, their "virtual" lives are more important than their real lives. It is disheartening and disgusting really.

Does it drive anyone else crazy when you go out to dinner with someone and they spend half the time talking on their phone?

Hi Ron, I've had to do that before, as well as leave grocery stores, etc. What pushed my buttons from that intolerant, ignorant person's comments was that sometimes children are overtired, overstimulated and are actually people with their own need and capabilities and can't just be controlled or smacked on the nose with a newspaper. Thank you for understanding.

I think people are missing the point. A restaurant owner is making a decision on how to do something in his own establishment. If you are offended by it, then you can go to another restaurant. My guess is he has made the calculation that more people will appreciate what hes doing then be offended by it.

Maybe it's generational...but I find it bizarre when two people are out on obvious date...and suddenly start Texting other people. When you went out with someone once upon a time, the point was to BE ALONE with them. Now couples take their posse along...and I wonder how they ever get to know anyone...with all the chatter from the electronic peanut gallery.

Yes, I'd take a discount...but I would like it even better if people had to take their chat OUTSIDE. Listening to someone YELL into their cell ruins dinner for me.

Jimmy, I'll just repeat what I wrote to Ron: I have had to leave restaurants before, as well as grocery stores, etc. if my child was melting down. Nobody but you was talking about meltdowns; you were talking about any kind of noise or disruption whatsoever, and in that case you are the one who should stay home. What pushed my buttons from you was that you apparently don't realize that sometimes children are overtired, overstimulated and are actually people with their own need and capabilities and can't just be controlled or smacked on the nose with a newspaper. And for the record, my child never behaved as you described, like animals crawling around or disrupting other people. That is an insulting assumption and you don't even know me. I'm sure living under your father's tyranny has translated to your own poor kids and it's a shame that you are so intolerant of other people's children's normal behavior. And I happen to agree with you about the groping, but interestingly enough I see more teenagers doing inappropriate PDA than adults...unless under your unyielding judgement of others holding hands or cuddling up close constitutes groping. I'm all done discussing this with you so let's just agree to disagree, ya think?

This should be the only way to enjoy your dinner

You guys are all idiots.I think that there are lot more important things to argue about than cellphones.Personaly I think they are annoying no matter where they are used in public places.Yes i have a cell but I rarely use it.Kids will be kids ,theres nothing you can do about it,grow up get off your computers and live!

5%, no. 10%, sure, that's a deal.

I don't know why but I do find it rude. I also find calling a bunch of people you know nothing about idiots from behind your keyboard to be rude but that is an issue for another article. It does depend on the restaurant though. At McDonalds or Taco Bell who cares but you go to a fine restaurant for the entire experience and the etiquette of the other guests is part of that experience. This restaurant is trying to create a specific atmosphere, just like Panera and other trending new wave type places are trying to create more of a cyber friendly atmosphere. The problem is sometimes the guests can't adjust their behavior appropriately to match the venue.

Using a cell phone jammer is a cowardly move on the part of restaurant staff, who must not be adult enough to ask people to tone it down, and it is potentially a safety issue; I might have an emergency call from my babysitter.

thanks for the laugh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdB-8eLEW8g

Texting does not contribute to noise pollution per se; however, the incoming text notification "chirping" does. I suppose that this can be avoided by leaving your smartphone or other mobile device on "vibrate" mode (or at least turning down the volume) -- but that assumes that the same patrons who abuse cell phone etiquette in public places will be conscientious and courteous enough to remember to change the setting.