Tinnitus Approved Restaurants and Bars

I thought it would be cool to have a place where people can leave their favorite watering holes, coffee shops, restaurants and other places of entertainment in the cities that they are located.

With all these restaurants and bars thinking it’s a great idea to blast ear damaging music during all hours, one thing I could greatly benefit from is knowing there are places in my city I could safely visit without anxiety.

Yeah, I can Yelp “quiet places” but “quiet” may have different definitions to non-tinnitus folk.

If anyone has anything to contribute to this, that would be awesome. I have made it a mission to find cool spots in San Francisco that are safe to visit.

Hopefully others will contribute!

 

I'll throw one in -- The English Grille in Louisville Kentucky. You'll have to spend some $$$, but it's totally worth it and you can try the original Hot Brown sandwich. I will add that their hotel rooms are surprisingly quiet as they seem to have soundproofed the windows that overlook the street.

Generally, we go for Thai or Indian wherever we are because those restaurants tend to have calmer atmospheres. Also, in every city I've been to Panera Bread has been relatively quiet for a quick lunch.

Oh, here's another one. If you happen to be in Paris, Le Coupe-Chou has good acoustics. I wouldn't necessarily call it a quiet place because all restaurants are somewhat buzz-y, but the interior of the restaurant is such that it absorbs sound. Also, some tables are quieter than others so if you request a quiet table they can probably accommodate you.

 

If you see a place with hipstery looking people, run for the hills. It’s gonna be loud and unaccomodating.
Why do people want to eat somewhere that you can barely even hear what others at the table are saying? You want to eat, chat and savour the food, not be in a fricking nightclub.
Takeout in the park is often a way to go if the weather permits.

 

Rick Steins, West London. Big room to the left of the entrance. We need more, let’s get a directory...

 

There’s an app called Quiet Restaurants - if we all fill in well have at least one restaurant to go per country!

Action on Hearing Loss was running a campaign and there was something on Channel 5 News recently about the hearing loss community and restaurants.

 

I'll look for that one! There's also one called SoundPrint, but the main problem I'm having with that app is it doesn't tell what time the decibel levels were checked. For instance, if I go to a restaurant at 5:30 PM the decibel level might be 70 whereas later in the evening it could be 83. So that's my complaint about that app, but I think they are constantly improving it.

Thanks for the London rec @Candy. We are heading that way next year.

Here's another one for Chicago -- Kiki's Bistro.

 

You can go to the library and have a nice quiet place and some kid runs by screaming blowing a whistle... the point is... there is no place in public safe from idiots. Good luck.

 

I was at the library recently and there was a guy having a very loud cell phone conversation that could be heard throughout the stacks. It went on for at least a half hour and nobody did anything or said anything, they just let him talk. That wasn't a tinnitus trigger, just annoying. Really, it's not so much people being idiots at restaurants, but poor acoustics and very loud music. People have to shout at each other to be heard over the music (or fans, or whatever) and you end up with a whole room full of people shouting and eating. No restaurant is going to be completely quiet, but restaurant owners could do a better job controlling sound. High decibel levels are not just annoying to customers, but unhealthy for employees.

Anymore recommendations? Maybe people just want to keep the quieter places to themselves so not to ruin them . Makes sense.

 

There are NO quieter places, but keep believing. If you are out in public anywhere, especially with hyperacusis, you are taking a gamble. People are idiots....there is no way around this. Hey don’t have tinnitus and hyperacusis, will never understand, and don’t care about you.

if you are a mild sufferer....then you don’t have much to worry about.

so the premise of this thread is....you are visiting some city, and you will dodge all the minefields of noise to get to a certain restaurant some anonymous person said on a forum was “quiet?”

good luck with that.