Too Loud

This weeks restaurant adventure took me to a steakhouse. Finding parking at this place was rough, as they are always busy. In my opinion they have some of the best ribs in all of New Mexico. I walked through the doors and was immediately hit by a wall of music. The music was loud and the smell of various cooking meets filled the air. The staff was very friendly and asked us how many and to have a seat till they call us. The lights are not very bright and it is hard to see the expressions on peoples faces.

Our name has been called and as we follow the Hostess to the table I scan the almost full room. Employees are dodging each other while carrying drinks, food, or dirty dishes. There is a group of servers dancing. Country music all around. The tables I pass are all big groups of people, there are a fews birthdays as I see balloons or presents. We find our table and I choose to sit with my back against the wall so I can observe my surrounding better. We already know what we want and place our order right away. I look around and see people laughing and talking. I notice that at least one individual has sort of closed themselves off from the rest of the group, and has their face buried within their phone.

We get our drinks and here a shouting from across the restaurant. We can barley make out what is said but I catch a few keywords, such as, Happy Birthday and an age. They request that everyone in the restaurant yell to celebrate. After that noise resolves, I look toward the bar and see that a football game is going on and there are men sitting there yelling at the T.V. on some play that the Referee threw his flag on. The restaurant is busy as ever as people are trying to talk over the loud music and yelling from other people. I can barley hear the people that I am with.

We get our food and a family next to us decides to leave, as both children have started crying, possibly tired and wanting sleep, as it is getting late at this point. They leave cash on the table, thank their waitress, and head out. It is getting late and the place is still full. The guys at the bar calm down as the game comes to an end. I look around and see that the people that were once buried in their phone have joined the conversation, and another one of their party has fallen to the cell phone addiction. Me and my party have not touched our phones once the whole dinner, yet we see these people falling in and out of conversation, due to a text or Facebook notification. I hear the roars of people as 2 or 3 birthday parties are going on.