Los Angeles Restaurant Pays You to Eat, Not Talk on Your Phone

Leave your cell phone at the door and lower your bill at this LA restaurant

A Los Angeles restaurant is offering customers a deal if they agree to look at their fellow diners instead of at their phone screens.


Eva Restaurant in the Fairfax District is offering a 5 percent discount to customers who will check their cell phones with restaurant staff.


"We want people to be in the moment, not only with the food, but with each other," owner Mark Gold told NBC4. "That's really the whole basis behind it."
Servers make the offer to diners when they introduce themselves, then phones are checked and collected in a basket at the hostess station.


Gold says nearly half take advantage of the discount, and many express gratitude at the opportunity to let go of their devices for a while.


On Wednesday night, diners had varying opinions, but many said they loved the idea.


"I saw it on the menu, and I think it's great," said diner Malhar Pagay.


"Although, I got to admit, I'm guilty," he added, pulling his own phone out of his pocket. "I saw it after I sat down."


http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/lo...166371876.html

It makes both happy and sad. I am glad people are taking advantage of a discount and putting their phones down.

On the other hand, it makes me sad to think that people are so self-centered and rude that they would even think of picking up a phone when seated at a restaurant.

Sad that people have to be PAID to have manners - but I think it's a nice wake up call!

This is sad - paid NOT to use your phone while at dinner or lunch, which you really shouldn't be doing anyway. You shouldn't get bribed into a discount for simple consideration and courtesy anyway.

My husband and I went out to a very nice restaurant a few weeks ago and I was shocked to see nearly every diner in the place focusing on their various electronic devices rather than their companions or their food. It was pitiful. The worst ones were the couples in which one of them was texting like mad while the other just stared into space.