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The Din of Dining

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Stacy Finz, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

It was a recent Friday night at Farmer Brown, a fashionable soul food restaurant in downtown San Francisco.

The clang of dishes, the clink of glasses, the roar of voices and the pulsating music seemed to grow louder as I perused the menu. By the time the server came to our table, I felt the sudden urge to order a side of noise with my fried chicken. But the cacophony would have drowned out my sarcasm. Instead, I pointed to the entree I wanted on my menu.

Ten years ago, so many diners complained about how loud restaurants had become that The Chronicle began incorporating noise ratings into our restaurant reviews - one bell being pleasantly quiet, at less than 65 decibels, up to the too-noisy-for-normal-conversation "bomb" at 80-plus decibels. Now, diners are hard-pressed to find restaurants that are under 75.
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