So . . . my wife surprised me by taking me out to dinner this weekend (in honour of my recent birthday) to O. Noir, a restaurant that provides the unique experience of dining in pitch blackness. This is not just mood lighting - this is no lighting, and the blocking off of any potential light. The servers are all blind people (an article I read said that the owners thought it would be easier to train the blind to wait tables than to train wait staff to maneuver in the dark - more on my opinion of that later) and you literally cannot see your hand in front of your face.
I was very excited to be going, as I had heard about this place some time ago and thought it would be an interesting way to eat. And it was. The darkness didn't disappoint, but other elements did.
You get there, and they take your whole dinner order (including dessert) at the bar before being led into the dining room (by your blind server, with your hand on the shoulder of the person in front of you). You are instructed not to stand up, move around, etc. Plus, you are asked to turn off your cell phone and no photography (I thought that an instruction of 'no flash photography' would be sufficient - if someone wants a picture of the darkness, they can get it). If you need to step out to use the washroom or anything else, you yell out your server's name (ours was Diana) and they come to guide you out.
Now, it bears mentioning at this point that most of the negative comments I have stem from one source (I think - as this is a blog mostly about uncertainty, maybe I have the causes wrong), that being the group of 12 drunken partygoers in our dining room (there seemed to be several - at least 5 - small dining rooms). Not only were they loud, obnoxious, drunk, and annoying, but they also monopolized our server's time. This is where a more experience server may have helped - Diana seemed a bit overwhelmed at times and deprioritized us and the other 2 (I think - couldn't see who else was there) smaller parties.
One thing we were wondering though, is whether the party (it was a surprise party - which is neat if you think about it, because you can't easily tell who is there) would have seemed as loud if we weren't in the dark. Maybe it was that our sense of hearing was heightened (though I think it takes more than a couple of hours of blindness for that to happen), or that they were louder because they could not tell if they were being heard, or maybe they were just jerks.
The food was good, can't say much about the presentation or decor. I had a salad to start, then a steak, then cake and ice cream (no candle on the cake). All of the food arrived relatively bite-sized, and I just dug in with my fingers. I could identify everything except one vegetable that I'm still not sure what it was. The steak was good - if I had seen it I suspect I would have thought it underdone (very soft filet) but blind I just gave it a shot. All in all I had a good time, would have been better if it were a little quieter. Another service issue was that they do two specific seating times, rather than staggered times, so everyone wants the same things at the same times (including to pay - there was a long line to settle bills at the bar).
Good place to take a blind date, assuming you really just want to get to know the personality of the other person.
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