Well, restaurants are getting noisier, that's for sure. My brother and I went out to eat at our local Ground Round yesterday and could barely hear each other over the heavy metal music coming out of a speaker over our heads. We asked the server to turn it down and she said she would. It got a couple of decibels lower, but it was still annoying and interfered with our enjoyment of our meal.

I fail to understand why restaurants have to have loud music playing, especially since many of them also have TV screens all over the place, with their noise. Add a few people on their cell phones, yelling details of their daily doings in excruciating detail, several toddlers screaming as they flail around in their high chairs and the rest of us just trying to have a normal conversation with our meals and you have pandemonium plus tips.

I won't be going back to the Ground Round or Texas Roadhouse, which has the loudest music of any restaurant I've ever been in. I was there once when a family walked in with an infant who screamed all through the meal. I thought of calling DHS to report them for exposing that baby to an unsafe noise level, but I doubt that it would have done any good. When I asked the server if anyone ever complained about the loud music, she said they did, but there was nothing anyone could do about it. It's part of the franchise or whatever deal the local restaurant has with the national chain to have the music at a certain level.

So, what's behind this loud music policy? Is it designed to get us out of there sooner? To befuddle us so that we don't think about how much we're spending? Is it supposed to make us feel like we're part of an exciting social event as we sip our raspberry iced teas and munch our chicken fingers? Or do the people who plan restaurants just think that people aren't happy unless there's constant loud stimulation from TV or music?

Well, whatever the reason is for it, they're losing me because of it. When our family eats out, we choose first on the level of noise and then on the quality of the food. The only chain restaurants where the noise level works for us are Pizzeria Uno, The Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse.

There are some local restaurants, most notably a Greek restaurant and a Mexican restaurant, where the owners have soft music playing and the noise level is low enough so that you can hear your dinner companion, and those are the restaurants we eat at most often. That way, we not only protect our ears, we also support the local economy and diversity. How do you feel about restaurant noise levels?