Things We Hate: Annoying Ambiance

​Like, for instance, loud music, especially the club-bish stuff, thumping in the background while we're trying to dine. Don't care much for new age tinklings in restaurants either -- where are we, on the moon? Any non-acoustic live music is likewise an obstacle to peaceful eating. If I want to listen to loud tunes with my dinner rather than converse, I'll wear an iPod, thanks.

Please spare us the belly dancers too, and strolling guitarists, and especially mariachi bands -- strolling or otherwise. These are obtrusive, which is the opposite of romantic.
So is bright lighting, but that doesn't mean you have to dim the bulbs so much that a flashlight is needed to read the menu.

No giant television screens please, or for that matter small ones; folks go out to eat in restaurants so they can escape the drudgery of dining in front of a TV set.

And finally, for heaven's sake, no incense or scented candles in the dining room, and avoid putting potently aromatic flowers on the tables. The reasons for this should be self-evident, but evidently are not.