O. Noir - Blind dining in Montreal
Hi!
We've lived in Montreal for over 4 years now, and we've been curious about a restaurant called O. Noir. The waitstaff are blind or partially-sighted, and you eat in the dark. We decided to go try it finally on last Friday.
I always figured it would be in semi-darkness, where you might be able to see after your eyes adjusted. But no, it was completely pitch-black. The moment the light first disappeared and the noise crashed in on me, I almost had to leave as it kicked off my claustrophobia. I got past that, and survived the rest of the evening.
Well, I can't say I recommend going. The concept is something that I think is interesting. We were forced to do everything without sight, which meant re-learning how to eat and interact with other people. I found that part very interesting. The food was decent, though not brilliant.
But the place seems to cater to a tourist audience, and many of the other people treated it as a gag. The same thing happened there as you get on internet forums: give people anonymity, and they act like morons. A group next to us were shouting and howling and generally being a nuisance. I sincerely doubt these people would act that way anywhere they might be recognized.
Combine peoples' behavior with the acoustics of the room, and it became too loud to hear myself think. So I found that the combination of not being able to see, and not being able to hear anything above the din was stifling.
The service wasn't great, as they do a seat-everyone-at-once style banquet thing. So we felt trapped at our table as the waiter didn't come by except to bring food. Trena never got a knife despite asking for one twice. I understand that you can't expect perfect service when it's completely dark. But it could have been better. Given they were charging $40 per person (+drinks and tax), I found it odd that their strategy was to cram as many people into the space as possible. I suppose that makes an amount of sense given people can't see they're crammed in, but it certainly was apparent from the noise.
Overall, I think if they catered to a different audience and improved the acoustics of the room, they'd have something really special.
We've lived in Montreal for over 4 years now, and we've been curious about a restaurant called O. Noir. The waitstaff are blind or partially-sighted, and you eat in the dark. We decided to go try it finally on last Friday.
I always figured it would be in semi-darkness, where you might be able to see after your eyes adjusted. But no, it was completely pitch-black. The moment the light first disappeared and the noise crashed in on me, I almost had to leave as it kicked off my claustrophobia. I got past that, and survived the rest of the evening.
Well, I can't say I recommend going. The concept is something that I think is interesting. We were forced to do everything without sight, which meant re-learning how to eat and interact with other people. I found that part very interesting. The food was decent, though not brilliant.
But the place seems to cater to a tourist audience, and many of the other people treated it as a gag. The same thing happened there as you get on internet forums: give people anonymity, and they act like morons. A group next to us were shouting and howling and generally being a nuisance. I sincerely doubt these people would act that way anywhere they might be recognized.
Combine peoples' behavior with the acoustics of the room, and it became too loud to hear myself think. So I found that the combination of not being able to see, and not being able to hear anything above the din was stifling.
The service wasn't great, as they do a seat-everyone-at-once style banquet thing. So we felt trapped at our table as the waiter didn't come by except to bring food. Trena never got a knife despite asking for one twice. I understand that you can't expect perfect service when it's completely dark. But it could have been better. Given they were charging $40 per person (+drinks and tax), I found it odd that their strategy was to cram as many people into the space as possible. I suppose that makes an amount of sense given people can't see they're crammed in, but it certainly was apparent from the noise.
Overall, I think if they catered to a different audience and improved the acoustics of the room, they'd have something really special.
posted by Almo at 11:14 AM
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