Los Angeles Restaurant Discounts for No-Phone Dining - East Idaho News
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Los Angeles Restaurant Discounts for No-Phone Dining

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GETTY B 081712 CellphoneFood?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1345192904481Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(LOS ANGELES) — Do you know how attached you are to your cellphone?  If you don’t, then a new discount offered at Eva Restaurant in Los Angeles will help you find out.

The new policy offers 5 percent off the total bill to diners that leave their cellphones at the door.

Eva’s owner and chef, Mark Gold, said that policy was implemented to motivate diners to sit back and enjoy their food and the people that are actually there with them.

“We want people to try and connect.  Our restaurant is kind of like home and that is the experience that we want to give to our customers,” said Gold.  “The phone is a distraction.  We always see families and couples on their phones and they just aren’t in the moment.  We want people to enjoy their company.”

Gold said that about 40 percent of his patrons have taken advantage of his offer.

Recently, technology has become almost unavoidable in restaurants.  It seems like food paparazzi are always ready to take pictures of their food and upload it to various social media such as Instagram and Pinterest.  Not to mention legions of diners tapping away at their smart phones and taking calls, oblivious to those around them.

Other restaurants have implemented similar policies to try to hinder cellphone usage, but Gold hopes that his new policy will motivate people to stop doing something that he is also guilty of.

“I’m guilty of it as well.  When my wife and I go to dinner it seems like the cellphone is part of the table setting now.  Every table you look at, it’s a wine glass, the silverware and the cellphone,” he joked.

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