If I Wanted a TV Dinner, I’d Stay Home

Restaurants should ditch the screens and allow conversation to flourish.

As soon as I set foot in the restaurant, I hear it. The sound is unmistakable. It’s a television.

Let me state for the record how I feel about TVs in restaurants. I hate them. TVs in restaurants are a scourge and an epidemic.

Restaurants were conceived as places you go to eat. Someone would buy, prepare and serve food to you. This business...