NYTimes recently dropped this article and it made me depressed lol
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/dining/restaurant-ambience-vibes.html
I personally would eat in a closet if someone credible said the food was fire. I can't stand these restaurants with their kitchy LED fake neon signs that say corny phrases.
Am I crazy? Is the world just doomed? Are there still people out there that don't give a crap about the vibe and just want amazing food?
by therealraggi
26 Comments
Gift link?
To what you said, there’s definitely some truth to that for the average dinner especially with how social media dominates how people decide to go somewhere
There’s certainly a niche for restaurants focused on cooking.
One problem they have is that a lot of us who care about this also cook a lot for ourselves, so our market will always be smaller, more value-oriented, and less profitable (even if the consumers themselves aren’t necessarily poorer).
Good food > good vibe, but sometimes I want both! Also I think some redditors fall into the trap of assuming that less “vibey” places are more “authentic”/better, etc. I’ve been to some vibey places that had incredible food, and to some hole in the wall places that were terrible, and vice versa. I don’t think vibe or lack thereof is a good indicator of food quality in either direction
ETA: I think vibes are sometimes nice/important based on the occasion – do I need neon signs with corny phrases, as you put it? No – but sometimes yeah, I’d prefer a low light, aesthetically interesting, elegant place for date night, or somewhere bright and airy for summertime brunch 🤷🏻♀️
Whatever gets people in the door.
Margins are always razor thin and we appear to have an economic crisis every 5 years or so lately.
As much as we want to look down on it or believe it to be superficial – the places that don’t move with the trends will close. Simple.
[Gift link here!](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/dining/restaurant-ambience-vibes.html?unlocked_article_code=1._04.q-Dm.3oDxtoTYjf5g&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare)
There have always been restaurants that have acted in this way, except branding is a bit more popular now.
Those are just not the restaurants I personally go to.
I dunno, I think this is kind of a bogus trend piece. Like is it really a Brand New Thing that people like restaurants with nice ambiance?
Good branding and good food are not mutually exclusive, relax
Paywall bypass link
[https://archive.ph/yckHT](https://archive.ph/yckHT)
Last night a friend from out of town wanted a restaurant with vibes. Had to think on it for a place that’s delicious but with the appropriate feel. They do exist, but sometimes a trick to find.
i feel like influencers ruined it. Most of these people don’t really have a frame of reference of what’s good and ends up hyping the most mid restaurants. All because it looks good on camera, but once that enters your palate, it’s already too late and it sucks.
I will say, some places def live up to the hype by what social media says, but most of them are just trendy.
As someone who is older but lives in and frequents areas with a lot of restaurants targeting younger people, this is invariably true imo. Jack’s Wife Freda is a great example of “good enough” inoffensive food that people go to for the vibe. Ruby’s is another. It’s pretty clear that a lot of restauranteurs would love to replicate these types of places. Reasonable food costs for the restaurant, no need for higher priced chef talent, it’s a good profit model for you if you nail the vibe. I would call Balthazar the godfather of this, although early on their food was better than good. And McNally always nailed the service. Now it’s just a ton of cheap looking, pretty restaurants trying to fool you into thinking they have something interesting to offer.
Both matter. If u go out to 3 michelin star restauranrs u can only charge so much for premium ingredients the rest of the value comes from the environment and service. Lucalis half the experience is the interior.
I mean neon is mostly ugh unless used sparingly (e.g. the sign in the window of Raoul’s).
As for vibe, I’m a huge vibe guy, but *not even a little bit* at the expense of the food.
Food over vibes for the most part. I read this yesterday and didn’t particularly care for the ambience in any of the restaurants depicted.
More reasons to avoid dining out
I’m getting so sick of this take.
There are places that have a good vibe. There are places that serve good food. There are places that do both, and there’s places that do neither. These things are not mutually exclusive.
Anyone who claims vibes are curated at the cost of quality food is justifying their dislike of cultural shifts and changing social norms more than they’re defending their love of “amazing food.”
Like it or not, influencers and social media are a lifeline for many small businesses in a time when restaurant margins are thinner than ever. If you like amazing food, you should be happy they exist and that they draw people to restaurants that might otherwise have to close down.
I don’t begrudge people vibes and they are neccesary if we want NYC to remain a vibrant mecca of a city instead of a series of faltering neighborhoods.
That said, I’m old and a lot of times want great food at a lower decibel level. Hoping that both can survive in this city!
How about vibes that include the ability to hear the person across the table from you and a table that is big enough to hold your order?
It’s just SUCH a New York Times thing to act like restaurants prioritizing vibes over food is anything new. This same complaint has been made for literal decades.
For what it’s worth, I agree with the folks here saying that good vibes and good food aren’t mutually exclusive. I want to eat somewhere with great dishes, but I also want an attractive and comfortable environment in which to enjoy my very expensive meal.
I don’t think this needs to be a binary thing. There are plenty of restaurants out there that can fulfill what people are looking for. I’m always going for food first and 1 reason why I’m in queens
Pinned [comment](https://reddit.com/r/FoodNYC/comments/1jzwnk6/the_vibes_vs_the_food_what_do_yall_think_about/mn9g30m/) from u/harperavenue:
> [Gift link here!](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/dining/restaurant-ambience-vibes.html?unlocked_article_code=1._04.q-Dm.3oDxtoTYjf5g&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare)
I have a slightly different take on this and I find myself conflicted on the topic as well. In a city like New York it’s easy to find good food,hell you could trip and fall in your neighborhood and you’d be at a great restaurant in the country. In 4 years of living here I find myself hard pressed to find a spot that has terrible food. IMO, for a restaurant in New York great food is table stakes and the differentiator is service and vibes. I also think about repeatability or if anyone I know would personally enjoy this. Does this mean I don’t ever go to North dumpling? I absolutely do, but I don’t plan on eating at north dumpling next Wednesday, I just go there when I want a dumpling.
What I think is missing is a “dining experience”. Now is this vibes? Idk! Is this a new format of dining? I think this is why supper clubs are becoming more popular. It’s also the reason I find myself wanting to take a large group to Sammy’s Roumanian or conveyor belt sushi despite the food being just slightly better or worse than mid.
I also think there’s a generational view in play here. Like OP said, boomers/millennials are happy to eat great food in a closet but the generation after this wants more than just great food because they’ve been eating great food all their life most probably at the same 5 restaurants their parents took them to. They’re happy to spend money on spots that leave them feeling cool or seen.
Good food + good acoustics/ sound is all I care about. So many restaurants now are built so stupidly that they’re just sound tunnels. It can be a black box so long as it tastes good and I can hear the person sitting next to me.
Well all of the best food I’ve had in NYC came from Chinese Restaurants or Mexican Street food trucks with exception both Burger and Mexican sit down spots. All had great food and vibes. They all also have a meaningful culture. Most food spots are just fancy ways of spending surplus wages on nonsense.
People bring vibes, service brings vibes and alcohol brings vibes idk its about the people you are with then the setting imo