Bring back menus, QR codes are terrible

> Before the pandemic, I’d shudder at the sight of a restaurant table full of people all staring at their phones. I was always happy not to be them or be sitting with them. I always kept the lively conversation flowing at my table.

I always thought this perspective was funny because it always assumed what the people on their phones were doing. The assumption is that they are disengaged with each other when it's just as likely that they are talking with each other in a group chat alongside a few other non-present participants in the same group chat, and all trying to share photos with each other that they just took from the outting beforehand, or setting up a way to split costs in advance, or something else equally or more interactive than a conversation you can eavesdrop on.

Usually it's just shitty UX slowing them down.

I mean, if that’s how you and your friends want to hang. I don’t like that experience and choose to go to restaurants with people I’d like to eat with and talk to in person. For me, pulling out the phone at dinner is rude. Whatever it is can wait the until after dinner.

It's happened before. Its not usually relevant when we only showed up to eat. Its usually relevant after a days worth of activities with media that was meant to be shared, and then the day eventually included eating.

The only point is that you don't know what others are actually doing and it doesn't matter what the explanation is.

Even amongst this crowd, disengaging with someone at dinner is rude. The device used to disengage has little to do with that.