YES YES YES! Time to leave private conversations outside of restaurants and stores!

What an awesome idea. I certainly would frequent this restaurant! I wonder which restaurant in Metrowest will be the first!

OH MY GOD YYYEESSS!!!!!!!! i have encountered such situations in restaurants that i would have paid THEM to shut off their phones so my family could enjoy our meals! i am all for this!

Absolutely! We have a no phones at the table policy at home and when out. I hate being in a restaurant and seeing parents on the phone ignoring the kids!

Yes -- assuming I didn't leave it home.

ABSOLUTELY!!!!

not if I was oncall...but I guess I just wouldn't eat there during my oncall weeks.

Yes I would.

Chris you can put your phone on vibrate, excuse yourself, and take the call outside. I think there should just be a no cell phone talking rule and don't offer a discount.

Definitely. I find it very annoying when people are talking on their phones around me in a restaurant!

I never have it on when I'm eating, at home or out. That's just plain rude.

Not when I'm driving either-there is no such thing as being able to multitask behind the wheel of a vehicle that can kill you or someone else.

Do you think the kids should have them in schools.
Jim@ccfiile.com

Please adhere to the terms of service and stay on topic. Thank you.

Some people can be so rude by talking on their cell phone at times when it's very annoying to others. Most of the time they are talking about nothing important. YES, it would be a better dining experience if people were not talking on cell phones in restaurants (and many other places too).

The school question is better.
jim@ccfiile.com

I would not. When there is a problem at work, the on-call analyst needs a senior person to call to troubleshoot and get the system back up and running (and that's usually me for my group's area). It doesn't happen often, but I cannot give up my cell phone, unless they will answer it and get me if needed. I'll put it on vibrate, and leave it on the table (to make sure I notice a call). It's better than a pager (which I also carry at all times)! I think the policy is a good one, and people who can do that will enjoy the savings. I'll be eating at home (which is closer to a computer - just in case, serves exactly the food I like to eat in the portions I should be eating, and at a significant discount to what you'd pay in a restaurant). So, no; this would not interest me.

I'd keep the phone turned off anyway. If they offer me a discount, even better!

I don't think there's anything wrong with talking on a phone as long as it's at a reasonable level. It's no different than talking to someone at the table with you. I haven't encountered too many times where a person on a cell phone bothered me but I have had multiple instances where people are yelling across the table to each other which is much more annoying in my opinion. Ringing cell phones is a different story. They should be left on vibrate.

I hardly ever use any digital device while I'm out eating with friends or family anyway, so this is a no brainer.

Finally!!! I think it is so rude for someone to sit across from me and they are talking to their phone. Makes you feel very unimportant! Kudos to that restaurant. It is sad they have to remind people to have some manners!

No, I like being always being available. Maybe if they gave me the dinner for free but probably not even then.

Absolutely

In a heartbeat! I try to keep it on silent in those situations anyway.

This is a great idea. Not only cell phones, but kids as well: http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/restaurant-bans-young-kids/story?id=14056230#.UDqs_EI1Hww

Absolutely! But it is a sad statement to even have to have this be a question. What ever happened to manners? (Don't even go there!) I too, am on call periodically, but if I have phone on the table, on vibrate, it can go to voice mail, then I can leave the restaurant, go outside & take the call. No big deal in that case.

Oh this really kills me!!! Not long ago, I went to a restaurant in Salem. I was sitting alone at the bar. One of my parents in Michigan was in the hospital. I was having a nice meal, and at a certain point a couple came in and sat nearby me at the bar. They sat closer to me than was necessary, given that there was nobody else in the bar. And they talked fairly loudly--a kind of cooing, flirtatious conversation which I found more than I needed to hear. At a certain point, in the middle of my meal, I got a call from my sister in Michigan. I took the call and within seconds the bartender came to tell me that the couple nearby asked if I wouldn't mind getting off my phone. The nerve, I thought. I have to sit and listen to this middle aged couple nauseatingly trying to rekindle their youthful hormones, and I can't talk quietly to my sister about my parent's health? I was making a helluva lot less noise than they were. The bartender was on my side. Cell phones are like a lot of things--we are only in favor of them when WE're using them. Such hypocrisy. Manners my foot. They exist. Deal with them. If you're in a place that expects you to be quiet--a theater, a church, etc.,--shut it OFF. But if you're out where people are talking, you have just as much right as the people who are blabbing--and usually more boring--in person.

I believe this restaurant is offering the discount only if you leave your cell phone with them before being seated. To which I would say NO WAY!

I might turn it off, or step outside to have a conversation if it rings while I’m there. But there’s no way I’m leaving my phone with a bunch of strangers for a 5% discount.

If I am having a rare night out and kids are home with a babysitter - then I want my phone if something comes up. I love the concept - I don't talk on my phone in a restaurant, but I have received texts from our babysitter and prefer to stay in contact. I also wouldn't give up my phone to a stranger because of what I am able to access on it. That just isn't smart.

If I am at a restaurant and I have a work-related call, I'm taking it. Because guess what restaurant staff? Me being available to answer that phone call is part of the deal I've made with my employer to be paid handsomely enough to eat in your establishment. As long as I'm not pacing around the room and gesticulating in a way that would be distracting to other customers, you'll have to get over it.

Like another poster said, if you're in a setting where everyone else is talking, what's the difference between a group of people being loud at a table and ONE person speaking at normal levels into a cell phone?

of course! cell phones while dining with others SHOULD be banned! It is so rude!

Phones aren't rude, people are rude.

You can't legislate politeness. Cell phones are a part of everyday life. It seems like the majority of people commenting here are doing so because they are offended when someone they are dining with takes a call. If that is the case, take matters into your own hands and politely ask that they refrain from doing so. You don't need a public ban to do this. I get far more irritated by loud tables that have clearly indulged in more cocktails than phone calls.

Yes for 5% ;) I don't use my phone that much anyways :D.