Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Sometimes Music Hath No Charms At All

The music that one will hear inside this "hallowed" place is always appropriate to the impressive setting. BUT....!
Friends and I have enjoyed Aquavit's Christmas Eve julbord for the past several years. We went again last night and found the quality and atmosphere had been maintained EXCEPT for one glaring fact. There was almost-too-loud background music playing that would have been suitable for a shopping mall, a Denny's or an Olive Garden, e.g., but not for a presumably sophisticated Manhattan top-class restaurant. This type of "Jingle Bells," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" background might go in Omaha, but not in NYC, and not at these prices. TACKY is the only way to describe it, and I can only hope that this was a one-time failing; we never experienced it (or, as I dimly recall, any other obtrusive background music) at Christmases past. Soft, high-level jazz would be best. Music is the bane of many otherwise fine dining establishments.