Popular restaurants in many of the nation's biggest cities have a noise problem.

Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema tells Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson he first picked up on the trend about 10 years ago. That's when he decided to buy a decibel meter and do some research of his own — and his findings weren't very appetizing.

"Some of the best-known places in the city at that time were serving food in settings with the noise equivalents of garbage disposals and lawnmowers," Sietsema (@tomsietsema) says. "Just for the sake of comparison, 60 decibels is normal conversation. But I was sitting in 80- and 90-decibel environments."

One factor behind the high volume? The way restaurants are being designed. Those beautiful, minimalist spaces that are so in vogue reflect sounds, making it hard to hear your dining companions.

"You've got marble countertops, brick walls, bare walls, undressed tables. There's nothing to absorb the noise," says Sietsema, who's started including decibel counts alongside stars in his restaurant reviews. "Then you throw in some overhead TVs and fashionable open kitchens, you pack a room full of diners — each of whom is forced to talk louder over the din — and you've got even more of a blast."

Interview Highlights

On factors behind restaurants getting louder

"It's sort of a double-edged sword. Look, no one wants to walk into a mausoleum — restaurants insist energy translates to buzz. But lively, quote-unquote, has its downside. I recall when I did the initial story, one guy wanted to propose to his girlfriend, and the restaurant they were in was so loud he had to get up and sit beside her to make it happen. But I think partly to blame are all these modern design touches: the exposed surfaces and the clean, slick look that's favored by so many designers."