O Noir

O Noir, "It's better in the dark."

Last night, I was invited to join a friend and some former co-workers to this restaurant. The concept of the restaurant is to eat in the dark.

Here's how it works:
You arrive at the restaurant and order, you have lead by a legally blind waitress to a pitch black room. You sit and let your other senses take over.

While we waited, there was large group in front of us. So, the 4 of us waited. T (just using initials instead of real name) had glow in the dark nail polish and was curious to see what it's like. When it was our turn, we gave our orders ahead of time.

My order was grilled octopus, fillet mignon medium-rare and the surprise dessert, and a bottle of Keith's.

Tracy, our waitress, led us to our table. In a single file, we placed our hand on the each other's shoulder. You had to trust the person in front and your waitress. I placed my hand on the chair and then placed my jacket and sat down. This is what you see...










Pitch black.

As we get comfortable with our surroundings and each other and our table, we saw T's finger nail glow, I thought that was neat and creepy at the same time. The table was a fold-in table with a place mat, a plate with a butter, a fork and knife on it. The other person's plate was at about 2 arm's length.

I believe the table we were at sits 8-10. I felt 2 more chairs to my right...

We were given bread to start and I had no problem cutting my bread and buttering it but it wasn't evenly spread. I think S had trouble since she said "I think I buttered my hand."

When our appetizer came, Tracy tapped me on the shoulder to let me know where the plate was coming from. I grabbed it and placed it on the table myself. The plate was 11" - 12" wide (yes, I measured) and began to feel my food. I didn't think there were any point in using utensils so, I used my hand and grabbed the salad and octopus and began eating.

Main course was fillet mignon and it was already sliced. There was 3 items on the plate; potato, veggies (beans and green pepper) and my meat. The hard part was trying to fork the food. It was really about using your other senses to guide you. The fork became an extension of your hand. When I finished about 90% that was on the plate, I grabbed my fork and knife and began "stabbing" the plate, just in case i missed something on it.

During our dinner, T decided to yell, "MARCO!" To which someone from another table responded with "POLO." Not to mention K decided to splash water at me.

I had the surprise dessert... again, I decided to use my finger to do the exploring and well, it felt smooshy. I found my spoon and scooped. It was chocolate mousse!

As we finished, Tracy led us back to the entrance and proceed to pay for our meals.

The adjustment from complete darkness to light was as if you just woke up in the morning.

It's a very interesting dining experience. I would consider going again. And if you do go, bring someone you trust. The whole experience is about living without sight, about those who are blind or legally blind. They rely on their other senses and the trust of others in their everyday lives.

Now, is it better in the dark? It was definitely fun. I may have been able to use my other sense if I had concentrated on it. But good friends, good food, awesome service meant and excellent experience.