Is That Legal?

I believe it is because they are trying to achieve an effect through dim lighting (notice I didn't say "mood") which is dependent on contrast with the ambient light level. A light level that might be perceived as merely dim when your eyes are adjusted to outside light levels at night would be impenetrable darkness if you had been out in the noonday sun.

I guess the idea is that it makes each table a bit more private and increases "intimacy."

Then again, maybe they just want to save on the electric bill! ;-)

The short answer to your question is that restaurants lower their lights as it gets dark to take advantage of their customers' night vision. Night vision, as you know, results from the response of photoreceptors in the eye known as "rods" to low levels of light but are desensitized when exposed to bright light (in bright light, we see as a result of different photoreceptors, known as "cones," which respond across a different (and brighter) range of light intensity).

I'm not sure that anyone has done any research on why low light is "more romantic," but I'll venture that it has to do with two characteristics of rods: (i) they don't register red light very well, and (ii) they are generally concentrated away from the fovea centralis, or focal point, of the retina. Since lots of ugly skin blemishes are reddish in color, I reckon they don't show up particularly well in low light, letting us look our best despite all those pimples and blotches. And since low light makes us see with our rods, which are out of the fovea centralis, it puts the world into romantic "soft focus."

Since it can take between a half hour and an hour for rods to become fully sensitive to low light after exposure to bright sunlight, restaurants can't take advantage of the benefits of low light during the day. If they tried, their customers wouldn't be able to read the menu. But at night, when the outside ambient light is less bright, restaurants can expect their customers' rods to be more-or-less adjusted to low light levels, and can take full advantage of low light levels.

Interesting, lostingotham. How, though, does one account for the practice of many restaurants to continue lowering their lights in stages, even long after the sun has gone down and it is dark outside (especially in winter)?

Here's a link to a site that suggests that depending on night vision can be a spiritual and even sexually arousing experience. Who knew?

http://www.navaching.com/hawkeen/nwalk.html

Based on my time in the restaurant business 27 years ago(clearing tables for not enough tips), I recall thinking that it just seemed too bright inside as it became dark outside, even when it wasn't that bright inside. Nothing scientific. We had an owner (actually a co-owner who fronted for a South Philly associate of Angelo Bruno) who thought everything looked better in the dark.

Now that I'm much older, I realize the wisdom of that point of view.

Growing up where lights used go off too frequently, I tell my American wife, who likes the lowering of lights, "for me it is not romantic." I get your drift.

I have read that bars have dim lighting because alcohol causes the pupils to dilate, so the patrons would be less comfortable if the lighting were bright. Of course the dark light in bars might also be because they are dirty. Or maybe just the ones I go to.

As for restaurants: popular wisdom has it that one's pupils dilate when looking at one's romantic interest. Therefore, a restaurant catering to lovers might turn the lights down for their patrons' comfort. More likely, however, it's reversed: a dimly lit dining room causes patrons' eyes to dilate, thus they are perceived as more interested in their companions, by their companions. This is part of how restaurant management engineers an intimate mood. This cynical suspicion is bolstered by a popular web site that advises as follows: "To convey the impression that you’re interested in someone else, keep the lights dim to allow your own pupils to dilate."

from the Sept. 26 New Yorker, p. 88:

Day No. 1:

And tht Lord God said, "Let there be light," and lo, there was light. But then the Lord God said, "Wait, what if I make it a sort of rosy, sunset-at-the-beach, filtered half-light, so that everything else I design will look younger?"

"I'm loving that," said Buddha. "It's new."

"You should design a restaurant," added Allah.

The best way to understand this is to go to a restaurant that doesn't do this.
The most hideous example was probably Aurora after they moved out of Carr Mill Mall; the Carr Mill setup was dark, hushed, and romantic atmosphere so thick it would sometimes block the storm drains on Weaver St.
All that changed when they moved to the site near the Friday Center. The lighting there was of brightness that spoke less of romance and more of Alien autopsies.
Simon
p.s
A waitress at La Residence once came back to the rear seating area and asked if anybody needed more light. She was confused by my reply of "Goethe".

I suspect it's a result of some misguided consulting (probably from the same guy who sold them the lighting system), laden with half-assed pyschological theorizing about circadean rhythms.

I've had the good fortune of dining at some of the finer establishments in Paris and Tuscany (on the company tab, thank jeebus). While I wouldn't call the lighting bright, the "sophisticated" Continentals seem to prefer seeing their food.

There's more to the pupil explanation. Dialated pupils is a sign of romantic interest. This is the primary reason for the darkening.

Mood.

How, though, does one account for the practice of many restaurants to continue lowering their lights in stages, even long after the sun has gone down and it is dark outside (especially in winter)?

A restaurant's first job is to get the customers in. It's second job it to get them out again. The sooner they leave after finishing their meal, the faster new customers can be seated and additional meals sold.

Dimming light is a natural cue to tell us time is passing. Maybe the restaurants are artificially creating the illusion of afternoon fading into evening, fading into night to give customers the impression they've been there longer than they actually have so that they'll leave more quickly. If I'm right, the progressive dimming would be found in restaurants but not in bars, where turnover is much less of an issue.

CONTRAST is the reason. They don't want your brain to explode when you come in from the dark.

I thought about that too, Beth. But here's the thing: the modus operandi of a premium restaurant is to make the atmosphere so appealing so that customers don't want to leave - making them more apt to splurge on high-margin cocktails and wine (by 10% or more over food; plus our liqour tab for corporate outings is always higher than the meal) and, more importantly, become a repeat customer.

I still suspect the dimmer technique is intended to increase comfort based on some bullshit physiological marketing theory. Ironically, it probably would be a great way for Applebees to further drive customers crazy and clear the seats.

On a related note, I was watching Roadhouse the other night (that's right, with Patrick Swayze, I'm not proud). The "roadhouse" in said title is the the most well-lit skank bar I've ever seen.

I have heard that the real reason that restaurants dim the lights is because dim lights reduce your appetite.