What does Ambient Menu Accredited mean?

Venues that are consistently rated as low or quiet by diners can apply for Ambient Menu Accreditation.

• A science-based acoustic accreditation to assess if that restaurant, café or pub, is conversation friendly.
• We take a wide variety of things into account when giving this accreditation; it can’t be bought, only earnt.
• We have educated venues where to sit members of our community. This assists you to have a relaxing time with good people, and enjoy delicious food and attentive service. These three ‘key ingredients’ ensure a memorable evening with friends.

Search for Ambient Menu accredited eateries on our home page. When booking, mention you saw the eatery on the Ambient Menu for priority (conversation friendly) seating and follow the steps on their listing.

FAQ

What is conversation friendly?

You should be able to converse around a table of six people if seated at an accredited table. Their ‘noise’ readings never hit ‘lively’.

Is this a guarantee of ambience?

No, Ambient Menu Accreditation is not a guarantee of ambience, it is putting the odds in your favour. We have assessed their acoustics 24/7, crunched the numbers, and taken many variables into consideration. 

There are so many variables that can turn a quiet evening into a lively one. However, we have educated their staff to put the odds in your favour for that memorable evening with easy conversation. They know to seat you away from large groups, but please follow the steps below to help those odds.

Will there still be ‘noisy’ times?

Yes. Accredited eateries meet our ‘conversation friendly’ criteria (noise readings), during 80% of their peak dining times (minimum), and never go into our ‘lively’ noise readings.

So far all accredited eateries are conversation for more than 90% of their peak times.

Follow these steps to put the odds in your favour.

1. Look at the ambience ratings on their listing on the Ambient Menu. This is their background noise levels taken by several sound level meters placed around the eatery 24/7 for one week during peak season. Book in the times marked green or yellow (conversation friendly).
2. Mention you saw the eatery on the Ambient Menu and they will know where to sit you. They have been educated on what is the most conversation friendly table in the house.
3. Ask if there is a large group booking / live music when you want to dine. Accredited eateries seat large groups away from other diners to minimise the interruption. But, we know that one large, loud group, can infect the whole eatery no matter how good the acoustics are.
4. Ask if they are fully booked when you want to dine in. Accredited eateries have been advised at which point the diner numbers will naturally put their ambience into the moderate or lively categories.