Do any of you look for pianos in restaurants?

[+ honcho]

Decidedly Off-Topic, but I can't resist piping up (if you'll forgive the intended pun ref. below):

 

I only eat at restaurants that have Steinways.

German Steinways.

 

But you really prefer a Bösendorfer don’t you @Benjamin_Nicholas. Although if Bösendorfer is now owned by Yamaha.

 

I suspect that Mr @Benjamin_Nicholas knows what he's talking about when stating his preference for Steinways. Bösendorfer and Yamaha are the other top tier grand pianos, but I'm with Benjamin in preferring a Steinway. Regarding German vs NY Steinway, I think my preference would be NY...

 

 

@g56whiz - Corporate ownership does not necessarily mean interference in manufacturing practices. Sometimes it is partially investing and partially for joint marketing and distribution. Buffet-Crampon has bought ownership of Powell flutes, Rigotaut oboes and Laubin oboes, and has stated it intends to leave the decision making about manufacturing and design to those subsidiaries.

 

@SundayZip - Every pianist that I know that has tried a Fazioli has just loved it ... however, they only make 140 a year. My ex (who plays both jazz and classical piano well, and eventually earned a DMA 3/4 of the way through a tech career), prefers NY Steinways over German due to what he considers more warmth in the sound, although, he too would absolutely love to have a Fazioli, even the mere 6' one. (He bought a Mason & Hamlin BB in the early 2000s).

[Rudynate]

Back in the 80s, luxury hotels decided to monetize their lobbies by putting in "lobby lounges," often with live music. I thought it was very pleasant to sit in the lobby lounge of a nice hotel and listen to good piano music over drinks. I don't like restaurants with live music. It's nearly always too loud. My husband doesn't like it either. If we go in a restaurant and they have live music, we don't even stay.

 

Nordstrom has people playing the piano during business hours. I find that very enjoyable.

[+ bashful]

I didn't know that Nordstroms sold groceries.

 

https://www.marianos.com/topic/live-at-mariano-s

 

Mariano's was bought my Kroger a few years ago.

[+ g56whiz]

@g56whiz - Corporate ownership does not necessarily mean interference in manufacturing practices. Sometimes it is partially investing and partially for joint marketing and distribution. Buffet-Crampon has bought ownership of Powell flutes, Rigotaut oboes and Laubin oboes, and has stated it intends to leave the decision making about manufacturing and design to those subsidiaries.

Well I know. As a NYC banker, Indiana was my territory. In that territory was Baldwin Piano that then owned Bösendorfer. Fast forward and Baldwin is now owned by Gibson, the guitar folks.

[+ g56whiz]

Actually down here in South Texas on the border a piano in a restaurant, even a loud one, would be a relief. What we more often get is a mariachi group with a loud trumpet in your ear.

[+ LIguy]

I always kinda enjoyed the piano at Rounds

[Beancounter]

I’m not a fan of live piano music either with one exception...the Highland Park cafeteria at Casa Linda shopping area in Dallas.

 

An ambience befitting of the geriatric crowd, barely tolerable cafeteria cuisine and an old geezer tapping out Sound in the Clowns on an out-of-tune piano with a glass bowl tip jar sitting on top begging for an eighty year old to drop in a $1.00 tip. Aahhhhh! Life doesn’t get much better than that.

[+ g56whiz]

I always kinda enjoyed the piano at Rounds

They had a piano at Rounds? I guess I wasn’t paying attention. Lol

[Guest]

...

Nordstrom has people playing the piano during business hours. I find that very enjoyable.

I agree. I enjoy the piano playing at Nordstrom's--but not at a restaurant, where presumably you're trying to enjoy the conversation with the people you're with.

[RM]

When I was in Albuquerque I was told you have to eat on the patio because the mariachis don't go out on the patio.

[rvwnsd]

Yes. Then I look for a pianist. If one is walking toward the piano I head to someplace else.

[Rudynate]

When I lived in Denver in the early 70s, one of the gay bars had an organist. He was one of those typical lounge organists popular in the 50s and 60s. Even in the early 70s he was a bit anachronistic. The thing was, nobody liked him. They hated his music. When he went on a break, people would rush to stuff the juke box with quarters so they could play some disco that they could dance to. But he was determined to play no matter how much people hated it. When he came back off break, he would always pull the plug on the juke box to silence it. It was really pretty amusing.

[+ azdr0710]

Generations of Phoenicians have taken their visiting Midwest friends and relatives to Organ Stop Pizza, a local legend. Quiet background piano tinkling it ain't.

 

[+ Pensant]

Near where I live there is a cafe/tea room that is covered but not enclosed & surrounded by beautiful gardens & duck pond. They have a piano in a pergola in the garden and a guy who plays beautifully.

Not truly a restaurant in the sense that the OP referred to, but a magical experience on a sunny day.

Sounds like the Tea House on Los Rios in SJC

[+ Pensant]

I used to enjoy the Victor Cafe in South Philly, where they played old opera recordings made at the RCA Victor recording studio in Camden in the 1920s. Several of the waiters also liked to sing along, with variable results. WilliamM might know if it is still operating.

My father told me that Mario Lanza occasionally sang there.

[+ Charlie]

My father told me that Mario Lanza occasionally sang there.

He lived in the neighborhood. For a number of years I lived a half block from Mario Lanza Park.

[Chad Constantine]

I would not actively search for a restaurant that had pianos. If they did or not would not really matter to me on way or another.

However, I would actively search for places that had gayaguem or shamisen players or trot or enka singers as entertainment.

Shamisen

Gayaguem

Trot

Enka

[rvwnsd]

Generations of Phoenicians have taken their visiting Midwest friends and relatives to Organ Stop Pizza, a local legend. Quiet background piano tinkling it ain't.

 

I'll cross this one ff my list and pretend like I went.

[MikeBiDude]

I'll cross this one ff my list and pretend like I went.

I can’t help but wonder...is the pizza any good?

[rvwnsd]

I can’t help but wonder...is the pizza any good?

That was my thought, but then I did the math:

 

(Lou Malnati's Pizza + Three Miles Away) > (Place With Organ Music + All the Way in Freakin' Mesa)

[coriolis888]

 

I'm guessing that their Steinway is New York, not German. I'd be so disappointed if we had to turn around and leave.

 

Actually, there is no Germany made Steinway piano. The name Steinway is an American way of saying Steinweg. The "weg" is a German word that means "way" - All Steinway pianos are made in the U.S.

 

To make a long story short, the German citizen, Heinrich Steinweg, changed his name to Henry Steinway when he moved to America to manufacture pianos. He manufactured the same fine quality piano he formerly manufactured in Germany. Instead of calling the piano a Steinweg (his original name), he called the American made piano Steinway (for his changed American name).

 

My relatives who live in Germany have a Steinweg piano. I have the privilege of playing it when I visit there. In the U.S., I own a Steinway. Both pianos sound pretty much alike.

 

I know this is probably boring to most readers. But, someone did bring up a German Steinway, that does not exist.

Edited November 20, 2019 by coriolis888

[alrajee]

I don't like piano (or most music) at proper restaurants, but seek them out when I'm at a bar.

[coriolis888]

 

But you really prefer a Bösendorfer don’t you @Benjamin_Nicholas. Although if Bösendorfer is now owned by Yamaha.

 

 

You mean that the stock of Austrian piano manufacturer, Bösendorfer, is currently owned by Yamaha.

 

Manufacturing of the Bösendorfer piano still occurs in Austria.