This New York City Restaurant Prohibits Cell Phone Use -- And The Customers Don't Mind

Most restaurants, especially in competitive cities like New York, do everything possible to please their customers. Give the customers what they want is the usual mantra.

But don’t tell that to Mario Gigliotti, the owner of Il Triangolo, a neighborhood Italian eatery located in Corona, Queens, one of the outlying boroughs of New York City, reached by a bridge or tunnel from Manhattan. It’s situated several subway stops from Citi Field, where the New York Mets play, and Flushing Meadows, where the U.S. Open tennis tournament takes place.

Gigliotti, who is 52, opened Il Triangolo in April 2011. It specializes in Southern Italian food, and he created many of the recipes including homemade fettuccini ala Triangolo, chicken frangelico and shrimp limoncello. It seats around 60 people.

He owns a cellphone bought for him by his daughter and thinks they’re a useful gadget for ordering items.

But back in 2014, when cellphone use started proliferating and most of his customers starting taking out their smartphones during their meals, Gigliotti became irritated. He noticed that “people weren’t paying attention to their food, their surroundings or their own family members.” No longer were his customers conversing; they sat there and ate and checked their cell phones as if they were dining alone.


In fact, their behavior slowed everything down in the restaurant. Instead of eating and leaving quickly, they’d spend more time dining because they weren’t concentrating on eating their food and instead zeroed in on checking their emails or the web.  Meals that once took two hours were taking two and a half hours, and guests were waiting longer for a table.

Gigliotti put up a small sign that said no cellphones placed on the table. When he encountered new customers, he’d tell them in person about the policy. If customers receive a phone call during the meal, they’re asked to step outside of the restaurant so as not to disturb any guests. Almost everyone complies.

Several years ago, one woman objected. She said she needed to be in contact with her elderly mother in case of emergency. Gigliotti asked her to keep her phone on her lap, not on the table, but she refused and left the restaurant. When another couple heard about the policy, they too exited before eating, but Gigliotti said that has only happened a handful of times.

More people tell him that they love the policy because they don’t want to overhear other guests talking loudly on their phone over the restaurant’s din. “Most people in a restaurant on their phones have a habit of talking loud,” Gigliotti said. Most guests are delighted not to deal with rude guests sitting in proximity to them.

A look at several Yelp reviews reveals that no customers mentioned the cellphone ban in a negative way and one customer welcomed it. 
One guest said, “The minute you arrive, it’s as if Mario, the owner, welcomes the guest into his home.” Another guest said, Il Triangolo emphasizes “authenticity from homemade breads and pastas to homemade wine and desserts.” Banning cellphones attracted one guest to the restaurant.

Repeat business is as strong as ever. “They keep coming back.  I have a very large following and consider many of our guests part of the Triangolo family,” he notes.

There are some other rules. People aren’t permitted to put their sport jackets on their chair, no undershirts or slippers permitted in the dining room. “We’re old school,” he admits.

And yet Gigliotti says the entire staff prides itself on its flexible policy toward food—the major reason why diners come to the restaurant. “Guests can mix and match whatever they want.  If there’s something you want, we’ll make it for you,” he says.

Most people finish their dinner sooner by avoiding cellphones, and Gigliotti sees a change in their behavior, under the ban. “Now they sit down, I tell them the specials, and they’re not on the phone. They look at the menu. I take their dinner order. Without the cellphone in their hands, that gadget isn’t controlling them anymore. When you’re having dinner with your friends or family, it’s time to put your cellphone away,” he says.

“Now when the food comes, they’re talking to each other about the food,” he exclaims. “We cater to our customers, and most of our guests love this policy,” he says.

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