Somewhere between the appetizer and the entrée, the phone comes out. Someone photographs the dish before tasting it. The moment passes. The chefs who made that dish are taking notice, and a growing number of them are doing something about it.
The James Beard Foundation gave this frustration a platform earlier this year. Ten JBF-recognized chefs weighed in on the trends defining dining in 2026, and the phone earned its own section. James Beard Award semifinalist Emily Yuen said chefs are now expected to produce food that looks good on Instagram, and that this pressure pulls focus away from the dish’s flavor and intent. Seattle chef Jhonny Reyes put it simply: the experience should come before the share.
Restaurants already make the call
Venues in at least 11 states have introduced some form of phone restriction, with Washington, D.C., reporting the highest concentration. The approaches vary. Some lock phones in pouches. Others offer free desserts for keeping devices off the table.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, cocktail bar Antagonist places guests’ phones in Yondr pouches for two hours. Co-owner Mike Salzarulo built the policy to create space for genuine connection. One diner walked away saying she felt more connected to her husband than she had in years, with no notifications, no photos, just conversation.
In San Francisco, Ama by Brad Kilgore takes a quieter approach. Phones are discouraged, and guests receive a card bearing the Japanese proverb “ichi-go ichi-e,” meaning one time, one meeting. No ban. Just an invitation to be present.
In Fort Worth, celebrity chef Tim Love has kept a strict no-phone policy at Caterina’s since day one. Early skeptics didn’t slow the restaurant down. “You’re like, ‘I’m just going to sit here and enjoy myself,'” Love said in an NBCDFW article. “And that’s what happens.”
The generation leading the way
Here’s the part nobody saw coming. A Talker Research survey of 2,000 Americans found that half of adults are actively trying to cut their screen time. Gen Z is leading that effort. Sixty-three percent say they intentionally disconnect from devices, ahead of millennials at 57%, Gen X at 42% and boomers at 29%.
The generation that grew up most online is the one most ready to put the phone down at dinner.
Food trend expert Kara Nielsen told Axios that when restaurants remove phones from the equation, something reliably good happens: people start talking to each other. Customers leave with a richer experience, and the meal becomes more memorable.
The stakes are bigger than one dinner
This is about more than etiquette. The World Health Organization reported in June 2025 that loneliness is linked to more than 871,000 deaths each year. Americans aged 18 to 24 are spending more than 20% less time eating with others than they did two decades ago.
Shared meals are getting rarer. The phone is part of that story.
Restaurants stepping into that gap are not chasing a trend. They are betting that what people actually hunger for is a meal they’ll remember, not one they’ll scroll past tomorrow.
Jennifer Allen is a retired professional chef and long-time writer. Her work appears in dozens of publications, including MSN, Yahoo, The Washington Post and The Seattle Times. These days, she’s busy in the kitchen developing recipes and traveling the world, and you can find all her best creations at Cook What You Love.