Enough with all these low-lit restaurants

A few months ago, I stumbled into 921, a speakeasy in Delhi’s Chanakyapuri, expecting a cosy, moody evening. Instead, I felt like I needed to visit my ophthalmologist. For the first five minutes, I couldn’t tell if I was reading the menu or trying to crack a cryptic crossword in the shadows.

After some hard squinting, I grudgingly pulled out my phone’s flashlight. Because nothing says classy night out quite like shining a mini spotlight on your cocktail choices.

Ever since white tube lights exited our homes, our fascination with dimly lit interiors has only increased. At restaurants, low-lit interiors signal a vibe, a mood, an ambience, a cosy night out… Call it what you will. But isn’t it getting a bit too dark lately?

If we’re rating on a scale from one—where you can easily read the menu—to 10—where you might as well be blindfolded—921 definitely lands at an easy eight. It’s the kind of darkness that envelopes you in mystery and exclusivity but also makes you double-check if you accidentally ordered sparkling water instead of a cocktail.

As per the Illuminating Engineering Society Lighting Handbook (10th Edition), bars typically require low to moderate lighting levels, generally in the range of 10 to 50 lux, to create a comfortable and intimate atmosphere while allowing for basic visibility. Huzefa Rangwala, co-founder of MuseMART, and Prateek Jain, lighting designer and co-founder of Klove Studio, swear by these metrics. “At the right lux level, dim lighting feels magical. It flatters, sets the mood, and adds a layer of romance. Spaces feel cosy, like a secret room,” Jain says, “In the dark, focus shifts to those around you. The world fades, sparking intimacy and mystery.” 

And while everyone seems to prefer taking the brightness a notch lower, the only problem is, not everyone can agree on what’s comfortably dark or too dark to drink today. Som Mehta, a sales executive from Mumbai, sums it up: “I get the vibe, but sometimes I’m basically playing food roulette. It’s romantic and mysterious, but when you can’t see what you’re eating, half the fun just ghosts you.”

At Noctis, a speakeasy in Delhi, first-timers are caught blinking and adjusting their eyes to make sense of the menu. Luckily, the crisis is averted shortly when they discover the brightness of the lamp on their table is adjustable. In Mumbai too, at Miss Margot, each table is equipped with its own lamp featuring three adjustable brightness modes, offering flexibility without disrupting the room’s intimate vibe. 

But few diners are complaining. Maya Sahai, a marketing consultant from Mumbai, sees the darkness as a welcome escape from the harshness of bright lights. “Bright, flashy bars always felt way too staged, like you’re in some reality show and forgot your lines,” she laughs. “These dimly lit dens soften everything, making it feel less like a performance and more like hanging out in your best friend’s slightly messy living room.”

Like her, Arjun Duggal, a Delhi-based content manager at an ad agency, prefers the soft shadows that spots like Vasant Vihar’s Call Me Ten—inspired by old-school speakeasies and secret salons—bring within their walls. “There’s something about the darkness that strips away pretense,” he says. “It feels like an affair—exciting, a little secretive, and completely removed from the spotlight. The dimness gives you freedom to be.”

Such spots act like little ‘disappear buttons’ for your social life—not just hiding you in the dark but also offering a cloak of social invisibility. Maybe it’s the thrill of slipping off the grid for a few hours—sharing a hushed conversation, staging a secret rendezvous, or revelling in the pure joy of not having to make awkward small talk or explain why you’re still single (again). You could even argue that such places target a younger crowd, which seems to put up with low lighting, while driving away an older demographic.

Delhi’s The Love Hotel, inspired by Japan’s kyūkeijo (resting spaces) and rabuhoteru (love hotels), proudly dubs itself a ‘sensory deprivation chamber’. This XS bar wraps guests in near-total darkness broken only by a warm, seductive red glow—the kind of lighting that makes you feel like you’ve just stepped into a vampire’s chic lounge. The intentional dimness acts like a magic filter, dialling down visual noise and turning up the volume on your other senses. “Drinking comes easier in the dark; dim light helps people relax, drop their guard, and just be. We keep it casual, fun, and welcoming, minus the inhibitions,” shares Shiva Kant Vyas, brand manager at The Love Hotel.

Located 2,000 kilometres south, ZLB23 at The Leela Palace Bengaluru is on the same wavelength. Inspired by Kyoto’s secretive bars and tea houses, it offers an intimate sanctuary away from the usual pose-and-pout hotspots. “The best moments aren’t for screens; they’re to be lived,” notes Suchismita Roy Chowdhury, restaurant operations manager at The Leela Palace Bengaluru. “Guests seek nuance, curiosity, and quiet discovery, not to be seen but to feel.”

We get this. But let’s face it—no one wants to play menu detective on date night. For Rini Chatterjee, bespoke experience curator and food and travel writer, the magic is in balancing mood with clarity. “Intimate spaces should pull you in without turning the menu into a secret code or your plate into a guessing game. The perfect mix is sensual yet practical—soft table lighting, subtle menu glow, and warm hues that flatter both guests and their food.”

Nothing kills the mood faster than a group of diners pulling out their phone lights to read a menu, so why are dark-dining restaurants growing exponentially in numbers? It seems, after years of dining and drinking under the relentless glow of camera flashes and phone screens, we are finally ready to put our phones on silent and vanish from the spotlight. That’s the case at Mumbai’s much-hyped and most booked-out spaces, like Paradox and Papa’s.

Architect Ashiesh Shah was only following the brief when he transformed Paradox’s low-ceilinged, windowless space into a moody dining experience. “The lighting and design shift your mindset, a stark contrast to Mumbai’s usual chaos,” notes Aditya Dugar, co-founder and director of Urban Gourmet India, which owns Paradox. “It’s intensity and restraint, drama and subtlety, rolled into one.”

He’s talking about the contrasts you see across the two levels. While their omakase-style dining area and Peter d’Ascoli-designed maximalist tent below are well-lit, upstairs the only light you see is from the flashing squares on the ceiling. It looks like a chic club in London, but try ordering: the lighting’s so dim, you can’t even see what you’re eating.

At Papa’s, once you score a table and are eager to show off this social media currency, you’ll realise that lighting is very, very dim around the bar area. It gets a tad better once you’re seated—still dimmed but just enough for plating, thus spotlighting the food’s own dramatic stage debut. It’s a whole different vibe from Hunger Inc’s other spots—The Bombay Canteen or Bombay Sweet Shop—spots that are bright and perfect for even grandparents to enjoy. “In places like Bombay Sweet Shop, brighter lighting highlights the vivid colours and textures of our mithai and chaat, making them look even more enticing,” says Sameer Seth of Hunger Inc. Like Vyas, Seth too feels that “bars benefit from darker, moodier lighting that encourages conversation without draining the room’s energy.”

Kolkata’s Nutcase Etc. has a thoughtful approach to lighting so no one can really complain. Here, the setting shifts deliberately over the evening—starting bright enough, then gradually dimming as the night and energy build alongside the music. “We’ve lit the space smartly. There are strip lights under the bar for reading the menu, and soft LEDs at the sofas keep things cosy. Besides, Nutcase is a conversation-led bar—our team is trained to walk guests through the menu,” says Avinandan Banerjee, co-founder, Nutcase Etc. and Curry Fwd Collaborations.

Eventually, striking this balance of intimate yet comfortable, where visual comfort, sufficient brightness, and staying true to the desired mood is all in sync, is what every lighting designer strives to achieve. Restaurant designer, ad man, and social commentator Freddy Birdy, who has designed restaurants like Japonico, Kimono Club and Whisky Samba, recommends a shape-shifting personality: “A bar should make you feel beautiful—bright enough to see your food early on, then sexier and dimmer as the night warms up.” Not only does it work for almost every age group, it also promises better pictures in the beginning and blurry records as the night progresses. Because the last thing anyone needs on a night out about town is a complete blackout.