Restaurant offers discount to phone-free diners

Beverly Hills: A Los Angeles restaurant is offering a deal to customers who agree to look at their fellow diners instead of their phone screens.

Eva Restaurant is giving a 5 per cent discount to customers who will leave their cellphones with staff when they are seated.

Owner Mark Gold told KPCC radio on Tuesday that the policy isn't about other diners who might be annoyed by cellphone chatter or the glow of smartphone screens, but an attempt to create an environment where diners connect to each other instead of to technology.

Servers make the offer to diners when they introduce themselves.

Gold says nearly half take advantage of the discount, and many express gratitude at the opportunity to let go of their devices for a while.