Shut the laptop and eat your food

When he spots someone reading at a table while other customers are lined up for brisket or corned beef sandwiches, Sobelman has been known to shut off the lights to send a not-so-subtle message.

“Sometimes people think I’m really arrogant, and I’m not,’’ Sobelman said. “I’m doing it for the customers and my business.’’

Considering the limited space in his delicatessen, on Harvard Street in Coolidge Corner, Sobelman insists that he needs to make his tables available for new customers as quickly as possible.

So while many nearby establishments, such as Panera Bread, Bruegger’s Bagels, and even the J.P. Licks ice cream shop, offer wireless Internet service to attract computer-toting customers, Sobelman has banned laptops too.

His business strategy might be the extreme, but Sobelman is not alone in his reasoning.

Galley Nichols, whose family owns Rosebud Diner in Somerville, said he banned laptops after seeing customers come in and nurse a cup of coffee for hours while using a computer. Nichols said he can not afford to let anyone sit at a table that long without eating.

Now, he said, he doesn’t even need a sign at his restaurant to notify customers of the ban.

“They know,’’ Nichols said. “Don’t even bother. Laptops - there is no way I’ll allow them.’’

But enforcing the prohibition can be tricky with some customers, said Dave Anderson, owner of the Main Streets Market & Cafe in Concord, where his family has been in the food-serving business for 128 years.

Anderson said he doesn’t allow laptops inside his restaurant because he wants to maintain its “Old World atmosphere.’’ There is outside seating for anyone who wishes to stay connected to the Internet, Anderson said, but customers aren’t always pleased when they are told of the rule.

“Some people say they have never heard of such a thing,’’ Anderson said. “They are used to the corporate chains that allow that. We don’t have the space for them to sit.’’

At Michael’s Deli, the reading ban rubs customer Arthur Clasby the wrong way. While the Milton resident continues to frequent the deli - “you can’t beat the chow’’ - he doesn’t understand the rule, he said.

“I miss it,’’ Clasby said of reading while he eats. “It fills the time.’’

Other customers support the arrangement. Joseph Froio of Westwood said he thinks it’s rude for anyone to linger at a table in a busy restaurant while using a laptop.

“You can’t find a seat,’’ Froio said.

But catering to the customer has convinced other small business owners that offering WiFi service can be good for business.

Shannon Goor’s Second Wind Café on Gorham Street in Lowell is near a courthouse and not far from the city’s University of Massachusetts campus. She offers wireless Internet as a way to make students and professionals comfortable in her café.

If the café becomes too crowded, Goor said, she knows she can ask her customers using laptops to pack it up and let someone else sit at the table.

“With the space we have in our café, I don’t find it to be a problem,’’ Goor said. “It’s the wave of the future.’’