Kids Not Allowed Restaurant Policy-do you agree?

[Sampaguita]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

I personally don't find it necessary to zero in on children in particular. These restaurants should simply establish rules that bar disruptive behavior from its patrons in general. After all, I've been in situations where there were groups of ADULTS being just as annoying as a group of small children would be.

If someone or their party is a disturbance, I can politely ask them to cut it out. If the problem continues, you complain to management and have them deal with it.

^^This. Absolutely agree.

[catfancier]

[quote=Thila;33022832]We ate at Café Caspian last weekend off of Westheimer. A couple dining with their baby and small son let their boy wander among the patrons. It was quite obvious there were numerous annoyed tables. The waiter escorted the boy back to his parents and told them that it was necessary that their child stay in his seat otherwise they would need to leave. I am sure the waiter received quite a few extra tips that night.[/quote


How did the parents react when the waiter told them that? I think most restaurants just don't want to "challenge" any patron in case they storm out and never come back.

The other thing about this is there's the element of "preaching to the already converted." Parents who care about this kind of thing already would be keeping the kid in check and wouldn't have to be TOLD, whereas the parents above clearly had no clue that others didn't consider the child's behavior charming. That's why I'm curious how they reacted.

[catfancier]

Originally Posted by cyberphonics

For most if not all restaurants, disruptive behavior being frowned upon and them having the right to ask you to leave because of it is already a given. The difference is that the average adult isn't disruptive and the average child is (even though it's unintentional). If someone wants to avoid the controversy, they shouldn't bother focusing on children. They could just remind people that any patron that's being disruptive, including a child, will be asked to leave.

The trouble is that children aren't going to be seen as deserving of the same treatment as adults across the board. If you ask a parent if they could possibly have their child quiet down or they'll have to go, they might apologize and try to do something about it, which many do.

However, there's also a chance that they'll get defensive because they take being approached about it as someone trying to tell them how to raise/handle their child or being unduly critical of their child and those are two touchy variables that don't exist if you're just dealing with adults.

And since many people are sympathetic to children, parents making a scene as if their children are being mistreated or robbed of happiness in some way if management tries to have them leave or asks for their behavior to be modified can make an establishment look pretty bad and there are a lot of owners who don't want to have that fight and lose it.

If we were talking about banning disruptive adults, everyone would be on the same page, keep 'em out, yeah, ban 'em, but since we're talking about children, there's a split and that split and the reasons behind it is precisely what some restaurants don't want to deal with.

Besides that, if a group of adults is acting up, the one argument they can't use is their age. Parents can and do use the fact that their kids are kids to justify their disruptive behavior, I've watched parents do it many, many times. Doesn't matter that it makes no sense since there are other kids the same age managing to behave, they still cling to that excuse and act like you're a Nazi for expecting the kid not to be a menace lol

Good post. The part I boldfaced is what I think is the real issue behind this entire thread -- restaurant managers DON'T want to tell ANY customer their behavior is causing problems. The chances are very good those customers will a: never come back and b: tell everyone they know not to go there.
Now maybe an argument can be made that the manager is fine with that, because all the "bad" parents and their unruly kids will stay away; but it's also possible that "good" parents will be concerned about
being treated that way and just not go to that restaurant. I haven't gone thru the entire thread but I did notice several "let the management deal with it" responses... and I just don't think they WANT to.

It was many years ago and not in Houston...but my table said something to our waitress about a very noisy kid at a nearby table...and she said "We hope the other customers will say something to them." !!!!!

And of course, (again I haven't real all posts) there is also a huge factor (to me, anyway) in what kind of restaurant it is. Expensive "white tablecloth" upscale place vs. Golden Corral type places ... the expectations just have to be different.

[texas7]

Perhaps it's time to move to family and non family sections of restaurants if building design is suitable to do so. Family, non family or first available

[Thila]

How did the parents react when the waiter told them that? I think most restaurants just don't want to "challenge" any patron in case they storm out and never come back.

The couple in question at Cafe Caspian were compliant and made their son stay in his seat. They did not question what the waiter was asking.

Seriously, it was a safety issue too. Waiters were carrying around large trays of food and drinks and I could foresee and accident happening with a toddler running around not within eyesight.