Discussion Topic: Children under 6 not allowed

TheWop

I saw that there is a restaurant in Pennsylvania banning children under the age of 6.  How do you feel about this? Fair?  Unfair?  Would you dine there (assuming you had a night without your children if you're a parent)?  Other thoughts and questions welcome. 

Discuss! 

GRsweetpea

I think it's a great idea.  I hear so many people complaining about kids in restaurants, and get looks when our family is seated next to childless diners. 

If there was one in GR, we wouldn't go soley because of this policy.  I'd probably be more inclined to avoid it because of this policy.  I like kids, and I like them being in my environment.

I like the idea not because I think it's important to get kids out of restaurants, but because I want to complainers and eye rollers to have their own spot.

goodgollie

Interesting.  It seems like this would sort of be discrimination, wouldn't it?  I'm surprised its lawful for them to put up a disclaimer like that.  That being said, it doesn't offend me personally.  I'm definitely the kind of person that doesn't think weddings are really places for kids.  I would never willingly bring Hudson to a wedding because I know he'd be running around and climbing on everything he could find.  Besides I'd rather enjoy myself and not have to watch him.  I wouldn't pick this restaurant because of its "no kids" policy.  Most of the time, other kids at restaurants don't bother me.  I pick restaurants for their food and if its clean, not much else.  I guess it doesn't bother me one way or the other.

GRKaters

I guess I'm indifferent. We don't go to some restaurants with Caleb because, well, he's 3, and there are just some places where three-year-olds don't do well. We don't need a rule to determine that for us, though. We want to enjoy our dining-out experiences, and constantly having to shush him or worry that he's disturbing someone isn't all that relaxing. Too bad common sense isn't all that common anymore.

The devil's advocate in me wants to open up a cute little restaurant/sandwich shop with an "adults must be accompanied by a child" policy. No stuffy stuffersons need apply.

TheWop

GRKaters:

The devil's advocate in me wants to open up a cute little restaurant/sandwich shop with an "adults must be accompanied by a child" policy. No stuffy stuffersons need apply.

LOL!  Cute idea! 

gvsubride05

I'm very curious to know what type of resturant this is..how fancy it is. If it is a fancy restaurant, then I can see them wanting to preserve the "formalness" of it for their patrons. If I was going to spend $100-$300 on a dinner, I wouldn't want it ruined by a screaming kid. If it was a casual place, then I think the policy is a  bit over the top, but if they are willing to take that risk of losing potential customers, so be it. It doesn't offend me though as a parent. 

Disney has one very fancy resturant at their resort that is child free and there is a huge uproad about it. I think parents were stupid to complain about it, there area  ton of other nice place they would go to. If you really want to bring your child to a 6-course  2-3 hour meal, you can do it elsewhere.  

MrsJuliD

I guess I feel pretty indifferent.  A restaurant retains the right to refuse service to anyone - yes?  This may draw them some customers who will be happy to have a guarantee of no kids, but it may also lose them some customers that are upset about the policy and have kids they want to bring with them.  Either way, it's the business owner's choice to do what he/she thinks is best for business.

gvsubride05

Meh..this place doesn't actually scream upscale, fancy to me that would require a no child policy. I can't tell for sure, but it doesn't look like it is at a high end country club either. It seems a little over the top to have an actual policy in place,http://mcdains.com/index.html 

This was taken from their website. So who is the other 30% of their patron...people who kind of golf.

"today 70% of our restaurant patrons are either non-golfers or golfers coming to our facility specifically to dine."

 

 

Hoektastic

The restaurant owner is giving that group of people somewhere to go where they know they won't run into small children. There are plenty of other restaurants to go to with kids.  I do have to give this quote an eyeroll though: 

"Vuick said that children might be the center of their parents' universe, as it should be. But he says they're not the center of everyone else's universe too."

We get that. Really we do.

Anyway - we go where we are welcome. If Henry is with us, we go to a place with highchairs, and even better if there is a kids menu. Two good local places we like are Olives and Green Well.  Both have been super welcoming of Henry.  In fact, the manager on duty at the Green Well came out with his jacket to tuck around Henry when he was first sitting in highchairs. We thought that was really kind and like to support restaurants like that.

TheWop

It doesn't really bother me either way.  I wouldn't purposely dine or not dine there based on this policy.  But looking at the link gvsu posted, that place looks fairly casual to me, so it seems a bit over the top.  I wonder if this place will see more or less business over time with the new policy in place. 

Diana Prince

As a general rule, I don't really mind kids in restaurants.  In my experience, they must be pretty well behaved because I don't often notice them at all.  I have only found kids to be annoying at really crowded restaurants.  I think a better solution might be no kids under 6 after 8 p.m.  It would be nice to have the option of childfree dining experience and kids under 6 probably don't need to be out that late anyway. 

gvsubride05

MrsJuliD:

I guess I feel pretty indifferent.  A restaurant retains the right to refuse service to anyone - yes?  This may draw them some customers who will be happy to have a guarantee of no kids, but it may also lose them some customers that are upset about the policy and have kids they want to bring with them.  Either way, it's the business owner's choice to do what he/she thinks is best for business.

Ask Denny's how that unofficial policy went for them. 

I think resturants would be better off saying "our place is not condusive to children under the age of such and such. We do not offer high chairs or children's menus" Or say not children past a certain time.  

GRsweetpea

MrsJuliD:

I guess I feel pretty indifferent.  A restaurant retains the right to refuse service to anyone - yes?  This may draw them some customers who will be happy to have a guarantee of no kids, but it may also lose them some customers that are upset about the policy and have kids they want to bring with them.  Either way, it's the business owner's choice to do what he/she thinks is best for business.

I get what you're saying, Juli, but I disagree.  If someone opened a place and disallowed senior citizens (people in wheelchairs, people with red hair, etc), there would be an uproar.  I don't disagree with someone doing this, but I do think it is - just by definition - discrimination.

Kasa

If the food was good, I'd dine there.  I wouldn't go to a restaurant purely because they have a no-kid policy, but I certainly wouldn't boycott it either. 

Hoektastic

GRKaters:

I guess I'm indifferent. We don't go to some restaurants with Caleb because, well, he's 3, and there are just some places where three-year-olds don't do well. We don't need a rule to determine that for us, though. We want to enjoy our dining-out experiences, and constantly having to shush him or worry that he's disturbing someone isn't all that relaxing. Too bad common sense isn't all that common anymore.

I am right there with you, GRKaters.

GRsweetpea

Katers and Hoek, yup, us too.  Only just recently have I been able to relax a bit when out. 

And we'd be in big trouble in we couldn't take the kids out after 8.  We're a night owl family (until W starts Kindergarten) and are occasionally out doing errands and sometimes eating until 9:30 with them.

GRKaters

Hoektastic:

The restaurant owner is giving that group of people somewhere to go where they know they won't run into small children. There are plenty of other restaurants to go to with kids.  I do have to give this quote an eyeroll though: 

"Vuick said that children might be the center of their parents' universe, as it should be. But he says they're not the center of everyone else's universe too."

We get that. Really we do.

Anyway - we go where we are welcome. If Henry is with us, we go to a place with highchairs, and even better if there is a kids menu. Two good local places we like are Olives and Green Well.  Both have been super welcoming of Henry.  In fact, the manager on duty at the Green Well came out with his jacket to tuck around Henry when he was first sitting in highchairs. We thought that was really kind and like to support restaurants like that.

Besides the fact that we love the food, this is one of the things that made us keep coming back to the Cheetah when DS was littler; they served his milk or water in a real live sippy cup, rather than plunking down an open-topped glass in front of our young toddler. Big fans!  

Also, we've never taken him back to HopCat--which, yes, is a bar, but also serves food--after one attempt because they don't have high chairs or kids' menus, which pretty obviously states "we are not kid friendly."

gvsubride05

GRKaters:

Hoektastic:

The restaurant owner is giving that group of people somewhere to go where they know they won't run into small children. There are plenty of other restaurants to go to with kids.  I do have to give this quote an eyeroll though: 

"Vuick said that children might be the center of their parents' universe, as it should be. But he says they're not the center of everyone else's universe too."

We get that. Really we do.

Anyway - we go where we are welcome. If Henry is with us, we go to a place with highchairs, and even better if there is a kids menu. Two good local places we like are Olives and Green Well.  Both have been super welcoming of Henry.  In fact, the manager on duty at the Green Well came out with his jacket to tuck around Henry when he was first sitting in highchairs. We thought that was really kind and like to support restaurants like that.

Also, we've never taken him back to HopCat--which, yes, is a bar, but also serves food--after one attempt because they don't have high chairs or kids' menus, which pretty obviously states "we are not kid friendly."

And the fact that it says this on their website.  ha ha.  I came across this several months ago.

HopCat is a bar. No one under 21 without a parent. After 8, no one under 21 at all. Also - no, we don't have a kids' menu or crayons. Judas Priest, people!

 

MrsJuliD

GRsweetpea:

MrsJuliD:

I guess I feel pretty indifferent.  A restaurant retains the right to refuse service to anyone - yes?  This may draw them some customers who will be happy to have a guarantee of no kids, but it may also lose them some customers that are upset about the policy and have kids they want to bring with them.  Either way, it's the business owner's choice to do what he/she thinks is best for business.

I get what you're saying, Juli, but I disagree.  If someone opened a place and disallowed senior citizens (people in wheelchairs, people with red hair, etc), there would be an uproar.  I don't disagree with someone doing this, but I do think it is - just by definition - discrimination.

Hmmm.  This seems true.  I have no idea the laws for discrimination - are there rules in place that say the refusal of service must be within reason?  Because saying no kids seems somewhat reasonable, whereas discriminating against senior citizens seems somewhat less reasonable, you know what I mean - unless they're having an issue with people over the age of 70 for some reason.

GRKaters

gvsubride05:

GRKaters:

Hoektastic:

The restaurant owner is giving that group of people somewhere to go where they know they won't run into small children. There are plenty of other restaurants to go to with kids.  I do have to give this quote an eyeroll though: 

"Vuick said that children might be the center of their parents' universe, as it should be. But he says they're not the center of everyone else's universe too."

We get that. Really we do.

Anyway - we go where we are welcome. If Henry is with us, we go to a place with highchairs, and even better if there is a kids menu. Two good local places we like are Olives and Green Well.  Both have been super welcoming of Henry.  In fact, the manager on duty at the Green Well came out with his jacket to tuck around Henry when he was first sitting in highchairs. We thought that was really kind and like to support restaurants like that.

Also, we've never taken him back to HopCat--which, yes, is a bar, but also serves food--after one attempt because they don't have high chairs or kids' menus, which pretty obviously states "we are not kid friendly."

And the fact that it says this on their website.  ha ha.  I came across this several months ago.

HopCat is a bar. No one under 21 without a parent. After 8, no one under 21 at all. Also - no, we don't have a kids' menu or crayons. Judas Priest, people!

 

Oh, I've never seen the site. We stopped in during ArtPrize one afternoon two years ago. It was fine that we sat outside and he shared a fruit/cheese plate with me.

gvsubride05

I don't know why I was even on their website to make me see that. I think what you did is fine.  I was just laughing at how it was written. Their whole website is written in that tone...smart azz

WendyGR

GRKaters:

I guess I'm indifferent. We don't go to some restaurants with Caleb because, well, he's 3, and there are just some places where three-year-olds don't do well. We don't need a rule to determine that for us, though. We want to enjoy our dining-out experiences, and constantly having to shush him or worry that he's disturbing someone isn't all that relaxing. Too bad common sense isn't all that common anymore.

The devil's advocate in me wants to open up a cute little restaurant/sandwich shop with an "adults must be accompanied by a child" policy. No stuffy stuffersons need apply.

hey, that's not fair for those of us who are childfree. Unless I could bring my dog :-)

As a childfree person this rule doesn't really affect me. I don't mind children as long as they are not running wild or throwing food at me. Which has happened more than once :-/  

LVila

Looking at it from a discrimination stand point, I would say it is discrimination. Ageism is ageism, right?

Personally, it's their restaurant. If they don't want kids dining in the establishment, whatever. I actually probably would avoid it because of the policy not because I'm kid crazy (we've all been in restaurants with the out of control child ruining our dining experience) but because I don't like surrounding myself with people who avoid children. We are usually dining with Mere, so that restaurant would be out of the running for us anyway.

GRKaters

WendyGR:

GRKaters:

I guess I'm indifferent. We don't go to some restaurants with Caleb because, well, he's 3, and there are just some places where three-year-olds don't do well. We don't need a rule to determine that for us, though. We want to enjoy our dining-out experiences, and constantly having to shush him or worry that he's disturbing someone isn't all that relaxing. Too bad common sense isn't all that common anymore.

The devil's advocate in me wants to open up a cute little restaurant/sandwich shop with an "adults must be accompanied by a child" policy. No stuffy stuffersons need apply.

I *know* you have friends with kids who'd let you borrow them for an afternoon at my grilled cheese 'o' rama factory.  

hey, that's not fair for those of us who are childfree. Unless I could bring my dog :-)

As a childfree person this rule doesn't really affect me. I don't mind children as long as they are not running wild or throwing food at me. Which has happened more than once :-/