Should restaurants have "adults only" sections?

[mehan]

I apologize if I sounded "anti-family".  I am certainly not, nor did I get that feeling from the other posts.  That being said, I completely agree the sentiment is anyone disturbing other diners should be asked to leave.

Not far from my place in vegas, was another more upscale dining establishment.  I cannot remember verbatim but they had a large sign stating that the comfort of all their patrons was of their utmost concern.  If anyone in your party disturbed other customers, the entire party would be asked to leave and would be responsible for their entire bill.  Again, I don't remember exactly how they phrased it - but essentially it was "be you a drunk or be you a screaming child".

I think the difference here is that in the current climate management has no problem kicking out a drunk, but hesitate to ask parents to quell or remove a poorly behaved child. 

[Noble Dreg]

I apologize if I sounded "anti-family".  I am certainly not, nor did I get that feeling from the other posts.  That being said, I completely agree the sentiment is anyone disturbing other diners should be asked to leave.
..

Alone this thread/post is not "anti-family"...It is the numerous "families don't spend money/kids suck" posts accross multiple threads.  Believe me, I see some little brat screaming while mom and dad ignore it and I want to stuff a sock in their mouths too.  It just seems as likely to be some twit with a "Wenches Want Me" t-shirt causing a disturbance. 

[crashbot]

Perkins is a good example, I expect so see lots of kids in cheap low end places like that, they cater to the family crowd. I do not expect to nor should I have to "shut up and deal with kids" someplace I will be spending over 100$ for my wife and I to enjoy a nice quiet meal.  I am tired of having someones little brat screaming, running around wild, or standing up peaking over the back of the booth while their oblivious parents sit there and do nothing.



Off topic, I am from Ireland, used to go to pubs with my grandfather all the time, during the day/afternoon, never at night. A local pub there is less of bar and more of a community center.

[William_MacKean]

Perkins is a good example, I expect so see lots of kids in cheap low end places like that, they cater to the family crowd. I do not expect to nor should I have to "shut up and deal with kids" someplace I will be spending over 100$ for my wife and I to enjoy a nice quiet meal.  I am tired of having someones little brat screaming, running around wild, or standing up peaking over the back of the booth while their oblivious parents sit there and do nothing.

Total agreement, here.  And my wife has a little 30 month old brat.  We don't take her anywhere except family places.  Does it cramp our lifestyle?  Yup.  But that's the choice we make for having a family!  Good post!

Also:
I think it is offensive that we are expected to tolerate families, but families should not have to tolerate (or be considerate of) the rest of us.  I am not advocating total segregation.  Nor am I going to argue the minutiae of good toddlers vs bad adults.  We all know those possibilities.

[Hoowil]

The experience? Kids dont want that they want Chuckecheese.

I blame places like ChuckeCheese for unruley kids. With restraunts that are more amusement park than restraunt people train their kids to be loud and to run around.
That said I do not take the kids to nice places. Even in mid range places the kids know that if they get out of hand we leave. However any standard rule about who gets to go is simply wrong. It makes kids second class citizens. Might as well so no elderly or no people with a certain hair color. Judge kids like everyone else by the individual. Make it a noise control rule. Anyone loud or disruptive gets booted.

Pardon my lack of grammar. For some reason the only punctuation that works on my keyboard is the period.

[crashbot]

I think it is offensive that we are expected to tolerate families, but families should not have to tolerate (or be considerate of) the rest of us. 

+1

I totally agree.


I don't care where people take their kids, I would just prefer to have a child free section in any mid level and up eating establishment. I am not saying they shouldnt be allowed in , I just dont want to sit next to them. I can count on my hand the times I have had issues with unruly adults, but pretty much every time I go out to eat I am dealing with unruly children.

[Becky10]

The experience? Kids dont want that they want Chuckecheese.

I blame places like ChuckeCheese for unruley kids. With restraunts that are more amusement park than restraunt people train their kids to be loud and to run around.
That said I do not take the kids to nice places. Even in mid range places the kids know that if they get out of hand we leave. However any standard rule about who gets to go is simply wrong. It makes kids second class citizens. Might as well so no elderly or no people with a certain hair color. Judge kids like everyone else by the individual. Make it a noise control rule. Anyone loud or disruptive gets booted.

Pardon my lack of grammar. For some reason the only punctuation that works on my keyboard is the period.

Just to toss this out ahead cause text doesnt read emotion well. I am not anti-kids.

I never thought of ChuckeCheese like that but it makes a lot of sense. Personally going there as a kid was like torture.

If grandpas were running around the room yelling, hiding under tables and being a pain I would be all onboard for a no old people section!
I havent met you or your kids but from your posts I have no doubt in my mind that you guys are a respectful great family. If more families like yours were out there this thread wouldn't exist.
   For management it can be easier to tell an adult that they need to pipe down where as many parents will not stand for someone else "parenting" ( I got chewed out by crazy mom for scolding her daughter who was punching me) . As an adult you know you're responsible for your own actions as a kid there isn't such a sense of that.
There's a difference between select adult only restaurants and ALL restaurants being adults only. A local restaurant has the "library" which is a room off to the side that usually just has just couples in it. I get how the idea of a restaurant banning children can be upsetting to parents and it really bugs me that parents who are doing a great job and teaching their kids manners are stereotyped because of an irresponsible group.

I am the youngest person on this site and this is coming from a closer generations view point.
I  got left home a few time when the 'dults went out cause my parents assumed I would be troublesome(mind you i hardly speak or move now, I never spoke then) I came to realize very quickly as a kid that I was a second class citizen. Just kind of was the pecking order to me and i never had that big of an issue with it.

Heck I am turning 19 and having people discriminate cause of your age is worse now! You know how many stores will follow you around waiting for you to steal? I've gotten druggy comments just cause i was laughing (mind you again I am like the most to-myself, nearly invisible person) everyone is constantly waiting for you to do some stupid "teenage" thing. I think i'd rather be banned from restaurants quite honestly.

Holy moley I am a parathesis addict and i wrote a ton cause i have nothing else to do. Pardon the rambling.

[KeeperoftheBar]

The experience? Kids dont want that they want Chuckecheese.

It makes kids second class citizens. Might as well so no elderly or no people with a certain hair color. Judge kids like everyone else by the individual. Make it a noise control rule. Anyone loud or disruptive gets booted.

Kids ARE second class citizens.  They can not vote, drink, even marry or join the military (without parental approval).  If elderly people acted the way many kids do in a restaurant, they would be asked to leave very quickly.  But for some reason some management is afraid to step in when a child is involved, I guess for not wanting to alienate the parents.   I would agree to treating the kids equal to adults but it goes both ways. 
One time my brother and I were in Coulters BBQ.  At the next table there was a little one about 2 screaming his head off and the parents were totally oblivious to it. (Or intentionally ignoring it.)  My brother said "God I wish they would shut that kid up" to me.  The father overheard this, took offense and wanted to take my brother "outside to settle it".  The manager then raced over, gave the parents a free lunch and coupons for next time and apologized to them, saying nothing at all to us.  When the family finally left, my brother got applause from the remaining customers.
If I screamed like that kid, I would possibly be arrested for disturbing the peace.  I would definately be asked to leave.   
I am extreme, but I think children should be limited to McDonalds, etc. until they can act civilized.  About 18 or so...

[crashbot]

Thats pretty much that case there. If you dare have the audacity to ask these people to notch down their childs terrible behavior you are deemed  family hating monster and driven from the town. Meanwhile, they are free to ruin evenone elses good time and seem to feel entitled to do so simply because they have children.

[Hoowil]

I have had people comment on my kids, although very rarely negatively. The only time I took any offence was on an airplane where the guy in front of us complained that my daughter (then 18 months old) started 'squirming too much for him to feel comfortable' on a 5 hour flight. Hell, that long in one of those seats and I start to squirm. And it wasn't even as if she was being loud or disruptive, just not sitting still in her seat.
As to anyone being treated like a leper for complaining, honestly, if somebody reacts that strongly, either they were already pissed off, or you came over aggresively, or both. If you wait till you're pissed, and approach me in a threatening manner, I will get defensive. Doesn't matter if its about the kids or what I ordered. Granted, my wife and I do not let our kids stay if they are being what we consider is too loud (well before most people would probably complain).
As a manager of a cafe, I know that places do take complaints very seriously, if they are brought up appropraitely. I would never reward somebody for doing something that bothered the rest of my clientelle.
In the same thought, I have had threats from groups of adults when camping and the kids and wife are unable to sleep because they are being loud. I've had a hotel tell me that if I come on a weekend that I should just expect partiers to be in the building and bring earplugs if I want quite. Again, I say, don't assume kids will be loud, but make it so anyone who is making it hard on everyone else is just as liable for their actions.

[Kiss-me-Kate]

Should restaurants have an adult only section?  H3ll yes!

I have a child who is 14 now, and she is kind and good natured.   When she was younger, there was no way I would drag her into a restaurant.  She was just awful to bring places.  So I either found a sitter, or stayed home.  Too many parents now-a-days lack the common sense to figure that out.   

She is still a pill sometimes, and I have just learned to tell her that she has five seconds to start behaving, or we are leaving, and oh, you lost a privilege too.   (having to stay home from Fest is a good incentive... )
I am also not above being a huge pill to her when she has something she wants to do/somewhere she wants to go just so she gets a dose of her own medicine.

I went to lunch in an almost empty restaurant with my friend.  We were both LOVING that we didn't have to bring our girls with, and we could enjoy a nice quiet lunch without any whining etc.
The hostess seats a family with a cranky toddler next to us.  I told the waitress that she had to move us asap.   

As I am getting older, I have less and less patience for bratty kids and their clueless parents. 

[Taffy Saltwater]

The most egregious example I've ever dealt with was back in the '80's my bf & I made reservations for New Year's Eve at a nice French restaurant.  For the two of us it was $250 + drinks + tax + tip.  Seating was about 11 p.m. and sure enough we're seated next to a couple with a very young infant who was raising cain.  It was not the baby's fault.  And of course since it was New Year's Eve and the restaurant was packed, we couldn't be moved.  And you know I had hired a babysitter for my child.  It was a complete waste of money.

[Merlin the Elder]

That was inexcusable. I cannot believe that the parents would take a baby out to a late-night restaurant! Since they ruined your dinner, they should have paid for it.