Comments on: Eating Out

By: Betsy

Betsy — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:03:33 +0000

It’s not gourmet, but Chick-Fil-A is our all-time favorite place to take the kids (2.5, 1, and 1). The manager on duty at lunch bends over backwards for me (I’m usually there with another mom of 2 young kids, so we’re rather needy customers). Maybe it’s because we now have a track record with this one restaurant: we always clean up, our kids are well-behaved, and we get there before the lunch rush. Perhaps being will to cultivate a relationship with one particular restaurant is worth the effort. We nearly always get the same thing, too, so ordering is a no brainer. We have yet to venture into a sit-down and order restaurant with the gang because 3 high chairs is just a lot of effort for everyone involved!

By: Twinmom122606

Twinmom122606 — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:37:08 +0000

We get that ALL the time. We even had one time a California Pizza Kitchen, where the girls were in a REALLY bad mood and everything i put in front of them they chunked it on the floor. I didn’t bother to pick the food up one by one..knowing i’d pick it up at the end of our meal. TWO…I REPEAT…TWO bussers or employees of the restaurant came around the corner to check out the floor and stare at us! I was LIVID! I mean seriously…if you see a family with three kidos under 4…do you seriously think they’re going to eat like an adult?? I was SOOO mad…i picked everything up and we left immediately! I should have yelled at the manager…but what’s the point. I guess it would have made ME feel better…but oh well! We still left a good tip…despite the bad looks and people staring. We have ONE kid friendly restaurant in TX…maybe just Houston…it’s called RoadHouse…and if you live in TX..or Houston and have more than one kido..check it out. It’s cool b/c they serve peanuts and SO…the floor is ALWAYS dirty and you can’t tell if the kidos make a mess or not! We’ve ALWAYS had great service there..and we seriously go there about every other week! We LOVE THAT PLACE!

Sorry about your bad experience with the waitress!

By: Trisa

Trisa — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:08:11 +0000

It is not just walking in with kids in tow that gets the evil eye. While I was about 7 1/2 months prego with my duo, my hubby and I went out for what was to be our last date night without babies. We went to the Islands restaurant chain and they saw my big belly and kind of stared at us. They tried to sit us in a booth and I couldn’t fit (embarassing!) We then had to wait an extra 1/2 hour for a table with chairs (what about the handicapped people out there, they shouldn’t have to wait just to get a table they can fit into, nor should a very pregnant woman have to wait for food) Anyway the hostess wasn’t all that understanding, but in the end we got our table the manager apologized and we got a free appetizer of our choice (which of course I downed feeling starved by the growing babies inside) Is it so awful to be a family in public, or is it just the inexperience of the hostess/wait staff, after all most are just teens.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:12:29 +0000

We try and stick to the places we KNOW are kid-friendly. They have longer kids menus than just a handful of things; they offer tons for them to do and see, etc. Applebees is best for a chain and we have a couple favorites, locally.

The worst for us was when we had to wait nearly an hour to get a seat because we needed two high chairs (we forgot our boosters) … I was very upset after that. (Red Lobster) Will never return there.

By: Sheena

Sheena — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:49:48 +0000

I used to work at a restaraunt in town who had kkds eat free Saturdays. Most all of the other wait staff dreaded it. Most people who come in with their children let them make a huge mess those people also are normally the ones who don’t tip. It’s hard to get that bitter taste out of your mouth from “those families”. Now as a parent myself I get this almost any time we go out with the girls. This weekend we’re really going to put some wait staff to the test. We’re going to visit my family and we will have three moms and seven children! I bet we’ll get a lot of dirty looks.

By: LauraC

LauraC — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:24:05 +0000

We definitely get the same experience some places. We try to be polite to other customers but even with best intentions we have been THAT FAMILY before… the ones where both kids are yelling, throwing food, shouting NO! We make a quick exit but still… I have much more sympathy now for the parents of crazy kids in public.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:40:59 +0000

Krissy, It’s sad but true - upon entering a restaurant with the children, I can almost hear the groaning of the staff. But, I have to admit that as a PATRON, I am usually annoyed with other people’s children in restaurants! Most moms are not as considerate as you just described and therefore, we are all pre-judged!

Like you, I clean my table to the best of my ability before vacating. I also wipe down the chairs/booth/boosters seats, etc. I do not tolerate my daughter’s voice rising above a certain level (in proportion to the background noise of the restaurant) and I certainly do not let her wander alone amongst the other tables. But when I see other families, I often feel like we are the exception, not the rule. It is the rare server who seems to appreciate this or take two seconds and give a little smile to my children. SO, I try to stick to places where we’ve had good experiences before.