This practice was brought to light after a screenshot of the menu, where the surcharge was listed as "for adults unable to parent," was posted to Reddit. This led many outlets to pick up the story and customers to come forward with their experiences.
This restaurant charges you extra for bad parentingOne mother told Today about an instance in which the owner approached her table to inform her of the policy and berated her for bringing children in the first place, claiming they “belonged in a Burger King.” Up to that point, she believed her children had been on their best behavior and was shocked by this confrontation.
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And thus an age-old debate was reignited: Should children be allowed in public? This may seem like a hyperbolic representation of the conversation, but the emotional response from both parents and child-free adults toward this issue is a bit out of control.
Let’s get the obvious statement out of the way: There are many establishments that are absolutely not OK for kids because they’re inappropriate or unsafe. If you have a beef with some bar that won’t let you bring your kid in, you won’t find any validation here. We’re going to be on the bar’s side every time.
Outside of the obvious, however, lurks a bit of gray area. A lot of restaurants are, in theory, OK environments for children, who wouldn’t be exposed to anything dangerous or inappropriate for their age. The issue at that point is, for lack of a better word, the vibes. Upscale restaurants may pride themselves on providing a serene and classy environment that might clash with the average kid’s tendency to be messy and noisy.
Per our research, the Toccoa Riverside Restaurant seems to not live as firmly in this gray area as its owner would like to believe. While it doesn’t have a designated kids’ menu, it does have options that are definitely suitable for kids such as burgers and chicken tenders. (The rest of the menu is mostly seafood.)
Furthermore, pictures of the restaurant showcase a laid-back, rustic aesthetic commonly found in family-friendly restaurants. It would be easy for someone not aware of the surcharge to think this might be an OK place to take their kids.
And, perhaps most damningly, there’s a dog-friendly patio. This is an obvious double standard, as dogs can also be noisy and messy. (As can adult humans, for that matter.)
In 2014, in Dallas, Cane Rosso owner and formerly notorious troll Jay Jerrier faced the exact opposite backlash. At Cane Rosso’s White Rock location once stood a fountain with a fire pit in the middle of the patio. There were complaints of kids crawling around in the fountain and playing too closely to the flame.
Jerrier responded by redesigning the area to be less tempting for kids to play in. For some customers, this was an outrageous concession.
One response on Reddit read, “If you can’t keep them from playing in a water feature in a restaurant, take those little shits to CiCi’s and save everyone a big fucking headache.”
Like we said earlier, the issue of unruly kids at restaurants provokes some strong emotions.
On one hand, kids are gonna be kids. There’s no parent perfect enough to stop every single public outburst before it happens. Sometimes it’s on us to accept that when we go out in public, the public is going to be there. We can’t always dictate the vibe of whatever room we're in.
On the other hand, we’ve all been in situations where some stranger’s kid is becoming an entire restaurant’s problem, surpassing the average outburst that’s easy to tune out. In those situations, where we can barely communicate with the server because a kid at the next table over is having a tantrum, a zero-tolerance policy would be a godsend.
It’s well within a private business’ right to implement such a policy. Not all places need to cater to kids. However, some places still should and, frankly, not enough do."Sometimes it’s on us to accept that when we go out in public, the public is going to be there. We can’t always dictate the vibe of whatever room we're in."
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Remember the aforementioned comments about kids belonging at Burger King and CiCi’s? Recent redesigns of fast-food restaurants don’t seem to reflect that. Indoor playgrounds are being swapped out for sleek, modern interiors. Some newer Wendy’s locations even have fireplaces. These restaurants clearly would also like to cash in on the appeal of quiet dining experiences for grownups.
Kids are being catered to less these days because they don’t have disposable income like childless millennials do. Even places like arcades and bowling alleys are increasingly likely to be marketed to adults.
So while we all agree that screaming kids in restaurants are a problem, let’s flip the solution on its head. Instead of creative expansive lists of places where kids shouldn’t go, we should be encouraging restaurants that accommodate them. Bring back restaurants with playgrounds so kids can run around there instead of the fountains at Cane Rosso.
Kids are people who get hungry just like the rest of us. If adults have a right to go out to eat even when they’re in the kind of mood that compels them to scream at people, so do children.
As for establishments like Toccoa Riverside Restaurant, they should either enact a firm “no kids allowed” policy or find a way to keep the peace without being a dick.
