Childen under 10 do NOT believe in an upscale restaurant. Period.
Depends on the parents and the child. I no longer have any under ten, but we regularly took our children to white table cloth restaurants without incident. We didn’t take them when they were four, but long before ten they had table manners Queen Elizabeth would applaud. It’s all about parenting.
Actually we worked our way up the “food chain” so to speak.
We started with Denny’s and moved up from there. Eventually we made it to the most upscale place in town.
We informed the maître d’ of our needs. They were pretty basic. We understood the time window on the children was about 30-45 minutes and that if they could keep an eye on the clock the children would be perfect. They did as we asked, we were out in about 45 minutes and the kids were exceptionally well behaved.
Unruly children are bored children, and that is not the server’s fault but the parents fault.
By far the worst for service with children is Red Robin
We took our 4 children to upscale ethnic restaurants (German, Hungarian, Middle Eastern, Italian, Spanish, Hibatchi) in the US, Canada the UK and Ireland from the time they were 4 years old. They also went to Broadways plays, musicals, world dance and music like the Chieftans starting that age. My daughter’s favorite performance at age 4 was Electra.
Our children made no noise, no candy wrappers, nothing that would annoy other patrons or restaurant goers. We played word games with them in restaurants, hangman and let them go outside with one of us after ordering until the food came sometimes. As for theatre & movies each child had one experience where they were not quiet and they were immediately taken to the lobby where they and a parent waited until intermission or the end of the show. That was all it took, after that just a look stopped a swinging foot or a crinkling theatre program.
Our refrain was that other people might be having a special occasion, might have planned and saved to be there and they needed & deserved our courtesy to enable them to enjoy their occasion. Don’t infringe on the rights of others. Consistency in expectations and time to get wiggles out before & after always worked for us. The adults around us were much worse behaved.
Really? Even if they are well-behaved?
I can guarantee you that if you had been at a restaurant with my young son, you probably would not have known he was there. He learned very early not to act up in public. I don't know how I taught him that--husband claimed that I would slap his hands if he misbehaved--whatever, he did not dare misbehave in public.
Parents who allow their children to misbehave loudly in public annoy me to death.
>>Childen under 10 do NOT believe in an upscale restaurant. Period.
I say it depends on the children AND the parents, but true for the vast majority. I have no criticism for the restaurant in question, and have some close friends for whom this move would rocket this restaurant to the top of their “to try” list.
When our boy was little, our rule was that we didn't take him with us to eat in any place that didn't have a drive-thru.
We gradually moved up to mid-grade chain restaurants. Appleby's and the sort, where you get table service, but it's fast. We waited until about Middle School before anything approaching "upscale".
Smaller kids get bored, distracted, and antsy while waiting longer for the personalized service and food prep you get in a high-end place. It's not their fault.