Darlings!!! When La Diva was recently entertaining out of town guests at a local, casual seafood bar and grill in South Beach, I experienced something that became the subject of lively discussion.What to do when a baby cries and disrupts everyone's fine evening in a restaurant?
The restaurant the "incident" occurred in is a regular kind of "middle of the road" restaurant with burgers, fish, steak, ribs and a lively bar that played sport on myriad TVs. It was also 8 o'clock at night with lots of bar patrons, a loud and busy happy hour with Bud Light beer promo girls walking around. An okay place to hang as an adult but not La Diva's first pick of a restaurant to take toddlers at a time when they should have already eaten and have been tucked into bed.
Crikey, what a maw on this young' un! I feel sorry for her future husband! Let's face it, babies aren't built to be ignored and have those lungs for a reason! Here's an example of what can happen in a restaurant with a baby crying and management or the parents refuse to take action....click here to find out now!
As we headed into the restaurant from the parking lot, a family of three adults and two kids (both toddlers) walked in the door in front of us. We didn't think a thing about it. They sat at a large round table near the bar and we were seated in the next section over. Again, didn't think a thing about it.
However, when the toddler started to wail and the only thing that lie between us and the disruption was a fish tank, things changed and rapidly got VERY UGLY.
And boy, did this kid wail.
JEEZ LOUISE!
The two teen-agers I was with showed no pity or patience, though my sister and I were willing to give the poor mother a break...she was going to take the little screamer outside, right? RIGHT?!
NOPE.
The adults let the child cry on and on and on....it went on for at least a good five minutes. Now, five minutes doesn't seem like a long time, but I assure you, in screaming baby terms, it's an eternity.
As the chaotic table was situated right next to the bar, La Diva noticed a couple of women who'd been chatting, look over annoyingly at the screaming kid. I watched them closely, wondering just how long they would be able to "take" this banshee just a few feet away.
Thankfully, it didn't take long for one of the ladies to pipe up and ask WTF?!
I heard the father say without apology: "Its a baby." No kidding, it's a baby all right. A baby in a bar and grill at 8 o'clock at night that you have no business being in, buddy.
LISTEN. I AIN'T LYIN' HERE WHEN I SAY THAT BABY FREAKIN' WAILED AND WAILED FOR A LONG-ASS TIME!
Why didn't the mother take it outside?
A few minutes later, I heard the lady at the hightop table snarl: "Yeah, it's all about YOU, right? No one else? Can't you see you are disturbing everyone in here?" Frustrated, the woman and her friend stormed out vowing to carry on their "happy hour" somewhere else. But we were still there. And we were still hungry.
Do you know that this mother never took her kid outside and it wailed continuously three separate times?
Don't be cruel, now. I mean it. It's got a mother somewhere.After voicing our own displeasure to our waiter about the lack of action from management in "dealing" with the "baby?-what-screaming-baby?-parents," we scrambled quickly to to the rear of the restaurant, as far away as possible, and were determined not to let the blubbering bubby detract us from having a nice, quiet dinner where we can actually converse and hear each other. Ahhh....
We were not even settled at our table (actually the employees' table!) when we heard a bit of a whimper. Uh oh. We glared around and found one of the waiters laughing, pretending to be the crying baby and playing a trick on us!
Ha. Ha.
Let's see how funny you are when you see your tip! (but it WAS pretty funny actually!)
Ha. Ha.
Let's see how funny you are when you see your tip! (but it WAS pretty funny actually!)
So darlings, what to do? Yelp readers discuss that very question here.
And, what about you parents out there that WANT to go out for dinner but aren't sure how to handle this situation yourselves? How DO you cope? La Diva found a few sites on how to keep baby quiet in the restaurant here. AND MORE ARE HERE!!!! (Yes, darlings, TWO LINKS as some of you obviously need all the help you can get!!)And also, here's a place that kids are welcomed at: click here if you want to further enable your already-spoilt kids that have not been socialized or are just too damn young to be going to a restaurant, er, I mean, if you want to take your little angels someplace "kid friendly!"
Oh dear....how did THIS rude photo get in here?! (tee hee!) RIP Dom DeLuise!In the meantime, La Diva wants to know what YOU THINK?! Take a mo' and take the poll!
(click on answers to activate drop down menu!)
One of the reasons I don't have kids. I just hate it when parent's don't take their children outside or home, for that matter. But, I'm not the aggressive type. I actually try to not frequent restaurants that have a "family" crowd, but it sounds like this place wasn't appropriate for children. I do think it's incredibly selfish to thrust a screaming child onto fellow diners.
ReplyDeleteSchedule:
ReplyDelete1) 8:30 Take child to bar-and-grille and get table next to bar at happy hour.
2) 11:30 Take child to Martini/Cigar Bar and sit next to piano. Complain loudly about the smoke.
3) 1:00 Take child to "Gentlemen's Club". Sit in lap-dance section.
4) 4:00 Take child to BYOB biker-run bottle club. Sit between the Hell's Angels and Pagan factions. Complain loudly about the meth odors.
Thanks for your comments! Troll you are funny!
ReplyDeleteWe were never allowed in restaurants until we could understand when my parents said "BE QUIET OR WE'RE LEAVING.", they really meant it.
ReplyDeleteI recently left a sushi restaurant early because there was a baby screaming. Who takes a BABY for sushi?? As I left I told the waiter, I'm leaving without having anything else because of the screaming kid who is buying nothing". I also shot a death stare to the parents, but of course, they think the world loves THEIR baby, so I stopped short of telling them they should use the take out services next time. I try to get late reservations at restaurants.
I've heard that for the kid's first year, going to restaurants are "do-able" cuz if you time it right, the baby just sleeps.
ReplyDeleteThis was the case with my "new-mother" friend I went to lunch with last week. In fact, the baby did start to cry a little but we were leaving and she stopped once she was picked up. My friend was apologizing to me to the point of being silly, hey, babies cry, that's what they "do." The baby got loads of attention from other dining ladies and one gentleman complimented my friend on what a "good baby" she was. UP until the very end, no one had heard a peep out of her!
We spoke about the incident I had experienced and she agreed with me about some parent's lack of consideration for others dining. I know she'll be one of those mothers that aren't all sanctimonious and self-righteous, acting like they are the first ever to give birth!!! I applaud her good sense!
Golden foodie post at the Troll Report.
ReplyDeleteOne of my biggest pet peeves, parents who don't know when to leave the kiddies at home with a BABY SITTER.
ReplyDeleteOnce, while waiting in line at the Washington Monument, I managed to get a screaming child to cease its tantrum by quietly threatening to carve him up and eat him if he didn't shush up. I suppose that might be even more effective in a restaurant . . .
Moi, I like your style! hehe!
ReplyDeleteNewborns are easy to take out. I encourage a new mom friend of mine to bring her boy because otherwise we'd never see her. BUT, this kid was about 2 and the crying was that "I need attention" fussin' not "I'm hungry, feed me and I'll go back to sleep."
ReplyDeleteand Bwahahahahah to MOI.
Note to parents: This is why McDonalds was invented. Go there. NOW.
ReplyDeleteRecently I was seated at a restaurant but moments later heard kids at a table nearby so I got up and left before I ordered as I knew the noise would spoil the ambiance for me.
I'm convinced that some parents are so used to hearing the crying and screaming that they've become immune to it and don't realize how annoying it is to those of us who who would like to walk up to their kids and stick pacifiers in their mouths.
Oh, hi Boxer!
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I think you are right, MJ, I think parents develop that sense of no longer hearing them cry.
ReplyDeleteHey, wonder what Buzzkill thinks? He's got kids!
I voted with the current popular answer. Management should handle it, or Heff leaves !
ReplyDeleteI agree managment should tell them to be STFU or move said parent and kids to another part of the restaurant. A lot of family restaurants will qurantine a section just for kids.
ReplyDeleteThe bigger problem here is that this should not happen in the 1st place because of parent ignorance or discourtesy. And 8:00PM is bedtime for these kids. Taking them into a bar at 8:00 where they probably won't get to bed until 10:00 is child abuse as far as I'm concerned. Said parents that do this shouldn't have kids in the first place.
When my aledged kids were under 5 years old, we never took them anywhere nicer than a McDonalds or Burger King. Not just out of courtesy to other diners but because we felt it was a waste of money for us because we wouldn't enjoy the meal. The monsters are 5 years apart, so there was an almost 10 year strech where we didn't go out to dinner as a family. When the Mrs and I went out, we got a sitter.
And to be honest, I haven't run into the screaming kids situation (that I can recall) for many years. Could be the economy or the fact I'm not near a resort area (which tend to draw more families with kids). I doubt that it's people being more courteous because I do see bad manners and ignorance in just about every other facet of daily life. Don't get me started on driving and food shopping ettiquette. My 2 cents.
Thanks, Buzzkill, I appreciate your comments. Nice to hear from parents to get "the other side."
ReplyDeleteNow that I think about it...what the hell was the host thinking seating them near the bar to begin with? He's an idiot and should have been pulled up for his lack of foresight!
BTW, Miami has been deemed the worst city for road rage! yay! Manners and consideration are out the window here!
Not too much screaming kid action in my recent dining adventures however I'd hit the management hard on solving the problem or take my business elsewhere. My experience has been if the parents don't care to try and walk an infant quiet away from the diners, nothing anyone will do will change their bad behavior. That being said if it's disrupting my dining enjoyment I will leave. Food usually ranks above ambience and mood but the screaming baby whips that up to first place. It would be tough on the restaurant but maybe they can get a really big screaming child tip from the lovely parents. HA!
ReplyDeleteI had the exact same experience this past weekend. Parents with a baby in a pub-restaurant after 7 p.m. with a toddler so exhausted she was out of control. Put up with it for 30 minutes (!!) until the mother finally left with the baby and the father ate alone.
ReplyDeleteIn a pub style restaurant in NJ, a wailing kid (on & off for half an hour) was throwing things on the floor as well and banging his high chair plate. The mother did nothing. Unbelievable...lazy bitch. Just take the kid in your lap, or stay the hell home!
ReplyDelete