In bad taste? An eatery in rural Georgia charges extra for unruly kids — and the policy is sparking an online debate after it went viral on Reddit.
When diners open their menu at the Toccoa Riverside Restaurant, they are greeted with a warning: “Adult surcharge: For adults unable to parent $$$.”
Lyndsey Landmann thought it was a joke.
“I remember thinking, ‘No way is this real,” Landmann, 36, tells TODAY.com.
Landmann and her husband, Kyle, who live in Florida, visited the waterfront establishment earlier this month with four other families. There were 11 children at the table ranging in age from 3 to 8 years old.
“The kids were sitting at one end of the table and they were being so good,” Landmann says. “I even commented halfway through the meal, ‘I can’t believe how well-behaved they are.’”
After dessert, some of the parents took their children down to the water. That’s when Landmann says the owner, Tim Richter, approached their table.
“He has the menu in hand and he’s showing us where it talks about the fee,” Landmann recalls. “At first I thought he was gonna compliment us and be like, ‘But you won’t be charged because your kids were so well-behaved.’”
Nope. Richter was there to inform Landmann that there would be a $50 charge per bill at their table. When Landmann asked for an explanation, she says Richter told her they were being “too loud.” She says he was also angry that the kids were “running around outside,” even though they were chaperoned by adults.
“I was like, ‘They were quiet the whole time.’ He got in our faces and told us that we belonged at Burger King and not at his restaurant. We asked to speak to the owner and he said he was the owner,” Landmann says. “I looked around the restaurant and everybody was frozen watching this show he was putting on. He was yelling.”
“It was alarming,” she adds.
Toccoa Riverside Restaurant did not respond to an email request for comment. When reached by phone, an employee told TODAY.com, “We’re not going to comment on a policy we’ve had for years. We just want to live in the woods and cook.”
Lyndsey’s husband Kyle gave the establishment one-star on Google reviews after the experience — and he’s not the first parent to do so.
“My wife was rocking the baby (not crying, just to make him sleep) and this ‘manager’ told her that you don’t do that in a fancy restaurant,” one person wrote, in part.
However some people think the Toccoa Riverside Restaurant has the right idea.
“I’ve been out to eat more than once where parents were literally letting their kids wild. Not sure if this is the answer, but something definitely should be done about such parents,” one person commented on a Reddit.
Added another, “Good, more places need something like this. Parents who bring their kids into a restaurant … letting them do whatever they want is annoying as hell.”