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Expectations at restaurants!
Posted: Apr 21, 2008 in Things to do, Dining, Culture
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I was inspired by the variety of expectations people have not only concerning food apparently but how others in the restaurant should be expected to observe unclear guidelines so I thought this might open up a more generalized discussion about expectations on a broad spectrum of things we expect in a dining experience.
For example, I expect bedlam, chaos and broken plastic pitchers of Mountain Dew at Chuck E. Cheese. The food will be OK. The other family celebrating a b-day will make me want to rush all of my kid's presents out to the car as quickly as possible. My kids will need to seriously scrub their hands and just about everything else when we get home. There will not be very many positive examples of good parenting but a whole list of what-not-to-do's will be created.
At some place like Applebee's, O'Charley's or the like, people will remain seated generally. Kids will fuss occasionally due to the lack of bedlam they so enjoy at the aforementioned restaurant but it is not a guy's night out place or a place to have a bachelorette party.
You do the rest. Oh, but at Oceanaire (I love that place) the kids stay home or they better no wear the napkin goes, which fork to use and how to excuse themselves to the bathroom. The waitstaff better be impressed by this kid!
I think in general school-age kids ought to behave themselves no matter what kind of restaurant they're in. (Babies are excluded, and as a parent I don't blame other parents for trying to get out for dinner with a baby, but you have to take them out and finish the meal up quickly if they get fussy. I remember a very nice waitress at the old Papa Joe's on Lafayette Road who very nicely walked a fussy little one around while the rest of us finished up.) And of course you have to be willing to leave; no fun of course, but it makes a point.
But to get kids to where they can behave, you have to practice, at at places where, generally, a melt-down is no big deal. Like McDonald's, where there is considerable leeway for fussing and squirming, or family-style places. But you still have to get across that there are expectations.
Someplace like Perkins was probably our next step; that one's tougher because they have to sit still longer waiting on the food, but it's still fairly loud, so the occasional outburst isn't too awkward, and most kids like breakfast food.
Restaurants like Applebees, with higher behavior expectations, and family-friendly ethnic restaurants kind of came next. And it's an ongoing process.