Eating Out? Check for a 'No Kids Allowed' Policy

Before you had kids, you may have scowled at a screaming child interrupting your lovely meal a deux. Now, as a parent, you commiserate. It’s not easy being a mom or dad, just trying to enjoy a dinner out uninterrupted by wails, tantrums or demands. And it’s certainly a little embarrassing when your little one decides that a restaurant is the perfect time to get very vocal.

But a bit of a ruckus and commotion is to be expected where kids are involved. Most establishments appreciate this fact and family friendly restaurants abound. Take some of Germantown’s best: Red Robin, IHOP, Mi Rancho, Hard Times Café, The Greene Turtle.

But near Pittsburgh, McDain’s Restaurant and Golf Center is setting a precedent with a new policy: No children under the age of 6. Correction, their website states in bold red: “Serving Children Six Years of Age and Older.”

However you spin it, the fact remains: This restaurant doesn’t want kids in their midst.

“Nothing wrong with babies,” said Mike Vuick, owner of McDain’s, to Pittsburgh TV station WTAE. “The fact is that you can’t control their volume. There may be restaurants that prefer to cater to such things. Not here. I think it’s the height of being impolite and selfish and I instituted a policy.”

Let’s face it – kids are unpredictable, but that’s a big part of their appeal and charm. This restaurant policy has essentially lumped all small children into one category: nuisances. Patrons understand rules like “No smoking” and “No shirt, no shoes, no service,” but what does banning children do to a business? It depends who you ask.

One regular of McDain’s – the mother of a 13-month-old who used to eat at the restaurant weekly – is offended by the policy and considers it ignorant. However, the change – which just occurred this summer strictly in response to customer complaints, he says – was met with an overwhelmingly positive response and he expects no drop in business.

Though Vuick explains that the change was instituted to rid the establishment of small babies that can’t be controlled or be quiet and kindergarten-aged kids with “increasingly poor manners,” it’s the “uncooperative” parents who mostly irritate him, in particular the parents who “act like we’re the ones being offensive” when staff members ask them to keep their children calm.

From Vuick’s point of view, it seems he never courted the younger clientele anyway: “We’ve never even had a children’s menu,” he stated.

While there are some parents who really don’t care if their children are disruptive or annoying in public, the majority of parents are just trying to enjoy some time out of the house with their kids, and managing their babies and toddlers as best they can.