Crying baby & not so fine dining
 

This past weekend, my wife and I (sans kids) celebrated our 11th anniversary at a nice restaurant (Navio at the Ritz Half Moon Bay). Three tables away, there was a family with a baby (my guess is about 2 mos.). The baby cried. Cried some more. Kept crying. Over a span of about two hours, the baby cried about a hour. Nonetheless, the baby never left the table.

There were some very unhappy people nearby. The couple one table away from the baby moved to another table. The pair of ladies next to us stayed, but were quite unhappy. My wife and I had enough sparkling wine to just laugh and shake our heads.

I'd be curious to know what people think Navio should have done here. It strikes me that after a couple of minutes of crying, they should have asked the family to take the baby out of the restaurant until the crying stops. Even though I think they should have done this, I felt sorry for the staff -- they were put in a tough spot.

I can tell you that with mine one of us takes her outside when she cries. I think it's easier for all concerned.

We always took ours out, and rarely took them someplace nice.

But sometimes it's either kill everyone in reach or eat someplace without chicken fingers.

We used to do the same thing -- hot potato dining, although not usually at a fine dining restaurant. We were ideal customers, as we showed up around 5:30 or 6 pm, ate quickly (the baby's waking up!) and often left before 7 pm.

This is a dangerous subject on FT, but I would highly support a ban of children still at crying / food throwing age at restaurants above a certain caliber. Navio is right on the cusp, but I would certainly hate to be bothered by a crying baby there.

Rather than an outright ban, how about this policy, which the maître d' gently informs guests of who bring in a baby or young child:

We're happy to have you bring your baby/child with you for dinner. We request that if he/she starts to make noise, you take him/her out of the restaurant so that others may enjoy a peaceful dining experience.

Then, if there's noise, they can simply refer back to the policy, which the guests knew about before they were seated.

You can discuss it, but it is not like anything is going to happen.

It is beyond me why someone would take a 2 month old to a fine dining restaurant, but people do the strangest things. I’m sure the staff was not thrilled about what was going on, but what can they really do? Go up and say “Do you realize that your little gift from heaven is being a nuisance? Or you clueless parents?”

While it may not be against the rules, it's polite to leave young children at home when dining in a nice (expensive) resturant. There are plenty of resturants which are family oriented where young children are welcome and encouraged to come with their parents.

That might be true about FT discussions, but comments/complaints to the restraurants might have an effect. I just sent an email to Navio. I made clear that I really sympathized with them for the difficult postition this family put their staff in. Still, I suggested that in the future, they should gently ask the family of a noisy baby/child to take them out of the restaurant until they quiet down.

I also made clear that I wasn't asking for any compensation. I'm no cry baby.

I agree. ^

This restaurant WANTS to cater to patrons of fine dining who desire to bring their infants with them. Perhaps that's a growing market. I don't know; it's not my industry. I do know that we would not put up with that annoying ambiance; infants cry, that's what they do. We would leave and never return. To spend lots of money only to hear endless crying of infants...maybe that's a plus for some people, but it's not for us.

Are you going to dictate politeness? Some people who have endless money to spend WANT to bring their infants and babies no matter how inappropriate it is. If restaurants cater to them, then the only thing you can do is stop giving them business and make a point of telling that to the manager. If the manager could care less, then that "fine" restaurant really isn't for you....or for me.

I completely agree. Lots of places do it with cell phones, why not kids?


Edited to add, Happy Anniversary!

I agree with this, but the problem is defining what is nice or expensive. The lines are not as clear as they once were in my opinion.

I'll skip the debate and try to answer the question...

I think the restaurant should absolutely have taken some action. I would probably have started by asking nearby diners if they wished to move away from the noise, since they are the ones being inconvenienced. Some might say "move us", some might say "we're fine" and some might say "could you just shut the brat up".

The next thing would be to ask the offending parents (and it is the parents who are offending) if they would be more comfortable in a more out-of-the-way table. If they say they're fine where they are, I would ask them out of consideration for our other guests to please take the baby out until he/she quiets down a little.

If they get offended and leave, I think the goodwill you generate with the other guests far outweighs the offenders' indignation. JMO...