kids at the bar

[PepperElf]

i'm visiting mom and dad for the weekend and we're going out to their favorite rib joint for dinner...

As usual we're going to sit on the bar side of the restaurant - they have both barstools and booths on that side. The reasoning is somewhat simple. Mom says she's already raised her kids and wants to go out for dinner without being disturbed by them.

Therefore she sits on the bar side where kids normally aren't allowed.


Unfortunately it didn't work out for them that well last Father's day... not only were they letting kids into the bar side, the parents weren't really doing their jobs of monitoring the rugrats.

Apparently one table had the adults - grandparents and the parents, and the children had a table all to themselves. Yes... a table of 6 kids, none older than 8, without adult supervision on the BAR side of a restaurant. Can we say "recipe for hell?"

At one point one of the grandparents had to intervene and take a serrated blade from one of the kids. So at least they prevented them from cutting themselves.


Unfortunately the management didn't do anything to stop it. I'm not sure if they have any policies about kids in the bar area - I thought they did, but I don't know... I'll check when we go tonight. (just asked mom and she said they didn't have a policy)

However, with the way the kids were behaving - somewhat out of control and noisy as disruptive - also cost them other customers. Mom said at least one couple at the bar stopped talking, finished their drinks and left.



bleh. not saying parents shouldn't take their kids out, just that bar areas should be kept kids-free so that other patrons can enjoy their time out too.

[Midorikawa]

bleh. not saying parents shouldn't take their kids out, just that bar areas should be kept kids-free so that other patrons can enjoy their time out too.

I completely agree. Wife and I don't have kids for a reason (several actually, but that's for another day). I go somewhere while not expecting a perfect nice quiet dinner, but certainly not expecting obnoxious noisy kids not being kept in check by their legal guardians (in most of these cases, calling them parents is giving them too much credit.)

[Plaidman]

No rules for kids in bar areas in restraunts. Sometimes the whole area is just too full. They don't want to turn anyone away, when they have places to sit them.

It's annoying yes, but unless they give them beer, they aren't breaking laws or rules.

[Midorikawa]

No rules for kids in bar areas in restraunts. Sometimes the whole area is just too full. They don't want to turn anyone away, when they have places to sit them.

It's annoying yes, but unless they give them beer, they aren't breaking laws or rules.

actually, that depends on where the story took place. Kids can't be at the bar area here in UT, and if it's mainly a bar, noone under 21 is allowed in, period. There's a restaurant in SLC I love that sells good Cajun food and has a beer list a mile long. Big Brother requires that the restaurant scan your ID and keep it in a database for x number of days. You can't even get in if you're under 21.

[Plaidman]

actually, that depends on where the story took place. Kids can't be at the bar area here in UT, and if it's mainly a bar, noone under 21 is allowed in, period. There's a restaurant in SLC I love that sells good Cajun food and has a beer list a mile long. Big Brother requires that the restaurant scan your ID and keep it in a database for x number of days. You can't even get in if you're under 21.

Yeah, but I'm betting the OP meant a place like Applebees, Outback, or any other various restraunts that also serve beer and have a special section for adults, but when they run out of room the others go there. At least in Oregon. Saw it in California and Washington too.

[Midorikawa]

Yeah, but I'm betting the OP meant a place like Applebees, Outback, or any other various restraunts that also serve beer and have a special section for adults.

So was I. Granted, Utah has some rather ridiculous laws concerning liquor, but the fact remains that there are states that go to that extreme. It really depends on where you are.

[PepperElf]

ya... i never knew why until now .... but that's why mom never let us sit in the bar area when we were kids. same idea. she was intentionally leaving the bar for the people without kids so that they wouldn't be disturbed by children.


and over crowding...
doesn't really excuse how the family acted, especially with having 6 kids at a table without direct supervision... not when the eldest is 8.

[Hawaiian Eskimo]

Here in ID, there's no rules against minors in the bar section. They'll tend to stick people there when the rest gets full.

The only law is that you can't have people under 21 sitting at the bar. Nothing against being around one.

[ThirdGenRetail]

I couldn't tell you about the bar laws here, I pretty much never enter one due to the terrible correlation of - Off the next day(I refuse to touch alcohol if I have to work the next day... Not that I ever even touch it, because...) and money(By Sunday... I'm poor again. And I work all weekend. By the time I have a day off... I have no money!). So... No idea here on the laws.

Though the title alone made me think of the movie Sweet Home Alabama...

"You have a baby! In a bar..."

[Whiskey]

Yeah, but I'm betting the OP meant a place like Applebees, Outback, or any other various restraunts that also serve beer and have a special section for adults, but when they run out of room the others go there. At least in Oregon. Saw it in California and Washington too.

I've never seen a bar area in an applebees (never been to outback) other than stools at the bar.


I would frequent any restaurant that had a ADULTS ONLY - NO KIDS section.


also; "had to intervene and take a serrated blade from one of the kids."

[Lace Neil Singer]

There might not be any rules against kids at the bar, but there should be rules against misbehaving patrons, no matter how old they are. Over here, anyway, people will be chucked out of restaurants or bars if they misbehave, or have misbehaving children; I've complained about a couple once in a Wetherspoons who were sitting there necking beer while their two kids ran riot. Said couple were told to leave.

In the OP's situation, I would have complained to the manager and if they wouldn't do anything, I'd leave and make sure that they knew it. If I want a nice, quiet, child free dinner, then there's no point in staying in a place overrun by rioting kids and parents who can't or won't control them.

I miss the smoking section... *sigh* It was always the one place you could sit and have dinner that was guarenteed to be completely child free.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I miss the smoking section... *sigh* It was always the one place you could sit and have dinner that was guarenteed to be completely child free.

Because parents always make sure their kids have a safe, smoke free environment.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I'm pretty sure in Cheeselandialand kids can be at the bar with their parents. At least I remember being in bars with my dad when I was still a kid.

But then again, here it's common for kids to operate beer stands instead of lemonade stands. *tongue in cheek

[Lace Neil Singer]

Because parents always make sure their kids have a safe, smoke free environment.

No, silly... cuz kids were banned from the smoking section. And it was always very strictly enforced in the places I went to. I once overheard a very amusing argument between a woman who wanted to take her kids into the smoking section, and the bar staff at a Wetherspoons who were adamant that she could not. She ended up leaving, swearing never to return.

[Ironclad Alibi]

No, silly... cuz kids were banned from the smoking section.

One more difference between the UK and US. I don't smoke, but if they did that over here I'd be inclined to seat in the smoking areas. If I could find any that were left.