10 year old ordering off kids menu - restaurants that won't allow this?

[HelenParr]

I suspect that at least part of the kids only on the kids menu rule is related to inventory and planning. The over/under for the profit probably varies.

OP: Just wanted to note that at Flying Fish, they are very accomodating. I've been with picky eaters, dietary restrictions, tall kids, short kids, kids who climb on rocks...anywhoo, could be we were just lucky (a dozen+ times), and your experience may vary, but our FF dinners have consistently been easy and wonderful...including cooking up plain chicken breast if they had it -- sauces on the side by request...plain fish with no added salt ingredients, etc.

Have a great trip!!

 

[cymbaldiva]

I do miss real sandwiches (Aunt Polly's pbj).

Me too!!

 

[bicker]

I suspect that at least part of the kids only on the kids menu rule is related to inventory and planning.

I don't see how that could be. If X% of adults order child meals on Mondays in February, then you can do your planning taking that into account.

The only explanation that fits afaic is the one I mentioned earlier, that child meals are a loss-leader to motivate parents with children to patronize the restaurant.

 

[susieq76]

I actually upped my kids to "adult" status on the dining plan this year- but they are only 9 and 7. The last two years they wanted the adult food at 90% of the restaurants which left me eating the kids food

There are two places that I am going to get them a kids meal (and pay oop) because they won't like the menu (unless there is some special or something)...

 

[jbm02]

Thanks for this post. My mom wants to take my DD10 to Chefs du France as a grandmother/granddaughter special dinner (she loves Remy!)- but there is absolutely NOTHING on the adult menu that my DD would eat (not exactly a picky eater but a typical 10 yo - chicken, yes; chicken with the sauces, etc - no). I was glad to see that they have a kids menu but was worried that they wouldn't let her order from it. Our plan was to offer to pay for whatever an adult portion would be. We'll just play it by ear and see what is the best way to handle this.
We're not looking to "mooch"; we just don't want to pay (alot!) for something that would just be wasted...

 

[maggiew]

Thanks for this post. My mom wants to take my DD10 to Chefs du France as a grandmother/granddaughter special dinner (she loves Remy!)- but there is absolutely NOTHING on the adult menu that my DD would eat (not exactly a picky eater but a typical 10 yo - chicken, yes; chicken with the sauces, etc - no). I was glad to see that they have a kids menu but was worried that they wouldn't let her order from it. Our plan was to offer to pay for whatever an adult portion would be. We'll just play it by ear and see what is the best way to handle this.
We're not looking to "mooch"; we just don't want to pay (alot!) for something that would just be wasted...

The filet at Chefs du France is very good. I have had it a few times. Does your DD like steak? You can ask for no sauce. Also, I think the chicken is pretty plain. Although, I think its a half chicken so your 10 y.o. might not like eating it when its on the bone like that?? But those are my 2 suggestions for her if she wants to try the adult menu or isn't allowed to eat from the kids menu. My DH got the beef and noodles (forget what the name of the dish is) and it seemed surprisingly plain to me.

Maggie

 

[minuet]

Thanks for this post. My mom wants to take my DD10 to Chefs du France as a grandmother/granddaughter special dinner (she loves Remy!)- but there is absolutely NOTHING on the adult menu that my DD would eat (not exactly a picky eater but a typical 10 yo - chicken, yes; chicken with the sauces, etc - no). I was glad to see that they have a kids menu but was worried that they wouldn't let her order from it. Our plan was to offer to pay for whatever an adult portion would be. We'll just play it by ear and see what is the best way to handle this.
We're not looking to "mooch"; we just don't want to pay (alot!) for something that would just be wasted...

I'm guessing you're going for lunch in order to see Remy? They have a burger on the lunch menu and you can get it done plain with just the condiments brought on the side. This can be served with a side salad or fries. My hubby had it with fries and said it was on the best burgers he had.

The ham and cheese sandwich on the lunch menu is also pretty plain.

 

[Becky2005]

Yes, any restaurant will alter a dish by removing sauces, subbing sides, etc. I've had CMs ask me at resaurants, especially signature ones, if my sons wanted their dishes altered. My sons eat anything, so I have always turned them down. .

I did this as an adult in 2005. Now, I know things have changed but we had really good luck. We had dinner at the Contemporary our first night and I didn't realize the steak came with sauce, I did NOT like it. We ate there several times, so I just asked for "no sauce" from then on at every single restaraunt when ordering steak (yes, we are the boring adults who like plain food). Our DD was 11 at the time and we were on the Premium plan (no one knew anything about the plan though! It had just come out). They let her order off the kids menu all the time, this was also before they re-vamped the kids menus. For that matter they let us all order the kid's dessert since we all wanted the Tinkerbell puzzle one at Yachtsman..

It will be interesting to see what happens this year as we are on the basic dining plan but I'm thinking, if there is nothing the kids would eat, can't you just NOT order them something and get them something else later? Yes, I know a pain but I would rather not waste a credit for them to literally sit there and stare at the food vs. actually eating.

We are mostly doing buffets so it's not too much an issue for us but I can see it being at times.

 

[baler31]

I don't see how that could be. If X% of adults order child meals on Mondays in February, then you can do your planning taking that into account.

The only explanation that fits afaic is the one I mentioned earlier, that child meals are a loss-leader to motivate parents with children to patronize the restaurant.

The kids meals are not a loss leader for Disney, there is profit built in even with the DDP and most especially OOP. They would not offer 20% off with TIW on childrens meals on top of a loss leader, just would not happen in any business model.

Disney does not need to attract anyone to the restaurants hence the poor food quality with the exception of a few signature places.

 

[stinkybell2]

We just returned and my dd15 and 12 ordered off the kids menus at several places with no problem. They looked at both menus and decided what they wanted. They were actually encouraged to order off the kids menu at California Grill by our waiter, we ordered several appetizers for our table, and the bill and his tip were still plenty big, but I appreciated the fact that he did not encourage us to order food we didn't need or want for the sake of a large bill = bigger tip

We did pay adult prices for them at meals like Tepan Edo, where it seemed like the kids meals and adult meals were pretty much the same.

 

[pigby]

My DDs (17 and 14) ordered from the kids menu at Coral Reef. Nothing on the adult menu interested them, so they decided to get the kids pizza. No problem at all. (Except for the fact that they didn't think the pizza was very good!) We were paying OOP - not the dining plan.

We often share adult meals at places too, because none of us has a large appetite. Sometimes my younger DD will get an appetizer. For example, at Yak and Yeti, DD17 and I shared the steak and shrimp combo and my DD14 got the potsticker appetizer as her meal. (OOP, not dining plan)


Maggie

I echo this - my DD will be 16 this year is very picky and hasn't had any problems ordering from the kids menu - at Tutto, she ate from the adult menu - Italian restaurants aren't a problem though

We have used DDP for the past couple of years and for her meal we have asked the server if we can pay OOP - then we have saved her adult dining credit - it bought us an extra breakfast at Boma's last time. Servers at Disney are usually willing to work with you. P.S. Never heard the word 'mooching' before but I can guess what it means.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

My DS15 weighs 90 lbs. It would be silly to order an adult meal for him because he won't eat it. We had DxDDP for part of one trip and he fussed the whole time because we made him order from the adult menu. Of course we didn't expect him to finish the portions, but he was really unhappy having so much food in front of him.

In '09 and '10 we just used the TIW card and told DS to order whatever he wanted. He typically chose an adult appetizer and an entree from the kid's menu. He will only eat vanilla ice cream for dessert, so sometimes he had that and sometimes he was too full.

Last year we ate at Sanaa (twice), Flying Fish (twice), Citrico's, Wolfgang Puck's Cafe, Tokyo Dining, Jiko, the Wave, and Yak & Yeti - NONE of them had a problem with allowing him to order from the kid's menu. The Plaza charged us weird, but they still let him order from the kid's menu.

 

[rudetreehill]

Frankly, I think if you're not on a meal plan and just order with confidence, most places won't even notice. Don't do the whole "Um, is it okay if we..." thing. Just order as if there's no reason in the world he SHOULDN'T be able to order off the children's menu. It's amazing how far just doing something with confidence will get one! LOL

Richard/Tralfie

 

[robinb]

HI- I mentioned Tutto in an earlier post.. I have to state that THIS is the only restaurant that there has been a problem.

I had a problem at Restaurant Marrakesh when my DD was just 10. She's a vegetarian and they don't offer a vegetarian children's option. At the time they offered a kids chicken couscous and I asked if they could make her a vegetarian couscous instead. They told me I would have to pay for an adult entree. Okay ... so we paid $22 for something that my 10-year old just nibbled on. Chefs also did not have a vegetarian kids option at the time and they had NO problem offering her a smaller portion of their yummy mac n cheese.

 

[bicker]

The kids meals are not a loss leader for Disney

I'm willing to agree to disagree with you, but note that all my messages will be predicated on my premise, not yours. I'll grant that you wish that kids meals aren't a loss-leader, but not that your wish is actually the way things are.

there is profit built in even with the DDP and most especially OOP.

You'll have to present Disney's internal cost analysis to prove this. However, let's step back and try to find a point of common ground: Will you admit that the profit Disney makes from a kids meal is smaller, in absolute value, than the profit Disney makes from a regular meal? If so, then the impact of the kids meals is identical to a loss-leader, i.e., Disney's full-service restaurants are deliberately offering something less profitable, that lower price having the effect of making families with young children more willing to patronize those restaurants.