ASD and 50's Prime Time Cafe

[lovethattink]

I have reservations for 50's Prime Time on a Saturday. It has been years since we ate there, maybe even 10 years? How have your sensory sensitive children done there? Of special concern is the servers being in character. I'm wondering if it's best to switch to another restaurant?

 

[clanmcculloch]

Our experience has been that if we let our server know that she's autistic and that she doesn't respond well to being addressed or corrected by anybody other than mom & dad then the servers leave her alone. DD13 LOVES seeing the rest of us getting picked on of course. It's one of our favourite restaurants. A child who can't have milk having a milkshake sitting in front of her helps her deal with a LOT of things thrown her way. The allergy safe fried chicken (OMG delicious) helps too. She'll put up with anything to get that fried chicken. LOL

Before eating there the first time we did make sure she understood the atmosphere to expect so she could be prepared for it. If she's prepared then she generally can handle a lot more than if things come as a surprise. The tables are very close together so there's a good chance of her chair being bumped (though we do try to get her back to a wall or towards a corner if we can) and there can be a lot of noise and movement at all times in there. Being prepared for these kinds of sensory inputs really does make a bit difference for her.