Beware - Spoodles Policy

[CarolAnnC]

Rafikifan, this does seem to be a new trend happening.

It is one thing if they put this on a menu, and give you that menu to review. But, this business of suggesting the teen place the order, then announcing the policy to double the price only after the bill is questioned, is ridiculous.

This would not be condoned if, for example, people ordered a sofa, then were charged double because of their age. It seems to me deceptive to hide this policy, not have it in writing, and have servers who do not state what the policy is to patrons.

This determination that the children's menu only be available to age 9 and under is ridiculous. I certainly would not dine at Spoodles with a 10 year old child who would be expected to pay $31 for a pasta entree and garden salad. Geez......

 

[Aimeedyan]

Thanks for the head's up on their policy - I wonder if we should shoot an email to Disney and ask if there is a policy about children's menu items for people not children that is applied to all restaurants, or if each restaurant has their own. That way people know ahead of time.

Stinks about that salad!!

 

[Lewisc]

Rafikifan, this does seem to be a new trend happening.

It is one thing if they put this on a menu, and give you that menu to review. But, this business of suggesting the teen place the order, then announcing the policy to double the price only after the bill is questioned, is ridiculous

I agree since the waiter suggested it he should have informed you of the policy.

This determination that the children's menu only be available to age 9 and under is ridiculous. I certainly would not dine at Spoodles with a 10 year old child who would be expected to pay $31 for a pasta entree and garden salad. Geez......

Some restaurants allow children to eat free. Should that courtesy also extend to teens that are willing to eat off the children's menu? Bicker is right, the cost of the food is not the largest part of the restaurants expenses. A restaurant couldn't survive if everyone decided to order off the children's menu and pay the reduced prices. The policy of limiting the discounted, children's menu to those 9 and under is understandable and reasonable. Keeping it a secret really isn't.

 

[Lizzybee]

My son at his last birthday just turned 11, but he only weighs 54 lbs. He's very healthy but very small for his age and looks about 8 (he wears 8 slim pants) but he has the vocabulary of a high school student. I'm not for taking advantage of things but he's the reason we wouldn't do the dining plan. He eats more than it looks like he eats, but I still wouldn't want to pay full adult price for him to eat WDW. He still usually orders off the kids menus, although depending on what they offer he may want something more exciting like seafood. His latest thing is asking the waiter/waitress what the age for the kids menu is and then announcing to them when he's too old. I don't know if they think he's kidding or what, but he has still been able to order from kid menus. I'd never tell him to lie about his age but if they stop him in Epcot because they think he's "too small" to be using a ticket with biometrics on it (which embarrassed him a bit), then why is he "too big" to have a kids' meal?

 

[Lorix2]

I can say that at Whispering Canyon Cafe, my DD12 almost 13 ordered the kids all you can eat meal and was only charged the price printed on the menu, which was under $9.00.

This has been my only experience with a WDW restaurant and ordering a child menu for her.

 

[CarolAnnC]

Lorix, I am curious, did the menu state that the children's price was for age 12 and under? I know generally age 9 is not the cut off for children at most WDW Restaurants.

 

[DebbieB]

I love how she told them to "go to town" when she thought you were on the dining plan. I guess they try to get everyone to order the most expensive items to pad their "included" tip.

 

[Lorix2]

Carol, I believe it stated for "our little ones under 11" or something like it. In fact I remember mentioning to the server, Mike that she didn't eat much and was over 10 (my DS7 blurted out, "yeah, she's 12!" and if it was possible to order this for her and said "sure, or no problem". I was thrilled because I knew she wanted ribs, but I was not about to spend $23.00 on a just a few for her.

 

[calie_j]

Interesting thread since there was just a post last week about teens getting charged double ordering off the kids menu. I sure hope this isn't the policy, I have no problem paying adult price for my 13yr old DS at buffets but at alot of the restaurants I can't even see anything on the adult menu he would eat. Charging double for the same portion is ridiculous and giving a bigger portion defeats the purpose of a children's menu when your teen can't eat larger adult portions. I'm new to having a teen but have yet to have a problem with him ordering off the children's menu anyplace, just tonight we were asked how many children's menu's we wanted at a local Country Kitchen and didn't have a problem with him ordering off it.

I can also see why one of the posters was upset at being charged for a milk refill, it's so common in most restaurants to get that free. I used to ask if refills were free before ordering but it's been so common I've stopped asking and just assume it is anymore, I'll make sure to ask at WDW.

I have also shorted a tip when overcharged for something that I shouldn't have been. Even tho the policy is not the waitress's fault they are the ones who itemize the ticket so if I'm getting charged for a kids drink or dessert that the menu said was included that's coming off their tip (this has happened many times). That works both ways tho as I found out tonight, we had horrible service extremely slow and didn't refill water or check back with us but she didn't charge extra for the salad H ordered instead of a side (menu said $1.49 extra) or the extra cup of soup so we gave her a decent tip. Flame proof suit on but I would have shorted the tip by the extra charged for the child's salad.

Calie

 

[Gymbomom]

Just had a comment about the milk episode.......

You might wonder how would the waitress know you would get upset at a $2.69 charge? Should she suggest to you at everything you request what the charge is??? Imagine the backlash of some if she had done this to them and they thought What did she think I couldn't afford it???
If you did not know if there were free refills or not why did you not ask??
If there are not price on the menu ask if it is important to you, but remember that is not her doing but the owners of the place you are eating.

Wow, to penalize a waitress for doing her job and charging for something her boss had told her to, and if she had not she would basically stealing, maybe fired, is kind of sad, don't you think??? JMO.....

 

[CarolAnnC]

I was surprised to read about the other thread on teens ordering since I had left for the Disney Cruise and WDW on June 11 and just returned home this morning from Florida! I will definitely check it out.

Here is how I handled the tip. We generally tip 20% if we are pleased with the service. 15% would be for service we felt was not up to standard. In this case, since the child's menu salad that the server suggested would have gone for $3.00, I shorted her tip by $3.00. I also told this to the manager I spoke to and she wholeheartedly agreed that was the proper thing to do since the server was amiss in not informing us of the increased price to order.

I agree with the poster who commented on the server "padding" the check. I definitely felt that was the case here. In fact, when I ordered one specialty drink, a mudslide like beverage, she applied some subtle pressure attempting to get me to order a second one.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I was surprised to read about the other thread on teens ordering since I had left for the Disney Cruise and WDW on June 11 and just returned home this morning from Florida! I will definitely check it out.

Here is how I handled the tip. We generally tip 20% if we are pleased with the service. 15% would be for service we felt was not up to standard. In this case, since the child's menu salad that the server suggested would have gone for $3.00, I shorted her tip by $3.00. I also told this to the manager I spoke to and she wholeheartedly agreed that was the proper thing to do since the server was amiss in not informing us of the increased price to order.

I agree with the poster who commented on the server "padding" the check. I definitely felt that was the case here. In fact, when I ordered one specialty drink, a mudslide like beverage, she applied some subtle pressure attempting to get me to order a second one.

I would have absolutely done the same thing - short the $3 to make up for it. If it's an unwritten policy that she is determined to stand by, then she is responsible for telling her guests what that policy is upfront. How the heck would you have known otherwise?

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

I ran into a similar problem in Vegas not too long ago. My DDs absolutely love Teppanyaki-type places (Teppenyaki at Epcot is a must do on our list!). After a full day in the car including 3 hours to get thru the Hoover Dam, I was tired, but DH was still at work (we were joining him on a business trip). So I decided to take DDs to Benihana at the Las Vegas Hilton. DDs got a children's menu, but it included chicken, steak or salmon. No offense to those who like salmon (I am allergic), but who puts salmon on a kids menu?? I am used to steak, chicken or shrimp. And of course, my DDs love shrimp.

The adult menu had shrimp, but it also had a $10 plate fee for sharing. So for about twice the price of 2 kids meals, I could buy 1 adults shrimp meal including shared plate fee. I knew that a shared adult's plate would be more than enough to feed my DDs especially since they would get my included shrimp appetizer as well. I commented to the others at my table about the extra plate fee, and they thought that was ridiculous considering my DDs (6 and 3). So when the waitress came to take my order, I asked for an adults shrimp meal to split between my DDs, and my table mates actually spoke up about the shared plate fee. After my table mates made a comment, I asked the question, and the restaurant did not charge me the shared plate fee. But they had every right to since it was on the menu. They probably realized that the fact that 2 children were sharing that meal vs 2 adults that they were not really losing anything!

I guess the moral to my story is, ask even if you are not sure if you want to know the answer!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

i do not agree. the waitress should have informed us of the price for a 2nd milk. the restaurant should have had this on their menu(drink prices also) i used to waitress she didn't have to charge for that 2nd chocolate milk and i did give her 15% i usually tip over 20% but not this time. she could have taken it off when i asked about it and showed my surprise at the price for each milk and the extra charge. come on 5.70 for 2 milks when there are bottomless shakes for less than 5 dollars? just because it is expensive doesn't mean they have a liscense to rip you off. i can make an informed decision about their drinks and actually would have just got them the unlimited milk shakes if i would have known.

i wasnt' surprised by the price of the meal at all. i will be putting my comments in writing to disney also.

You assumed it was free. It was your own fault not theirs. They are not responsible for explaining to you that if it's not printed on the menu as a free refill item, it's not a free refill item. And just because they give you a deal on the unlimited shake, doesn't mean they are obligated to give you a deal on anything else.

 

[tiggersmom2]

You assumed it was free. It was your own fault not theirs. They are not responsible for explaining to you that if it's not printed on the menu as a free refill item, it's not a free refill item. And just because they give you a deal on the unlimited shake, doesn't mean they are obligated to give you a deal on anything else.

Well, they shouldn't complain when they get zero for a tip then!!!! If a waitress did that to me she would get zilch.

 

[epcotfan]

Just had a comment about the milk episode.......

You might wonder how would the waitress know you would get upset at a $2.69 charge? Should she suggest to you at everything you request what the charge is??? Imagine the backlash of some if she had done this to them and they thought What did she think I couldn't afford it???
If you did not know if there were free refills or not why did you not ask??
If there are not price on the menu ask if it is important to you, but remember that is not her doing but the owners of the place you are eating.

Wow, to penalize a waitress for doing her job and charging for something her boss had told her to, and if she had not she would basically stealing, maybe fired, is kind of sad, don't you think??? JMO.....

I totally agree. I've never heard of any restaurant giving free milk refills. Even free pop refillls are rare around here.

 

[Gymbomom]

Well, they shouldn't complain when they get zero for a tip then!!!! If a waitress did that to me she would get zilch.

Let me understand this????

If a waitress charged you for something that she is REQUIRED to charge for...you would not leave her a tip????

 

[dsnyfrek]

I am surprised by how nasty this thread is getting. I can understand frustration on everyone's part, but one thing still remains:

Disney is Disney. They are expensive, whether it is food, beverage or whatever.

It is also not worth the frustration over a glass of milk. In the big scheme of things, what is a glass of milk and $2.70???

Just trying to mellow this out a little.

 

[swincha]

You assumed it was free. It was your own fault not theirs. They are not responsible for explaining to you that if it's not printed on the menu as a free refill item, it's not a free refill item. And just because they give you a deal on the unlimited shake, doesn't mean they are obligated to give you a deal on anything else.

2.69 for a cup of milk is overpriced when soda is 1.19. if there are no free refills as in every other restaurant i have taken my children to then i should have been told. it is their responsibility to put things like this on the menu or tell the customer. there were no prices of drinks other than the shake special on the menu also which i think is wrong to begin with.

i have been a waitress she should have taken the 2nd drink off. so she did not get the additional $5 i would have gave for a 20% tip she got a 15% one anyway. normal tipping really is 15-18% anyway. i just happen to give 20% or more for very good service. imo she did not give very good service and she knew i wasn't pleased about the price of the milk or the refill price. so maybe next time she might say something. then again maybe not.

 

[swincha]

I am surprised by how nasty this thread is getting. I can understand frustration on everyone's part, but one thing still remains:

Disney is Disney. They are expensive, whether it is food, beverage or whatever.

It is also not worth the frustration over a glass of milk. In the big scheme of things, what is a glass of milk and $2.70???

Just trying to mellow this out a little.

the point is first it was 2 cups of milk and disney shouldn't be allowed to take advantage of their customers. also letting other people know these things can give you a heads up on choosing what you want to order.
why is is nasty when it is a complaint about disney? i can choose how to spend my money. we dropped alot of money at disney but if my child is going to sip a little on a 2nd milk i would not have ordered it. actually if she would have kept the water refilled that would have worked just as well. i would have had him just take a few more sips of water.

i guess its nasty when i defend my right to complain about a situation. don't worry i will send them a letter about this also.