Bringing a cake to a restaurant????

[Cantw8]

Just got back from a birthday dinner for a 5 year old at a popular steakhouse around here. The grandmother of the birthday girl made a cake and gave it to the Hostess (with a box of candles) and told her to make sure it comes out lit when everyone was done eating The Hostess looked annoyed and I felt embarrassed. Is this a common practice? I could see if the restaurant didn't offer any desserts but they did.

 

[mhsjax]

Just got back from a birthday dinner for a 5 year old at a popular steakhouse around here. The grandmother of the birthday girl made a cake and gave it to the Hostess (with a box of candles) and told her to make sure it comes out lit when everyone was done eating The Hostess looked annoyed and I felt embarrassed. Is this a common practice? I could see if the restaurant didn't off any desserts but they did.

I see it all the time and I have been at dinners where it has been done and there wasn't any problem at all.

Now we didn't give any directions, for one of these dinners, but at another it was a very important mile stone in this woman's life and the restaurant gladly brought out the cake and lit the candles.

 

[LilyWDW]

Just got back from a birthday dinner for a 5 year old at a popular steakhouse around here. The grandmother of the birthday girl made a cake and gave it to the Hostess (with a box of candles) and told her to make sure it comes out lit when everyone was done eating The Hostess looked annoyed and I felt embarrassed. Is this a common practice? I could see if the restaurant didn't off any desserts but they did.

I have never heard of it being done until I belonged to these boards and someone had an issue at Disney about it. I'm not sure where the grandmother was expecting them to PUT the cake since it would be against food safety regulations to take outside food into the kitchen. Honestly, it is not the job of the restaurant to do that sort of thing and I, personally, would never think to do so.

 

[low-key]

yep its tacky, but about 7-8 years ago my sister wanted to do it for my mom at her favorite steak house, they were real nice about it, but i made my sis do all the talking

 

[jml06fsu]

I saw this all the time working in restaurants. It never bothered any of us If anything we saw it as extra tip money because we would gather our plates & spoons and round up a bunch of servers to be as loud as possible to sing the birthday song.

Now the birthday song...thaaaat's tacky!

 

[Buckalew11]

I've seen it quite often. No directions to the waitress though. Usually she/he is not involved.

 

[Lorelei Lee]

We call ahead to ask what tge restaurant's policy is. Some places are very accomodating.

 

[Cantw8]

I saw this all the time working in restaurants. It never bothered any of us If anything we saw it as extra tip money because we would gather our plates & spoons and round up a bunch of servers to be as loud as possible to sing the birthday song.

Now the birthday song...thaaaat's tacky!

this place rolls out a horse saddle and makes the birthday person sit on it while the staff sings Cute for the 5 year old but pretty sad looking for the 60 something lady that was also celebrating a birthday

 

[MIGrandma]

When I worked as a waitress we occasionally had families/small groups that brought their own birthday cake, but they would usually clear it with whoever took the reservation over the phone, to make sure it was okay. I don't remember ever being asked to keep the cake in the kitchen and bring it out with candles lit though. The group usually just kept the cake at their table, and when they were nearly finished with dinner we would bring dessert plates, extra forks, napkins, a knife, etc. We weren't even required to sing.

 

[ebtbmom]

My family does this frequently, but we handle the cake ourselves and I will bring my own plates too so I don't have to use extras from the restaurant.

 

[JessB320]

It's pretty common here, though I mostly see cakes being brought in from an outside bakery to a restaurant that doesn't offer birthday cakes. If she was rude to the waitress maybe that's what the look was for??

And the cake is kept at the table

 

[sookie]

I have only done this once before.
I had a place that was unable to guarantee that their cake would be peanut / nut free for my daughter so I asked if we could bring in an outside cake.

They were fine with it.

Otherwise, I think you should buy the desserts at the place you are eating at, or go home to eat - or eat it at the dessert place.

 

[Janepod]

Although I see it from time to time, the restaurants always charge for it. One place we go charges $5/person! I think that is high, but I guess it's comparable to wine corking fees.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I have never heard of it being done until I belonged to these boards and someone had an issue at Disney about it. I'm not sure where the grandmother was expecting them to PUT the cake since it would be against food safety regulations to take outside food into the kitchen. Honestly, it is not the job of the restaurant to do that sort of thing and I, personally, would never think to do so.

This.

 

[Keli]

I've seen it done but not too often. My favorite thing is to go to a restaurant for dinner and then to a dozen yogurt place for dessert when we celebrate birthdays. But then I'll use any excuse to eat frozen yogurt, lol!

 

[Janepod]

It's pretty common here, though I mostly see cakes being brought in from an outside bakery to a restaurant that doesn't offer birthday cakes. If she was rude to the waitress maybe that's what the look was for??

And the cake is kept at the table

What we mostly see (and have discussed in our family, as my brother is celiac) is gluten-free cakes being brought in. E.g., flourless chocolate cake. I understand that, but I think it's fair for a restaurant to refuse or to charge.

 

[DaisyD]

We did exactly that for my husband's 50th surprise Bday party. I had it at a local restaurant with 50 people. I had a custom cake made that had a man figure on it laying on the 18th hole of a golf course. He had beer bottles on him and all kinds of stuff. Was amazing detail and the hit of the party. The restaurant would have provided a cake but nothing like this. I instructed the waitress to check with me to see when I would be ready for her to bring it out. There was no problem ever in doing this. LOL Kind of silly to think they would have a problem with it.

 

[Janepod]

We did exactly that for my husband's 50th surprise Bday party. I had it at a local restaurant with 50 people. I had a custom cake made that had a man figure on it laying on the 18th hole of a golf course. He had beer bottles on him and all kinds of stuff. Was amazing detail and the hit of the party. The restaurant would have provided a cake but nothing like this. I instructed the waitress to check with me to see when I would be ready for her to bring it out. There was no problem ever in doing this. LOL Kind of silly to think they would have a problem with it.

I don't think people are talking about big parties; rather, a table of people out for a small dinner. Obviously no restaurant is going to have a problem with a patron bringing in a cake when they're shelling out for dinner and drinks for 50!

 

[LilyWDW]

It's pretty common here, though I mostly see cakes being brought in from an outside bakery to a restaurant that doesn't offer birthday cakes. If she was rude to the waitress maybe that's what the look was for??

And the cake is kept at the table

Just got back from a birthday dinner for a 5 year old at a popular steakhouse around here. The grandmother of the birthday girl made a cake and gave it to the Hostess (with a box of candles) and told her to make sure it comes out lit when everyone was done eating The Hostess looked annoyed and I felt embarrassed. Is this a common practice? I could see if the restaurant didn't offer any desserts but they did.

Doesn't sound like Grandma wanted it kept at the table.

If the restaurant offers desserts, I do think it is wrong to bring in your own cake (minus the restaurant not being able to accommodate a medical request). I especially think it is tacky to then ask the serving staff to do extra to accommodate it. I also think the restaurant would be in the right to tell the patron no or to charge a plate fee (since you now won't be ordering a dessert from their menu).

 

[wilkeliza]

We have done this a few times but always ask before hand. Also we typically keep the cake with us and place it on the table once dinner is done. We always buy dessert from the restaurant as well because 10 people minimum dinners means not everyone loves German chocolate cake or crepe cake so some will want to order a slice of something else, coffee, or even fresh fruit. I think the fact we also buy dessert means most places don't mind.