Signature restaurants and young children

[Jennasis]

I don't care what "level" a restaurant is. Kids should not be allowed to scream, run around, mess with other people's tables, or disrupt meals. I'm not talking about a kid getting a little excited and then quieting down when reminded about "inside voices". I mean true disruption like you speak of. That should NEVER be allowed.

We had a meal at Morimoto last September and were seated directly next to a Japanese family. They were mom, dad, grandfather, daughter of about 8 or so and a toddler son who appeared about 2. From the moment we sat down, the little boy stood on his chair, facing us (specifically my mother) SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER right in our faces. The mother sat stone faced, staring at her hands. The father was glued to his smart phone. Grandfather sat scowling at his plate. Not one of them said a word. Not one of them moved a muscle. Not one of them made any attempt to soothe, hush, reprimand. The boy shrieked like a banshee...red faced and crying for about 20 minutes. After 10 minutes we tried to find our waiter to ask to be moved but the guy had vanished as did any other waiter. Seemed none of them wanted to get involved. I shot dirty looks at them...my mother shot dirty looks at them. It wasn't until MY FATHER turned in his chair and was about to actually say something, that the grandfather snapped to attention and snarled something in Japanese to his son. The dad suddenly hissed something at his stone-faced wife and she jumped from her seat, grabbed the toddler and beat a hasty retreat out of the restaurant.

We had a lovely meal after that. The mom came back with the toddler around 10 minutes later and the boy sat quietly and happily for the remainder of their time, occupied by a tablet. It was a strange situation, but I have to imagine there was some cultural thing at play. It was also very late at night. We were seated around 9pm.

 

[Lisa F]

CA Grill earlier in the evening is my go-to. Service is more quick before they are full so if you are seated at 5ish they will just be ramping up rather than in the full swing. It is not a quiet restaurant... I'm not talking loud enough to mask a kid screaming but if your kid forgets their inside voice it's not going to be disturbing anyone else in a hushed environment. The view is phenomenal, we love to look out the window and see what we can see. Jenny O was our waitress last time and phenomenal, she treated my little guy like a little prince and me like a queen.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Take them anywhere you want (other than v&a of course). Children learn to behave in these situations by actually being in them. My DD is 13 and has been eating in nice restaurants with us since we were still carrying her in her bucket infant seat. When she chose to behave poorly, I removed her. She learned quickly that if she wanted to stay, she would behave. We very rarely had issues, and she has always enjoyed a good meal at a nice restaurant.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Are there any signature restaurants that you think would be appropriate for an almost 2 and 5 year old? I've been dismissing signature restaurants because I have young children, but I'm not sure if I'm correct in my thinking. Thanks!

1) As mentioned, any of the Sig's would be ok (of course V&A forbids kids under 10).
2) My recommendation would be Citricos at Grand Floridian.
3) If they kids get bored, the eatery has
. . . light and airy atmosphere
. . . good views of people walking by outside
. . . well kept grounds and flowers for the kids to see

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The whole "how long will your kid sit?" is why I always ask the parents of young children making 3TS ADRs per day if they really think their kid will sit for 3-5 hours just eating.

Our family does family dinner almost every night; we are apparently not common in this practice in this modern age. But, realistically, breakfast is not typically a formal affair (cereal, fruit, yogurt before school), and school lunch is 20 minutes of eating, 20 minutes of recess, and it's school lunch room, which is not noted as a formal atmosphere. Our kids do just fine with one longer meal a day, as it's well within their daily habit; in general, my kids behave beautifully in restaurants.

But I'd hesitate trying to get them to do 3 sit-downs at Disney in one day.

Kids do learn from experience, absolutely. But you also have to be realistic about the experience. If we use a swimming analogy, don't toss them into open water swimming for early lessons. With dining, I'd make a Signature potentially the only sit-down of the day, and I would respect timing and not try to keep them live for fireworks if you did rope drop and they're normally an 8PM bedtime.

 

[Nancyg56]

The whole "how long will your kid sit?" is why I always ask the parents of young children making 3TS ADRs per day if they really think their kid will sit for 3-5 hours just eating.

Our family does family dinner almost every night; we are apparently not common in this practice in this modern age. But, realistically, breakfast is not typically a formal affair (cereal, fruit, yogurt before school), and school lunch is 20 minutes of eating, 20 minutes of recess, and it's school lunch room, which is not noted as a formal atmosphere. Our kids do just fine with one longer meal a day, as it's well within their daily habit; in general, my kids behave beautifully in restaurants.

But I'd hesitate trying to get them to do 3 sit-downs at Disney in one day.

Kids do learn from experience, absolutely. But you also have to be realistic about the experience. If we use a swimming analogy, don't toss them into open water swimming for early lessons. With dining, I'd make a Signature potentially the only sit-down of the day, and I would respect timing and not try to keep them live for fireworks if you did rope drop and they're normally an 8PM bedtime.

Amen to that!

I remember when my DGD was younger. We would have two sit down meals several times during the trip. We like you, had dinner at the table every night, and she was used to dining out, but we kept her schedule in mind. SHe was a night owl, so not many early ADR's for us!