Taking outside food into a restaurant - your opinion?

[mjkacmom]

You can bring in baby food, and maybe small finger snacks for a toddler to munch on while waiting for food, but that's it. Heck, at our pool club (which has a full sit down restaurant and snack bar), you can't even bring in a sandwich from home to eat at your table! This policy only started because people were having pizza delivered, and they sold pizza.

 

[happymommy]

I would have replied to the poll, "I used to do it" but that wasn't an option.

My DS has severe food allergies, and when he was really young, we have in fact brought a plain happy meal into a restaurant. I knew he could eat the bun from McDonald's, and most restaurants had nothing of substance that was safe for him. At one place, they requested to take it to the kitchen, and bring it out on a plate for him. That was fine (this place couldn't accommodate his allergies at the time).

I don't do it anymore, as he can now eat a little more variety. I also used to have to bring crackers and things that were safe for him as well.

I wouldn't have ever done this if it weren't due to his allergies. He even used to react to the tables in Italian places (due to the dairy). When he'd touch the table, everywhere he touched would hive up. We even would wipe down tables and the high chairs, but still if there were any trace of dairy he would hive up (he was touch hypersensitive to dairy). That has lessened thank God.

We've been out with my in-laws to restaurants that they chose that had nothing my son could eat, and in a couple of cases all he could have was a bowl of plain rice. Ugh - they chose a seafood place once with shellfish he couldn't have and there was butter everywhere. I was so worried, so he even had to sit in his stroller. Not fun.

One reason I grew to LOVE Disney! They can make him so much great food, and they are so cautious. He never had one problem at Disney. I don't even bring him snacks along anymore (used to).

By the way, my son loves sushi! And it's always a safe choice, with rice and plain fish. I wouldn't bring food into a sushi place.

Oh, MickeyHereWeCome, I have definitely had to bring food to pizza places. My son can't eat pizza. Even at 12, he has never actually been to a "pizza parlour" like Pizza Hut. So maybe the teen was allergic to dairy also. My son wanted a party at Chuck E Cheese when he was 6 (he could tolerate being around it by then), so they made him a hotdog (I spoke with the manager ahead of time to make sure the bun was safe, and it's on their menu) while the other kids had pizza. They made an exception for me to bring in our own cupcakes (dairy and egg free) for the kids instead of their cake. It was more work, but he was fine and had a good time. No one minded that our cake was different.

If we were invited to a pizza place, my son would still have to bring in food. I would call ahead of time to make sure it's okay, and if not, he'd not go.

 

[abcboys]

Look at this from anther angle. If YOU owned a restaurant and people would come in,take up a seat,use the plates and silverware just to eat there own home cooked food would you be thrilled?

Ever seat that is taken by some one that brings his own food is a financial lost for the restaurant.
It's the same as make your own dough at home ,go to your bakery and ask if the baker puts your dough in his oven and bake your bread for free.

If everyone in party came in and took up seats and brought food from home or another restaurant to eat, yes I would be mad. If a family came in and a kid or 2 had a happy meal or something else and the adults ordered from my place I wouldn't think anything about it.

 

[tiredsigh]

Look at this from anther angle. If YOU owned a restaurant and people would come in,take up a seat,use the plates and silverware just to eat there own home cooked food would you be thrilled?

Ever seat that is taken by some one that brings his own food is a financial lost for the restaurant.
It's the same as make your own dough at home ,go to your bakery and ask if the baker puts your dough in his oven and bake your bread for free.

I have a 2 year old who doesn't eat restaurant food. He doesn't eat fast food or sit down restaurant food. I bring him what he eats from home.

Let me say that many restaurants would be happy to have the rest of the family in there and ordering. In this economy, it's a trade off. I don't order a child's meal, but 3 adult meals get ordered between DH, me, and our 11 year old. I have never had anything but wait staff go out of their way to offer additional silverware, etc. Our food for him is self contained so we typically do not even use a plate.

To each their own, but one seat in a table with paying adults is not going to bother them. Otherwise, why would they offer a lot of "kids eat free" promos? I don't bring my kids to many formal places anyway. I do take them to all types of casual and many nicer family owned restaurants. You know what they really appreciate? My toddler is quiet and sits in his highchair. The fact that we brought in some applesauce or oranges and an uncrustable isn't treated as a big deal. Why else would we have servers glad to see us again?!

Edited to add: we are also very nice to servers in terms of tips and prebussing tables. I try to help make bussing easier for them. So we cause a little less work for the server.

 

[tiredsigh]

If everyone in party came in and took up seats and brought food from home or another restaurant to eat, yes I would be mad. If a family came in and a kid or 2 had a happy meal or something else and the adults ordered from my place I wouldn't think anything about it.

If it bothered a restaurant I went to, I wouldn't eat there as much. So the restaurant would have lost out on the rest of our food.

 

[Cedarmom]

I don't do it but I don't see the big deal here.

Perhaps the family has been travelling and the kids are at the end of their ropes and a tired mom and dad just needed the peace.
Perhaps there are food/behavorial issues that are being addressed.
Maybe it is the kid's birthday and he wanted McD's but no one else did.

There are millions of reasons why kiddos may need/want something different than what is being served at a restaurant.

Who am I to judge?

 

[tiredsigh]

Who am I to judge?

 

[msmama]

I think I'd be annoyed if I were going to the Italian restaurant and had to smell Happy Meal all through my meal.

I, personally, see nothing wrong with bringing food from home, but somehow bringing food from another restaurant just seems off to me. Although I'm not talking take out or fast food - just places with a server.

 

[Docwoods]

Absolutely not.Allergy problems?Contact the restaurant-they will tell you what they can and cannot accomodate.This is also a health department issue!What if your child becomes ill from the food you brought in?Who gets the blame?

 

[DeniseinNS]

My kids eat off the menu whereever we go, we have never brought food in other then when they were babies and didn't eat table food yet.

I do work in a restaurant and have occasionally seen kids bring happy meals in and I thought it was fine.

 

[aanderson5]

I never considered taking food into a restaurant for DS but we are lucky that he is a good eater. If I had a picky eater I might take in snack type items but I would not bring in food from another restaurant (I do think that is rude). I find it hard to believe that there is nothing that even the pickiest eater would eat. Even if is just bread and butter or some fruit. Allergies are a different situation.

I have to say that if you don't order for your child is not really hurting the restaurant. They make very little from a childs meal. We almost never order DS a seperate meal. He is not picky but he prefers 'adult' food to 'kid' food and happily shares with us. So he is taking up a seat but not ordering and we have never had a negative comment for this.

 

[Erin1700]

I dont think I have ever seen that around here and we go out all the time. If I am not sure my kids would be happy with the menu at a restaurant, I feed them before hand and let them get a side dish or dessert.
We do bring crackers to tide DS2 over until his meal arrives, but I dont think I would ever walk into, say, the Olive Garden and bring along McD's.

 

[Judy in Texas]

Simply say NO! If we are going out to dinner- yes, even for sushi- my kids eat off the menu. They will also have to try the new food. Of course if they don't like it they don't have to eat a plate of it but they do have to try it. There is always something on a menu that they like. It's not like restaurants serve live animals that you have to beat and kill for dinner with a side of brussel sprouts. The Mom and Dad you talk about are lazy parents who will indulge snowflake no matter what because they simply either can't be bothered to parent and teach their kids something or they think their child is a snowflake.
YMMV.

Well said. I agree.

 

[happymommy]

Absolutely not.Allergy problems?Contact the restaurant-they will tell you what they can and cannot accomodate.This is also a health department issue!What if your child becomes ill from the food you brought in?Who gets the blame?

I had a couple of times where this wasn't possible. We were meeting others who chose the restaurant. I checked ahead of time. On trips, there were times where my son (only a toddler anyway) only ate cheerios and crackers some days. It didn't matter as he was getting all his nutrition from special formula.

Nowadays, many restaurants are much much better at providing ingredient information and allergy information than they were only ten years ago. So, today we wouldn't bring in food, but ten years ago we had to. It's really good that they are so much better now.

And Disney is still number one. They go so above and beyond what we've experienced anywhere else.

On a trip to Mexico five years ago, we discovered other countries don't offer ingredient info much. My son ate plain fruit, hot dogs without buns, and some fries for a few days straight. Thank goodness I had packed some food for him to have in the room, as well as soy milk. We learned that we'll stay in the US mostly for a few more years!

 

[wdwfan16]

It is only OK if the person has a medical diet that is difficult to do at a restaurant. If the person will not eat the food at the restaurnant then go somewhere else.

 

[shelby101301]

If it's for picky eaters, I say no. You need to teach kids to eat different things I believe. If they go hungry for a meal, so be it.

Yes if it's for allergies. My youngest is allergic to eggs and unfortunately we are finding that people don't get this allergy. Peanuts and gluten then seem to get. Eggs, no. They think it's OK if there is no egg but it was cooked in a vessel that cooked other egg. or they simply don't know.

I find I have to dig to get the information I need to keep my son safe (this is life threatening) and it just isn't worth it. I've have them tell me yes it's egg free, and then when I insist on seeing the packaging myself, I find it has egg in it and they are embarased because they didn't know. So far, all we have to say is "allergy" and the restaurants don't care.

Said and meant in a kind fashion....please educate yourselves when it comes to allergies...to simply say contact the restaurant is easy to say, but not necessarily safe...

Would you gamble with the life of your child or dearest loved one?

 

[rt2dz]

I believe it is beyond tacky, tacky, tacky.

I waited tables and managed (very well-known) restaurants for years. While we never said anything, it was just disgusting when people did that. You're taking up table space and causing more work for someone and you aren't paying for it. IMO, it's stealing. OK, maybe that's a bit of an over exaggeration, but servers (except in 7 states) make a whopping $2.13 an hour--and that's for doing a lot of work. They depend on those tips. They want to fill their tables with **Paying** customers.

I have 4 kids, so I get that no matter how well rounded an eater your child is, no one is going to like every place. And I have one extremely picky eater--more of a well-defined pallet than a "I'll only touch..." type of thing. I have one with big old food allergies that are a BIG deal. Well, deal with it.

Full service restaurants will generally cook to order--very few won't. If they have the ingredients, they'll make it. What Disney does, isn't all that unique. Just ask to speak to a manger. If that still isn't good enough (or you're at a low-level place like fast food or one step above), don't take your kid there. Eat there when the kids aren't with you. If that isn't possible, feed your kid before you go and order them dessert when you have your meal.

Exceptions would be brining in baby food and toddler finger foods (Cheerios).

 

[MommytoaSweetie]

I answered "maybe." Normally, I'd say no, but I think that for special diets or "baby" food, it's okay (like we bring in an applesauce or grapes for DD's if there's nothing healthy on the menu for them - there aren't a lot of restaurants like that anymore, but at a place like Fuddruckers, I don't think they offer a healthy side choice so I just bring it with us. If they want to offer something healthy for my girls to eat, I'll gladly do that instead).

I also think it's different for fast food versus a regular restaurant. I remember when I was growing up if we were on a road trip and stopped at a fast food place, there were a few times where another fast food place was right next door and one of us would go get something from that restaurant and bring it to the main place we were all eating. I don't think that's a big deal - the restaurant was still making plenty on food for the other 5 of us, and it's not like there weren't seats for other customers who were buying food there. It definitely wasn't the norm, sort of a vacation-special kinda thing, and no one ever said anything. We haven't done that with our kids yet, but if they were older and wanted to walk over and get something to bring back, I'd still probably be okay with that.

 

[brymolmom]

I think a follow-up poll of 'who makes more than one meal for dinner at home' might be in order. I'm guessing that the ones who will let their child choose when going out would also let them choose the dinner menu at home.

I've had someone bring PB&J for their child to our house for dinner. Even though different than a restaurant - I thought even that was strange! I have kids too and had some 'kid friendly' stuff. But apparently all their son would eat at that time was PB&J. I guess if you let him have it every time...that WOULD be the only thing he might want...

 

[hsmamato2]

I voted other because..... my ds has had severe food allergies his whole life,there have been times when there is NOTHING he can eat at a restaurant,but the rest of us want to go there- so we've brought some in for him- but otherwise it's so TACKY to do that!
now that he's a teen,that doesn't happen much anymore,as the menus have been easier to adapt than before,more allergies in the public,maybe?