Ericandblueboy Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Mother in law will be in town after the baby is born. My wife wants to take her mom to Prime Rib. Question, does Prime Rib or any other restaurant prohibit infants? If so, how would you know other than to call every restaurant we plan on going to in advance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookluvingbabe Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Mother in law will be in town after the baby is born. My wife wants to take her mom to Prime Rib. Question, does Prime Rib or any other restaurant prohibit infants? If so, how would you know other than to call every restaurant we plan on going to in advance? Dining out with a newborn is a breeze. In his first few weeks, we had BLPreschooler (how time flies) at Palena, Ray's the Classics, Dino, Central and Corduroy. Go early. Call and tell them you have an infant. Be prepared to take turns eating dessert if baby wakes up and you need to take walks around the block. Bring spare outfits for everyone. And enjoy. Time will fly and suddenly your kid will be ordering for him/herself at Dino and will have a better relationship with the front of house staff at every place in town than you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgreen Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Dining out with a newborn is a breeze. Exactly. They sleep. A lot. Feed it just before you leave for dinner and it should pretty much sleep all the way through dinner. Keep it in its portable car seat so you can easily rock it back to sleep if need be. Or, as mentioned, get up and walk around a little if it starts to cry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lackadaisi Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 When ours was an infant, she ate out everywhere with no difficulty at all. We just fed her before we got there, and then she would sleep in her car seat on the chair next to me or under the table while we ate. At that age, it didn't even matter that much whether it was early or late, but you do need a bit of a time-out plan in case of a fussy bout. It would be nice to let the restaurant know beforehand, and I preferred to have her in a corner or at least against the wall so that she wouldn't be in anyone's way. When they turn about 3-4 months, it gets progressively more difficult, and so for the past two years, she hasn't gone to many places that I would even consider asking. Thus, nor have I. We still go out (although not nearly as much), but early and only to places where an unexpected (thankfully rare) outburst would not be horrifying. Go now while you still have the chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokey Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 Just echoing the advice others have given. It's incredibly easy when they're newborns and most places (even fancy ones, provided you don't go at 8pm on a Sat) are pretty flexible about it. Enjoy it while you again, because eventually you pretty much have to get a babysitter (particularly if there is a #2). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ericandblueboy Posted January 13, 2010 Author Share Posted January 13, 2010 Thanks for all the replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Slater Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 Thanks for all the replies. I was always surprised, but people brought infants to Citronelle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.A.R. Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 I was always surprised, but people brought infants to Citronelle. Gulp.....that was me! (See Profile Pic). Before my first daughter was 3 months old, she had dined at 2941, Colvin Run, Bombay Club, Oval Room, and yes.....Citronelle. After three months...... Infants sleep all the time, ESPECIALLY in the car seat. Shouldn't be a problem, and do it now, because it will be 5 1/2 years before you can take the little one into a "proper" restaurant again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Slater Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 Gulp.....that was me! (See Profile Pic). Before my first daughter was 3 months old, she had dined at 2941, Colvin Run, Bombay Club, Oval Room, and yes.....Citronelle. After three months...... Infants sleep all the time, ESPECIALLY in the car seat. Shouldn't be a problem, and do it now, because it will be 5 1/2 years before you can take the little one into a "proper" restaurant again. That's OK, Brian. Once we had a table of 8 with a tiny adorable infant. The mother said "she's a week old. We didn't want to lose our reservation!". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoramargolis Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 Jeez. One week old? My pediatrician told me not to take my baby out in public until she was eight weeks old and'd had some time to build up immunity. I felt guilty as hell, taking her to a family wedding when she was seven weeks old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielK Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 Zora, it's been a while since your kid was an infant. Advice has changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Phor Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 Congratulations! My guy is two months & we haven't ever had anywhere refuse us service (and it hadn't occurred to me to ask). Things that make dining out easier include bench seating (although maybe not, if you are using a carseat--we don't have a car so I'm not practiced at that), and a decent amount of ambient noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaRiv18 Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 We have taken our 6 month year old out to Central, Bibiana and RTS. Each time we enjoyed ourselves as if it were a "regular" dinner. At Central, our daughter was quite the attraction, many people stopped by our lounge table to pinch her cheeks! We also sat in the lounge area at Bibiana. For whatever reason, I feel that the dimmer the lights at a restaurant are, the less comfortable I feel having my infant there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 Zora, it's been a while since your kid was an infant. Advice has changed. The advice hasn't changed with our pediatrician. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookluvingbabe Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 The advice hasn't changed with our pediatrician. I think there are as many different guidelines on child rearing as there are pediatricians. Ours said that as long as I felt to being out, we could take baby out. Thus lunch at RTC at 15 days old. And a trip to Ikea at 16 days old. The amazing thing is that with all the contrary advice kids continue to thrive! Just wait until you get to the debate over when to start solids. (To bring it back to food...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waitman Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 Our pediatrician recommended that we take our infants out regularly because there was so much cigarette smoke in the apartment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizzie Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 My girls are 18 and 14 - we are in the restaurant business so they were dining out in their first weeks. My 14 year old was actually at the opening of Eighteenth Street Lounge in 1995 - I think she was about 10 weeks old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. B Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 We took our 1st born to JR's when he was 11 days old. I guess that explains alot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deangold Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Our youngest customer was 6 days old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lola007 Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Congratulations, Eric! With any luck your kid will sleep through all your great dining experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ericandblueboy Posted January 16, 2010 Author Share Posted January 16, 2010 Congratulations, Eric! With any luck your kid will sleep through all your great dining experiences. I wish. It's more likely that my wife sleeps thru the dining experiences. She sleeps alot right now....and for the foreseeable future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan7147 Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 The advice hasn't changed with our pediatrician. same here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyG Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Our youngest customer was 6 days old. We made it to day 5 post partum, then we took our daughter to dim sum. She slept through the whole thing, including the incriminating photos of me offering shrimp heads to a sleeping infant. Pediatric advice varies in part on the health of the newborn as well as the pediatrician. Preemies are supposed to be isolated from the public for longer than full term infants. Like everyone else, we found that the best results are obtained if you feed your infant, provide a clean diaper, and then drive to your destination, carry sleeping infant in their car carrier. Of course, you should also use your good judgment and time this with your child's existing sleep cycle. As your child starts to be awake during dining experiences, we heartily endorse dim sum with cart service. Food comes quickly, eliminating the wait time that is deadly for a bored or hungry child, and the carts provide a lot of visual distraction. And in a few short years, you will have a child who confidently orders from the cart. Fortunately, we got her hooked on the ginger steamed tripe before she hit the stage of wanting to know which part of the animal was involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoramargolis Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 A different point-of-view, regarding babies in bars: click Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waitman Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 A different point-of-view, regarding babies in bars: click Our toddler son was once a regular at (as Mrs. B noted earlier) at JR's, a bar not known as a hangout for breeders and their minor offspring. A good friend was a bartender there and at 10AM on Saturday mornings he was compelled to clock in and begin slicing 6 million limes into garnishes for the 36 million 75 cent Cape Codders they would sell between noon and eight. His working bar hours and we working parent hours, we rarely had a chance to catch up and so, in conjunction with our weekly trip to the 17th Street Safeway, we'd drop by -- long before any management or other customers arrived. Keith would turn the bar TV to cartoons and we'd catch up. Sometime around 11:30 the first customer would arrive, catch the Cleaver family at the bar and inevitably do an almost comical double take, looking around frantically to see if they were so hungover they'd wandered into the wrongest possible bar, or if JR's had changed its name and format overnight. Keith would get their drinks, turn the TV off and the music on and we'd pack the groceries and head home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielK Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 A different point-of-view, regarding babies in bars: click I'm not sure that's a different point-of-view - I don't think anyone here has been advocating taking babies to places specifically designated as bars. Many localities specifically ban under-21s from being in the bar at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcs Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Our pediatrician recommended that we take our infants out regularly because there was so much cigarette smoke in the apartment. Here's one way to get rid of it; too much smoke, that is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Boy Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 More power to all of you folks with small children and babies.....I prefer to eat later, generally, anyway, so I end up avoiding dining at the same time most parents with kids/small children do as a matter of course. Not saying some/most/all kids are ill-behaved or noisy or annoying, just there's that chance. That chance, for me, that can ruin a dining experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaRiv18 Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 More power to all of you folks with small children and babies.....I prefer to eat later, generally, anyway, so I end up avoiding dining at the same time most parents with kids/small children do as a matter of course. Not saying some/most/all kids are ill-behaved or noisy or annoying, just there's that chance. That chance, for me, that can ruin a dining experience. We tend to eat later, to minimize annoying a larger group of intolerant dining neighbors. If our child cries, we take her for a walk outside. Other classes of annoying diners (cell-phone talkers, those who don't answer their cell phone rings, those being intentionally socially unacceptable, and loud drunks) rarely remove themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Mother in law will be in town after the baby is born. My wife wants to take her mom to Prime Rib. Question, does Prime Rib or any other restaurant prohibit infants? If so, how would you know other than to call every restaurant we plan on going to in advance? Addressing the original question, is it actually legal to prohibit infants, toddlers, or any other child in a restaurant? (I'm not talking about bars or other places that prohibit everyone under 21.) Off the top of my head, I can't think of a single restaurant that explicitly states that no children are allowed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Slater Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Off the top of my head, I can't think of a single restaurant that explicitly states that no children are allowed. I'm sure, however, you could think of a few where it wouldn't be a bad idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcs Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Addressing the original question, is it actually legal to prohibit infants, toddlers, or any other child in a restaurant? (I'm not talking about bars or other places that prohibit everyone under 21.) Off the top of my head, I can't think of a single restaurant that explicitly states that no children are allowed. Just don't try to bring your 9 year old to Victoria & Albert's restaurant at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Disneyworld, of all places: Victoria & Albert's restaurant offers an intimate 2-hour to 2.5-hour dining experience in an adult- oriented atmosphere. Children under the age 10 will not be served. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgreen Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Addressing the original question, is it actually legal to prohibit infants, toddlers, or any other child in a restaurant? I'm no lawyer, but I believe the laws against age discrimination only apply to those over 40 (or some other "old" age). IOW, you can discriminate against those under a certain age but not over a certain age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deangold Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Not appropos to the discussion here, but the thread brought to mind our meal at Agata e Romeo in Roma many a year back. At that time {I don't think it is still true} you needed a reference to get a reservation. I had a wine salesman in LA names LEEEEEEEVIO, not Livio as it is spelled, who assured me it would be both worth our while, and that his name would make us VIPs instantly. Well the phone call for a reservation went poorly until I said the magic word: Leeeeeevio! Given our status as lowly Americani, we were relegated to 8pm. We arrived to the consternation of our cabbie who assured us there was no restaurant at the address. I got out of the cab and searched to find a doorbell with the name of the restaurant in letters of about 3/8" high. We paid our cab and wen to the door to find it locked. We pressed the intercom and heard "Pronto". We said in broken Italian "Prenatazione per Gold" and were buzzed in. At the front stand, we were interrogated: "Do you have a cell phone?' ours was confiscated and placed under lock in key in a velvet lined box such that no sound of its ringing would be heard. We were seated next to the only other occupied table, with a gentleman, his wife both surprisingly underdressed, and two kids. He was in shirt sleeves and she was in a very plain dress. He was reading the new paper and sipping on a glass of wine. She was sipping a Campari & Soda or some such libation. The kids were having, well, a fine dinner featuring several of the dishes from the menu in smaller portions. They were corrected by their parents, who otherwise were not paying a moment's notice towards them, if they used the wrong fork or were eating too fast etc. The children finished their primi, had a secondo and then dessert and the family left without a word or visibly paying their bill. By now we were firmly ensconced in our seats and enjoying an incredible meal as the restaurant was filling up with real human beings Roman's worth of a more proper dining time. One table was left empty, the one with the kids earlier. Finally the couple made their grand entrance with another couple and were fussed over and welcomed as either best customers or friends or VIP's or all. This is that Italian style restaurant where a reservation means the table is your for the night {and with only 7 tables, that is a real commitment}. After our meal, which went on forever with many cheeses and a lot of wine, we were the last folk left in the place and we were chatting with the owner and his heavily tatoo'd daughter who was the wine steward and cheese monger. She told us that the couple WAS in fact someone important and that they came regularly since the children were in "how you say it?" miming bassinets. They ahve learned how to behave and how to eat well here! They even were enjoying a glass of water with a few drops of that evening's cellar treat that their parents drank later. We drank a 10 year old Barbaresco that cost as much as some dinners we ahve had in other Roman restaurants that night, it was one of the cheapest wines on the list. I think the kids were enjoying a watery 20 year old Barolo from one of my favorite producers if I recall correctly. We immediately volunteered to be adopted and raised by the couple! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Another tip for parents of young ones - we almost never order the kids' meals to arrive first. We've found it's better to have everyone eating at the same time, rather than feed them first, and then try to eat our meals while supervising them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mallomar Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 True story. Many years ago, I was visiting friends who had a new baby (maybe a couple months old). We all went out to a local diner for lunch, and in the middle of the meal the parents determined that the baby needed a diaper change. They proceeded to move the plates aside and change the baby's diaper on the table. I was astonished and horrified. The parents explained to me that someone told them if you take a baby out of the room to be changed, the baby will think it's being taken away because it's done something wrong and be emotionally traumatized. I blurted out that the baby was far too young to notice, and wouldn't remember anyway. I don't think they ever changed a diaper on a restaurant table again. At least I hope not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaRiv18 Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 Found out that 2 Amy's prohibits infants in the upstairs dining room, FWIW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ericandblueboy Posted June 6, 2010 Author Share Posted June 6, 2010 The baby's been good generally. When we go out, we feed her first, burp her, put her to sleep via car-ride, and then we enjoy our early bird specials. In VA Beach, we felt bad because the baby puked in the restaurant. We cleaned it up (it's just milk and luckily uncarpeted floor). Then she puked outside of the restaurant right in front of the entrance. At this point, my wife just wanted to take the baby back to our room so she took off with the baby and the stroller. I was left to pay the check and get the last dish boxed up. We never did clean up the puddle of milk on the pavement. Left a nice tip though but that's probably compensating the wrong person. I guess the question is, what would you do if the baby starts hurling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPW Posted June 7, 2010 Share Posted June 7, 2010 I guess the question is, what would you do if the baby starts hurling? We would do/have done pretty much what you did. If the kid starts wailing or gets sick in the dining room then remove him/her. If the situation doesn't look like it'll improve then pay, take food to go, and leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Phor Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Sit outside. Birds will eat baby puke. Quicker than you'd think, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_svg.thumb.png.c50387abb33133634363845f12199fa0.png)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now