A family have been left furious after a restaurant hit them with a $50 (£40) surcharge for being "unable to parent".
Lyndsey and Kyle Landmann, from Florida, had travelled to Blue Ridge, Georgia for a trip with their friends last month when the group visited the Toccoa Riverside Restaurant.
Mum of three Lyndsey, 36, thought it was a joke when she opened up the menu and discovered an unusual warning, stating: “Adult surcharge: For adults unable to parent $$$.”
“I remember thinking, ‘No way is this real,'" she told Today. According to Lyndsey, four other families had joined them at the restaurant and there were 11 children at their table, ranging from three to eight years old.
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The menu at the restaurant also states an 18% tip may be added for groups of more than six as well as tables who ask for separate bills or order from the Birthday menu. It also requests diners be "respectful to staff, property, and self" or risk being denied service. Lyndsey insists all the children in their group were being well-behaved.
“The kids were sitting at one end of the table and they were being so good. I even commented halfway through the meal, ‘I can’t believe how well-behaved they are'," she said. After finishing their food, some of the parents took their children outside to the nearby river and at the same time the restaurant's owner, Tim Richter, came over to speak to the rest of the people still at the table.
“He has the menu in hand and he's showing us where it talks about the fee. At first I thought he was gonna compliment us and be like, ‘But you won’t be charged because your kids were so well-behaved'," Lyndsey recalled.
But she was shocked to learn the owner had actually come over to inform them there would be a $50 charge per bill at their table. When she asked why, Lyndsey was told it was because the kids were being "too loud."
She said the owner was also angry because the kids were "running around outside," even though they were being supervised by their parents. Lyndsey attempted to argue the fee but claims when she did, the owner became irate and had a huge outburst.
"I was like, 'They were quiet the whole time.' He got in our faces and told us that we belonged at Burger King and not at his restaurant. We asked to speak to the owner and he said he was the owner," she explained.
Lyndsey added: "I looked around the restaurant and everybody was frozen watching this show he was putting on. He was yelling. It was alarming."
Toccoa Riverside Restaurant has refused to comment on the incident, with an employee telling Today: “We’re not going to comment on a policy we’ve had for years. We just want to live in the woods and cook.”
Lyndsey and Kyle gave the restaurant a one-star Google review, and they're not the only parents to have had a similar experience. In another review, a man revealed his wife had been rocking their four-month-old baby to sleep when the manager told her: "You don't do that in a fancy restaurant" and later moved their pram.
But after sharing a picture of the controversial "unable to parent" surcharge warning to Reddit, Lyndsey and Kyle have been met with a mixed response. Some people thought the fee was a good idea.
“It amazes me how many parents don't give a s*** about their kids acting like a***holes in a restaurant. We got up and left many times and ate out of take out containers in the parking lot rather than subject others around us to screaming kids when they were really young," one person commented.
Another agreed, adding: “I do think having a s*** parent surcharge is a good idea – perhaps more establishments should do this.” But others thought the restaurant was in the wrong, including one person who said the demanding menu gave off "Karen vibes".
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