Kids in Restaurants

So, I won't detail everything we did this weekend. Some of it is actually kind of boring (I'm trying to get some studying in for my HR exam, so it's not all fun and games). But I have to mention a dining experience DH and I had this weekend.

We went to a steak restaurant yesterday on an off-hour to avoid the crowds. They seat us next to a large table with a few kids that (we thought) were about ready to leave (otherwise, we would have asked to be moved). However, as DH and I were ordering, we realized that the table hadn't even been served their entrees yet. The mess that was on the table was for appetizers, drinks and tons of kids crap.

Anyhow, during the entire course of our meal, the kids were up, down, running around, screaming, and crying. The mother, father, grandmother, and some of the other adults did whatever they could to placate the bawling brats. Finally (to our great relief), the father picked up two of the misbehaving kids and took them to the entrance area (it was raining, so they couldn't go outside). We could still hear them squawking, but at least it wasn't right next to us. What we noticed is that the father's plate had steak and lobster on it, that was growing cold. When he finally came back, all of the other people were finished eating. He asked for his food to be re-warmed, but just as the plate was being taken away, the kids started back up again. You would have thought the mother might have stepped in and taken her turn, but she was too busy arguing with her MIL.

When the steak/lobster was brought back, they boxed it up to take it to go. I hope the dad got to eat some of those appetizers because he literally didn't have a bite of his entree. The last thing we heard the mother say (as we were leaving the restaurant) was, "they're just fussy because they are tired!" The MIL then said, "but you never even get to enjoy your meal!" No shit! And what about all of the other people whose meals were ruined because you insisted on taking them out!

Seriously, folks....get a babysitter and leave them at home. Even if I wasn't CF, I would be pretty pissed off to pay for a meal at a restaurant when it was being ruined by kids. I'm sure that there were many parents there who had hired a babysitter so that they could enjoy themselves in peace, only to have the meal ruined by other people's kids.