Restaurant Bans Children Under 10 Years Old

A restaurant has banned children under the age of 10, saying while they love kids, they need to ‘take control’ of the chaos that’s been unfolding.

Nettie’s House of Spaghetti in New Jersey has taken a firm stance on young children dining at the restaurant, but says the decision wasn’t taken lightly.

“We love kids,” the Italian restaurant wrote in a social media post.

“We really, truly, do. But lately, it’s been extremely challenging to accommodate children at Nettie’s. Between noise levels, lack of space for high chairs, cleaning up crazy messes, and the liability of kids running around the restaurant, we have decided that it’s time to take control of the situation.

“This wasn’t a decision that was made lightly, but some recent events have pushed us to implement this new policy. As of March 8, the day we return from our winter break, we will no longer allow children under 10 to dine in the restaurant.

“We know that this is going to make some of you very upset, especially those of you with very well-behaved kids, but we believe this is the right decision for our business moving forward.
Thank you for understanding.”

The post attracted thousands of shares and comments, with some supporting the move and others voicing their disappointment.

“Fantastic idea… having worked in the industry since I was 14, I’ve never seen anything like I have in the recent past. Kids are out of control and most parents are oblivious,” wrote one commenter.

The restaurant responded saying, “It’s become a liability to us – kids running around the restaurant in circles when we’re trying to carry trays of food and drinks has made doing our jobs extremely difficult.”

However, one mum wrote, “That is really sad to hear. I was looking forward to trying out your place but with a well behaved 9 year old I’m not welcome .. sad ..”

However another mum was in complete agreement with the decision.

“About a half dozen people have sent me this post in the last 24 hours expecting me to be outraged because: 1) Nettie’s is our favourite restaurant 2) We have a 3 year old daughter. I’m definitely not outraged and agree with Nettie’s 1000%.

“We’ve never even considered taking our toddler to Nettie’s – we want to enjoy our fng dinner, need a breather, and assume everyone else there feels the same. Not the correct environment for a kid anyway. If you can afford a pricy spaghetti dinner you can also afford a babysitter. End of story – if parents are getting so worked up over something so trivial maybe it’s time for them to reevaluate their entitlement.”

What do you think of this decision. Let us know in the comments below.

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33 Comments

- - Frankiielot said
  - 03 Mar 2023
    12:00 am
I can see both sides but I feel bad for the kids who love the food there. They’ll have to settle for takeaway their parents bring home if they do that sort of thing!

- - Jessica said
  - 27 Feb 2023
    3:09 pm
As a parent of kids under 10 I completely understand!

- - smart_ass said
  - 27 Feb 2023
    1:38 pm
I get both sides to this article.

- - CrystalG said
  - 26 Feb 2023
    9:10 pm
Interesting. I see parts to both sides of this.
While children should be free to be children there are time and environments in which they must have boundaries

- - mom160270 said
  - 26 Feb 2023
    8:04 pm
The restaurant is entitled to attract the clientele they want. I don’t see a problem with this.

- - mom111059 said
  - 26 Feb 2023
    6:47 pm
Plenty of places you can take the kids. If the venue does not want children then so be it. This will suit many patrons who want a quiet dinner.

- - My Little Buttons said
  - 26 Feb 2023
    8:51 am
Yes what a brilliant idea love it

- - MummaD said
  - 25 Feb 2023
    5:00 pm
I can understand the restaurant coming to this decision. On the plus side, having 4 kids, it is sometimes nice to have a meal with just your partner and not be chasing/checking/parenting and to just eat and enjoy.

- - mom492462 said
  - 25 Feb 2023
    10:10 am
Totally agree with the managements decision
As stated they haven’t taken this stances lightly and are fully aware it’s going to effort their bottom line
If family’s don’t want to miss out see if there’s a take out option
Kids in a group setting can be a handful (believe. Me) and yes iI have 3 and they are NOT always behaved
Their new policy is to look after their business ,reputation and the majority of their clients
At the end of the day noone would like to see restaurant effected/ close down over a law suit

- - Mumof4 said
  - 24 Feb 2023
    11:27 am
Yeah we’ve just stopped eating out. We have 4 kids under 6 and they can be a handful. I wouldn’t want to subject others to their behaviour, even though they are fairly well behaved. In saying that I feel more places need a family area that’s seperate to everyone else?

- - Ellen said
  - 24 Feb 2023
    8:55 am
Eating out with children with additional needs can make it even harder, even when they passed this age mark

- - BellaB said
  - 23 Feb 2023
    6:52 pm
I am not opposed to this. Sure, you need to take kids out in order to them how to behave while eating out, but that doesn’t mean that every venue is suitable. If they believe it’s becoming a danger, then it’s the right thing to do for their business.
- Ellen replied
  
  25 Feb 2023 , 7:14 am
  True, not every venue is suitable
- - Chelsea1905 said
  - 23 Feb 2023
    2:11 pm
I love eating out with my kids, but it is hard work sometimes and I completely agree some places are not for children – I would hate to dine out in a lovely restaurant and have kids spilling red sauce everywhere.

- - tessie said
  - 23 Feb 2023
    12:02 pm
I totally agree with the businesses decision to ban children. This wouldn’t have had to come about if the parents of the children kept an eye on them. I wouldn’t want to go there all dressed up and have a child throw their food at me or be screaming in my ear all the time. The only time we went out with our boys we had 2 rules:- Sit quietly and eat their meal. They knew if they misbehaved they would have to stay home with Grandma.

- - mom486197 said
  - 23 Feb 2023
    10:22 am
Businesses have a right to choose what they want to do. I personally know that my child won’t sit still and can be a bit messy sometimes as she learns to feed herself. I don’t take my daughter to restaurants for this reason, I plan to wait until she is a bit older.