When going to a restaurant with your family, did you ever need to prepare the money to pay extra for your kids? However, we don’t mean paying for extra food for your hungry kids; we meant paying for a fee to compensate the restaurant if your kids become rowdy or noisy.
A restaurant in Singapore started implementing a S$10 extra charge on diners for bringing rowdy kids with them. They will automatically ask for additional payment on the final dining bill if the kids are misbehaving in the restaurant.
In this article, you’ll read:
- Diners Pay Extra for Bringing Rowdy Kids to This Restaurant
- How the Restaurant Responds to Queries of Mothers
In terms of strict access to children and some baby gear, some restaurants in the country state their extra fees early on. This kind of thing happens, and it is not something new, especially in Singapore.
Some Singapore restaurants are a bit straightforward to customers, limiting access to children and strollers. The primary reason for their restrictions can be because of the location as well as the design of the premises.
Despite these reasons, many parents, especially mums, find this kind of restriction to be offensive. They believe there is a good and polite way of informing parents in restaurants that their children are being disruptive. Unfortunately, a certain restaurant implemented a different approach.
Diners Pay Extra for Bringing Rowdy Kids to This Restaurant
Image Source: iStock
Angie’s Oyster Bar & Grill is one of the restaurants in Singapore that immediately informs diners of their non-kid-friendly environment. Moreover, they started a new rule where customers need to pay S$10 if they brought rowdy children.
The mentioned fee will reflect on the diner’s bill if they brought a child who made too much noise or ran around the restaurant. Understandably, the policy they implemented concerning children offended many parents in Singapore, especially mothers.
Angie’s Oyster Bar & Grill is located in Tan Boon Liat Building at Outram Road. This restaurant restriction has raised some eyebrows among mums in Singapore. They shared information regarding this amongst themselves and then passed it to the media.
Not a Kid-Friendly Restaurant
Upon reservation, the restaurant explicitly informs customers that they are not a kid-friendly restaurant. This received backlash from parents who hoped to bring their kids. Most of them complained about the restaurant’s policy on websites like TripAdvisor, Google, and Facebook.
Meanwhile, an unnamed parent shared the message she received from the restaurant’s staff. She received it after inquiring about baby chairs for her little one.
In the message, the staff informed the parent that the restaurant has no baby chairs. Later on, they mentioned the Screaming Children Surcharge fee of S$10.
Instead of a baby chair that they do not have, the restaurant offered that they can only provide a space for a pram. The tone of the message attempted to be more welcoming after mentioning the extra payment rule.
Moreover, the staff also insisted that they welcome diners with children. Unfortunately, it’s up to them to decide if you’ll pay extra for your kids.
How the Restaurant Responds to Queries of Mothers
Image Source: iStock
The restaurant has constantly been receiving good customer feedback, especially on Facebook and Google. They commonly receive high praise because of the food their offer and the restaurant’s ambience.
Unfortunately, the place also stacked up negative reviews from customers. Most of them complained about the noise caused by rowdy children in the restaurant.
We assume this ultimately caused the management to implement the Screaming Children Surcharge in the restaurant. This angered diners with kids but other reviews returned to praising the quality of their food.
However, in August 2022, people noticed a negative review from a diner who complained about the extra pay for kids.
“This was the first time we were informed of this even though we had been on other occasions,” said the customer.
He stated the new rule and expressed his opinion on charging guests extra for causing a disturbance by bringing noisy kids.
They also added, “I thought Angie’s could have take a more polite approach. Am pretty put off by the reply. Guess we won’t be heading back.”
In response to the review, Angie’s Oyster Bar & Grill mentioned the concerns of other customers. According to them, they have been receiving complaints concerning children “running around unattended or disturbing other tables during the service period.”
Additionally, they also made it clear that such incidents involving children might be “dangerous.” It is because the servers need to move around the restaurant carrying hot food and sharp cutlery.
Aside from that, they also mentioned that misbehaving kids cause inconvenience to other customers and are “disrespectful to other diners who may wish to dine in a quiet and comfortable atmosphere.”
The restaurant did not forget to mention their honest intention for their customers. It is to provide a pleasant environment for all their dining guests. They also reassure people that will continue to find ways how they could improve their customer experience.