I would be embarrassed if someone I ate out with tried to order a kid meal. I think it should be only for kids. If you aren’t very hungry have an app or a salad.
I have run into it before.
I don’t ever eat the full portion I order, american restaurants make huge servings. I have no issue just asking to take the rest of my food home and eat it for another meal [or in some cases 2 meals]
[for someone who is fat, I eat surprisingly little 98% of the time.]
This is sad. If all you want is a small plate of macaroni and cheese, any restaurant worth its salt (so to speak) should accommodate you. I would never go back to this restaurant again, not because they wanted me to spend more money, but because they made me feel uncomfortable about asking for what I really wanted.
I voted No. Kids and Seniors menu sections are for Kids and Seniors, that’s why they are labeled as such, and people outside those parameters who want to order from the specialized sections are usually demanding, PITA customers in more ways than one. So I’m not surprised your wife stormed out in a huff when she didn’t get her way. I am surprised so many places let her do it before. I’ve worked in a lot of restaurants and it was against the rules.
I weight less than plenty of 12-and-unders, but I usually clean my plate at every restaurant so I’ve never thought of regular portions as ‘large’. Traveling outside America might be a problem for me here.
If I’m not hungry, I don’t order a full meal. If I don’t finish what I do order, I take it home and eat it later (I never waste food). But I’m not a picky eater at all. I rarely bother to reheat leftovers for example.
I don’t see a problem with it. This is one of those cases where keeping the customer happy and coming back makes you more money than sticking to rules like that.
That said, I have no idea why any adult would want the food on a kids’ menu. I’ve yet to be in a restaurant that had kids’ menu food that was in any way appetizing. It’s always kraft mac and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, corn dogs, and spaghetti. If my children ate out more often than they do, I’d be worried about their health (and they’d be a heck of a lot pickier than they are already.)
It is not the same. The costs of a kids meal are different because a kids meal has smaller portions. THAT is why people usually order off that menu. I do it all the time. Why the fuck should I be forced to pay for a huge portion of food that I cannot eat nor is appropriate for my size?
F that.
edit: reheated restaurant food is nasty. so in denying your wife that option, they basically told her to pay more AND eat crappier food.
Agree with the first part, but if you’re a grown-up who wants a small serving, ask for that. Don’t order a “kid’s meal.”
I don’t order from the kid’s meal at “real” restaurants, but I love to get kid meals at fast food places or supercasual places like Chipotle and Panda Express. It’s the perfect amount for lunch, and the price I want to spend for lunch too.
You guys do realize what ‘somewhat’ means right? Kid’s meals and other child discounts are a privilege intended for children, not adults with ‘a really good excuse’.
You forgot chicken fingers. They always have chicken fingers.
Where are these restaurants where a kid meal is just a smaller portion of a regular meal? Adults going out and ordering chicken fingers, hot dogs, and grilled cheese sandwiches is beyond ridiculous.
That I have no issue with and makes sense for those on a diet or tight budget.
There are a few neighborhood places around here where I’d like to stop for a quick bite. Leftover pizza or subs don’t travel well so I’d like to be able to order the grilled cheese or some chicken nuggets (only available on the children’s menu). I’ll opt for a teensy taco down the street just because I can’t get my grilled cheese or nuggets off the kiddy menu at the other places. BTW, I do order good sized meals from the ‘blockers’ when I have people in tow so I don’t see why they shouldn’t return the favor and let me order a GD grilled cheese!
This isn’t at sit-down restaurants - I carry-out because I need a bite on my way to or from somewhere. I’ll eat better tomorrow.
I voted yes. I have found that is it better for me on my diet to be able to order the smaller portions and have no leftovers to tempt me beyond my willpower. It can be very difficult for someone like me to order a larger item and then walk away from what is still there on the plate.
And not all kid’s menu items are grilled cheese and hot dogs. The Tex-Mex place I go to has regular food items like enchiladas, quesadillas, etc, along with the rice and beans that come with the combo plates.
Also, I’ve got no problem asking if smaller portions are available, but I’m not paying full price for a half-size portion.
Really? So, in your opinion, nobody over the age of 18 should ever order grilled cheese or hot dogs at a restaurant due to it being “ridiculous”?
Just want to make sure I’m reading you right, because that’s what it really seems like you’re saying.
Personally, I find it ridiculous that a restaurant would have a problem serving a person (any person) anything that they wanted that was on the menu (unless it was specifically stated as being age restricted).
Missed the edit window - these are actually sit-down/take-out/delivery places where once in a while I’d like to have something off the kiddie menu. I’ll make it up to them next time I come in with friends or have a big meal delivered so I don’t get their beef if I want to order an ocassional grilled cheese.
So many people who have so little clue about how the restaurant industry works. The cost the food is only a small component of the price of a meal. The cost of the overhead and preparation is built into that price as well. A small kids meal costs just as much to the restaurant as a steak dinner does when you factor in the cost of the plates, cook’s time, electricity, gas, furniture, insurance, cleaning and all all kinds of other things. There’s a reason that steakhouses and fine dining places charge $29 for a steak and $22 dollars for a roast chicken. The roast chicken probably costs 1/4th what the steak costs in pure product, but it’s not 25% the price on the menu because every plate starts out with a break even cost of like $18 just to keep the place open. Kids menu options are no different.
The kids menu is ABSOLUTELY a loss-leader. They put it on the menu to encourage parents to come in and eat. They aren’t remotely interested in the profits the kids food generates, they want the parents business. 2 adults will order a glass of wine, a steak or pasta dinner and dessert. That’s maybe $50 per plate, the $7 chicken fingers for the kids are irrelevant.
Complaining that a restaurant won’t give the kids menu to adults is the equivalent of complaining that a department store won’t give you the “half-off” price on just one pair of shoes in a Buy One, Get One Half Off Sale. Restaurants know that children under say 12 years of age aren’t ever going to be dining without an adult and therefore the kids menu is effectively a BOGO offer.
If you have a tiny appetite as an adult and/or cannot afford to buy a full priced meal, you are not a customer the restaurant wants to have in the first place. You can’t help them stay in business. They aren’t the government, they have no requirement to cater to every person in the country. They have no more of a requirement to provide cheap meals to people than a car dealer has to provide $2000 cars.
All that said, I voted “Other” because some restaurants might be wise to make the policy flexible. It’s all about business, just like a really good department store might bend their return policy to allow a return something outside of their requirements in order to keep a customer happy, a restaurant might be smart to treat a Grandma as a child because if she’s dining with her married children and grandchildren she could act as a loss-leader in the same way a kid might. That grandma might also, like a 12 year old, never be dining without a full paying adult if she’s lost her mobility.
Smart menus should simply require that a “kids menu” option also requires the purchase of one full size meal. Anyone can order it regardless of age so long as you’re buying a full-price meal too. It’s subtly implied on most menus, but by making that declaration explicit you’d stem the complaints of freeloaders who simply think that they are entitled to it.
Yeah that’s pretty much my opinion. Who the hell goes to a real restaurant for a corn dog or whatever? You are an adult. Eat like one. Get soup, salad, or an app.
@LWIBR
Many adults couldn’t russle up a corn dog, a hot dog, mac-and-cheese or a grilled cheese at home because they are grown up and have relatively good eating and grocery shopping habits. That’s why they resort to a restaurant for an ocassional urge - I think you were the first to tack on the “fine” to the dining experience. If I crave a grilled cheese I’m not looking for a fine dining restaurant.
@Omnicient - I agree mostly. Odds are that many of your customers (like myself) simply can’t stomach or afford a full meal on a certain visit but will more than make up for it in future visits and different circumstances. God know how many times we’ve been dragged to a restaraunt when we weren’t hungry or were short of funds - we do make it up in the long run.
I think it’s far more likely that people who raise a stink about the Kids menu are likely to be habitual skinflints. People tend not to be “occasionally” too broke to have a full meal, people who are occasionally pinched financially don’t go out on those days. People who go to restaurants and need to get by as cheaply as possible tend to be old and on a fixed income or on welfare. Those circumstances aren’t likely to change. Restaurants aren’t going to lose sleep over losing those customers since they are more trouble than they are worth from a business standpoint.