# Should restaurants get rid of the kids' menu? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2025, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279 "2025-06-30T00:56:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/81 "2025-07-01T14:44:06Z")
In fact, my main gripe with kids’ menus when we used them was that they were clearly aimed at e.g. picky 12 year-olds - or teenagers! - with healthy appetites and so my 5 year old would be presented with a piece of fish longer than his forearm and a pile of chips bigger than his head. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/82 "2025-07-01T15:00:04Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > my 5 year old would be presented with a piece of fish longer than his forearm and a pile of chips bigger than his head. OTOH I had a 6-year old who kept complaining the kids’ meals left him hungry, so we ended up letting him order off the main menu. Of course, he even burned that off immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/83 "2025-07-01T15:00:32Z")
In conclusion, children and restaurants are a land of contrasts. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/84 "2025-07-01T16:03:51Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > Surprisingly, one place that offers a more adventurous kid’s menu is Walt Disney World. If you set down to a meal at Walt Disney World, there shouldn’t much of an expectation of a quiet dining experience. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/85 "2025-07-01T16:22:06Z")
My children are adventurous eaters and so are my wife and I. If we are paying for food, it’s something we’ve never had or won’t go through the trouble of making. But I have nieces and nephews that won’t eat anything more foreign than chicken nuggets and pizza. So woe unto those businesses that don’t stock greasy cardboard for sale. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/86 "2025-07-01T16:30:06Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > If you set down to a meal at Walt Disney World, there shouldn’t much of an expectation of a quiet dining experience. This depends entirely on the restaurant at WDW. Your experience at a quick-service fast-food place in the Magic Kingdom is going to be radically different from what you’ll experience at one of their expensive table-service restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/87 "2025-07-01T17:09:10Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > How long are you willing to wait? I’ve seen children engage in a test of wills that would make _ **High Noon** _ look like a tickle fight. My child will literally starve himself rather than eat a non-preferred food. When he was first in daycare, before we had ADA accommodations, they wouldn’t let us bring in food for him, so he just didn’t eat a single meal for the entire day. He didn’t act distressed or cranky about it, he just refused to eat. But he’s not eating anything at a restaurant including nuggets. Getting him to eat anything but a narrowly prescribed list is very, very difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/88 "2025-07-01T17:30:50Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > This. “Cooking correctly” is key. I wonder how many other people, like me, grew up in WASP families (think “Leave It To Beaver”) where boiling the crap out of frozen vegetables was the norm? No wonder vegetables were hated by kids in the 1960s; they were tasteless mush, and all we had was salt and pepper to make them taste better. I used to think I didn’t like tomatoes which was odd because I liked all sorts of things made out of tomatoes. But a tomato on a burger was just a watery, flavorless disk of pulp as far as I was concerned. It’s difficult for me to figure out whether the things I didn’t like as a kid were because my mother, god bless her, is a terrible cook or it’s simply my palate that’s changed. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/89 "2025-07-01T17:42:00Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Your experience at a quick-service fast-food place in the Magic Kingdom is going to be radically different from what you’ll experience at one of their expensive table-service restaurants. I’ll take your word for it, but If you mean the service and offerings are different, of course. But if people are dragging sugared up kids who just came off of a roller coaster in to dine, I’m not sure a cultured ambiance is going to matter to them. Especially if they are being offered food they don’t want. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/90 "2025-07-01T17:44:13Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > This depends entirely on the restaurant at WDW. Your experience at a quick-service fast-food place in the Magic Kingdom is going to be radically different from what you’ll experience at one of their expensive table-service restaurants. Indeed: The Contemporary, despite being only mostly, but not entirely kid-free, had amongst the highest quiet-to-density ratios amongst restaurants that I’ve been to. In other words, they packed a lot of people in the same place, including some kids, but still managed to keep things quiet. Oddly enough the other very quiet place was an Outback Steakhouse. I think it was because both places didn’t pipe in any music. As a counterexample, for a while in the 90s and/or 2000s, Chili’s had the music so loud you could barely hear the person across from you talk even if the other patrons weren’t loud. And the other patrons were loud because they had to speak loud because of the music. Which isn’t to say there aren’t any situations where I want loudness. If it’s a buffet, or a very busy diner with an overworked staff, you want something to mask the sound of clanking flatware and china. That’s the one thing I dislike most about most of the Embassy Suites I’ve stayed at: while I love their free breakfast buffet, and their open tower layout is grand and beautiful, the _combination_ of the two means that I can hear everyone eating the buffet in the morning from everywhere in the hotel. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/91 "2025-07-01T17:49:05Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I’ll take your word for it, but If you mean the service and offerings are different, of course. Yes, exactly this. There are restaurants at Disney World – both at the parks, and at the resorts – which are “fine dining”; they’re expensive, serve excellent food and drinks, have outstanding service, and typically require reservations, made months in advance. There’s no 100% guarantee that, just because you’re paying $80 a person for dinner at “Be Our Guest” (the _Beauty and the Beast_-themed restaurant at the Magic Kingdom), there won’t be a fussy loud toddler at the table next to you (because it _is_ Disney World), but the atmosphere is certainly very different from what you’d experience at a quick-service lunch place next to _Pirates of the Caribbean_. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/92 "2025-07-01T17:52:27Z")
My take on this is that I remember going out as a kid with my family as being special mostly because everybody got to have different dishes. My mother is having chicken, my father is having a steak, my sibs are eating whatever they like, and I get to order “anything under $1.50.” It would have been totally spoiled if we went to a rib place and everyone had to have ribs…or an Asian place and everyone has to have whatever my mother thinks is great. Let the kids get what they want. If it’s a burger at a sushi place, fine. Chicken fingers at a steak place, great. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/93 "2025-07-01T18:52:23Z")
I’m fine with kids menus since eating issues should be dealt with at home, not in public. One set of grandkids got small portions of regular food from before they can talk, and they can eat anything. When our kids were little we took them to Sunday brunch buffet at a hotel, with my wife’s parents and aunt. It was a great opportunity for them to sample small portions of lots of things in a special environment, and if they got antsy there were enough adults to take them to the lobby. When we took them to normal restaurants, they were great. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/94 "2025-07-01T18:52:58Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I briefly worked at Denny’s in the mid 1980s. Don’t know if they still have the Senior Menu, with slightly smaller portions, for their patrons 55 and over, Yes, and 15% AARP discounts. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/95 "2025-07-01T20:52:00Z")
My experience of English and other European (especially French and Spanish) restaurants is radically different to the USA. When our two children were small, we often took them to restaurants as that was one of our great pleasures. Some in England were not that welcoming, but the majority were. We theorised that children came with adults and ate early, freeing up a table for later arrivals. French restaurants, except for some in Paris, positively welcomed children, and French children were generally well behaved. To expect a toddler to sit through a three-hour dinner would be asking a lot, so it wasn’t unusual to see them wandering around. What was unusual was tantrums and fights. Our children did not generally like the children’s menu, and we used to ask for extra plates and let them choose some of the food from ours. As they grew up, they would often have a starter as a main course and, naturally, an expensive pudding for afters. Our daughter now has two of her own, and is quite confident in taking them out to a restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/96 "2025-07-01T21:08:27Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Indeed: The Contemporary, despite being only mostly, but not entirely kid-free, had amongst the highest quiet-to-density ratios amongst restaurants that I’ve been to. And by this I mean the California Grill at the Contemporary. They also have a ground floor more casual restaurant that used to be called The Wave which I haven’t been to since they’ve remodelled and renamed. The _dining_ and bar portion of it used to also be quiet even when it was pretty crowded, but there was a space-age lounge section that you could sit in while you were waiting for your tables. That would seem to go even _better_ with less noise, as relaxing in a neon filled moderne place with no other noise than perhaps very low atmospheric music would seem to be the perfect thing Except the third time I went, I had to wait for my seat and was completely alone except for a blaring TV which completely ruined the atmosphere of the space age lounge for me. I don’t even think I was in close range of someone standing there whom I could ask to turn the TV down rather than have to flag them down while they were walking. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/97 "2025-07-01T21:40:09Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > But a tomato on a burger was just a watery, flavorless disk of pulp as far as I was concerned. It’s difficult for me to figure out whether the things I didn’t like as a kid were because my mother, god bless her, is a terrible cook or it’s simply my palate that’s changed. It might also be that you buy better tomatoes that your mother did - I know my husband does not buy those pale , flavorless , three to a plastic package tomatoes my mother bought. > [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > But if people are dragging sugared up kids who just came off of a roller coaster in to dine, That’s the thing - for the most part, the table service restaurants are not in the parks. ( some are, but not most) They are either in the hotels or at Disney Springs so you aren’t going to have kids who just got off a ride - there will probably be 20 minutes minimum between getting off a ride and being seated at the restaurant. And there are fine dining table service restaurants and more casual ones - I ate at the steakhouse twice when I was there, and the few kids in the steakhouse were not fussy and loud. Different story at the Garden Grill which is much more attractive to kids since Chip and Dale are walking around but also has a fixed menu served family style. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/98 "2025-07-01T21:51:35Z")
I’m guessing the original poster doesn’t have kids (but did not read all the thread). Both parents and restaurants would prefer kids not irritate other diners by being extremely unhappy with the options. The primary purpose of the restaurant is to make money and satisfy customers, not educate about widely available ethnic specialties which could happen at another time. That said, European parents allegedly make kids eat what everyone eats, and this problem is said to be somewhat less frequent. Is this true? My guess is sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/99 "2025-07-01T22:08:20Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > To be fair, I think that was more of a solution to overpopulation and food scarcity. 😎 I take a more expansive interpretation of Swift and application of his thesis to the challenges of modern life. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2025, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279/100 "2025-07-01T22:25:55Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > French restaurants, except for some in Paris, positively welcomed children, and French children were generally well behaved. To expect a toddler to sit through a three-hour dinner would be asking a lot, so it wasn’t unusual to see them wandering around. What was unusual was tantrums and fights. We often took our kids to a restaurant that put us next to the staircase, which had a section on the far side of the hand rail that wasn’t actually useful. That area, between our table and the unused side of the staircase, was the okay area for the kids. The kids knew they could run around there, so long as they were quiet and didn’t leave their area. People asked us why our kids behaved so well at restaurants. We answered, “the same reason adults do, they know that if they behave, they will get food they like.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-restaurants-get-rid-of-the-kids-menu/1020279.md?page=6)