Nothing, but we have to draw the line somewhere. We’re not going to subject everyone to a maturity test. No one under 18 is just easier. If the line were drawn at 17 or 19, I’d be fine with that, too. At my restaurant, the line will be 25, but I’m old… and mean.
This is definitely true. As I stated above, if I am going to one of that type of restaurant, it is with my son anyway. I cannot remember the last time I noticed kids around in a restaurant I went on for an adult only type evening. It helps that I tend to eat later on dates, etc - more like drinks at 8.30, not seated until 9.30.
Now, if you could offer me a bar that was 25 and up, I would be on that like a shot. Well, I guess we could relax that a little bit for younger ladies, but 25 or up for guys. 
They gave us quail eggs… infused with smoked salmon… and bacon. That restaurant is the actual happiest place on earth.
There’s a bar/restaurant in Chicago called the Hopleaf that does not allow anyone in under the age of 18 at all. They have a separate dining room btw. I used to go there frequently, then less as the kids got to the age where I would take them along. Now I find it has dropped off my radar and haven’t been there in a couple years. The food and Belgian beer is still top notch, I think that the “we don’t want your business” vibe has stuck even when the kids aren’t with me.
I haven’t been annoyed by kids in restaurants recently, so I guess I’m one of the lucky ones too. I wouldn’t go to a child-free restaurant just because it was 18 and over only. The main draw of a restaurant for me is good food, so if they have that, then I’ll go, if not, then I wouldn’t. Kids don’t even enter into the equation.
Actually, there is one instance where I would actually seek out a 18+ only restaurant and that’s if I was out with a group of very rowdy friends. I vividly remember group meals where one or two friends started telling really bawdy tales sprinkled with multiple profanities and ignoring our shushes while families with little kids stared daggers at us. There’s a reason why those friends mostly meet at bars now. So my answer is yes, but only to protect the kids from my more colorful friends. Unfortunately, that means the rest of you that eat the restaurant would be stuck with yet another section of the population that acts like children.
I have three kids under 8 and they are for the most part well behaved when we go out. That being said, we have had to take several 30 day moratoriums from eating out because the little ones (3 and 2) just weren’t up for behaving as expected. The fanciest places we go would be to Lone Star or Famous Daves for BBQ. Both of those places are kid friendly and loud enough that only the shittiest kid would even be heard. Honestly, I cannot remember the last time that my meal was ruined by someone’s kids.
Good food trumps just about any kid situation. If the best steak in town is served in a working barn complete with animals, hay, and pitchforks, I’m there regardless of the clientele. I can put up with a lot if the food on my plate is something special. That doesn’t happen very often in kid friendly joints. If my wife and I were to go out on a too rare date night, a middle of the road place, just because they ban kids, would be about the last place on our list. We are looking for big people food as well as big people atmosphere.
Other than date night with akirababe i really dont think i would.
I have eaten in casinos at 2 in the morning where kids were actively running around and nearly ducking under our table to “hide” from each other while their parents blythely chit-chatted and ignored them. If I can’t get away from kids at 2AM in a casino where the hell am I supposed to go?
Yeah I think the 18+ age requirement is a little much. 12+ would make a lot more sense to me, because I think if a kid is old enough to be in middle school then she should be old enough to know not to scream, throw things, or be a general nuisance when she goes to a restaurant (specifically, to realize that going out to eat is a privilege, not something you have to do because your parents dragged you). It’s also the traditional cutoff age for eating from a kid’s menu.
When I was in the under-12 age range, my parents had a few restaurants they liked to go to where they had a separate kids’ area, with TV, toys, and kid-sized tables, and separate staff to watch the little ones. This, I am totally in favor of, except that at these restaurants, the kids’ areas were dirty and the kids’ food was crap. So if a restaurant barred children from the main dining room but gave them an area that was actually adequate, rather than treating them like they were unwanted, I’d be in favor.
Do you think that a parent who would allow their kids to be up at 2AM AND at a casino is indicative of the rest of us who can rub two brain cells together? 
Depends on the restaurant. Any of the name chains? I don’t think they need to be “child-free.” Maybe a child-free section, but not the whole restaurant…
But a nicer place, or even a higher-end chain? Definitiely could be child-free, and I’d go there.
Hell, that describes frat boys better than kids.
Maybe we should have an “over 25” restaurant, instead.
Honestly, in 35 years of eating out and a stint working as a waitress, I can’t say I ever recall a child being so loud meals were ruined. I have, however, been to places where adult altercations/drunks/rude jerks groping staff DID put me off my feed.
My husband and I usually take the kids along, and they are well-behaved. When we go out without them, we are more likely to go for Thai and Indian (they don’t like those so much) rather than places catering towards adults.
This whole brain cell rubbing should not be left to chance, is all. It should be enforced with EXTREME AUTHORITY! Because that is what’s convenient to me PERSONALLY. ::glare::
I voted yes, but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to eat at one for that reason alone. Kids in restaurants just don’t disturb me often enough to actually change my eating patterns to avoid them.
Not to say I haven’t ever been annoyed by noisy kids. But usually it has been in the context of a full “family-style” restaurant, where one would expect such disruption in the first place.
I’d make the cut off high school aged, so about 14. Kids who are 14 can appreciate a good meal, and certainly know how to make polite conversation. My own much-younger 14 year old brother loves a nice filet, and just last year the conversation topics at the table became completely open. By high school, even the most sheltered of kids has heard every swear word, most sexual references, and seen an R movie, so there’d be no clamping of their ears in the presence of adults.
Sometimes, though, age-related cutoffs are just absurd. Five years ago, Northwest airlines had a policy that everyone under age 18 had to be escorted on and off the plane. It was pretty embarrassing for me - a college freshman living 3,000 miles from home - to be escorted on and off the plane over Thanksgiving break :smack:.
I don’t have children myself but I have eaten in many places (some cheap, some expensive, mostly mid-range) where parents have been in with their kids who are the most obnoxious and badly-behaved brats imaginable. If I knew there was a childfree alternative, I’d be there like a shot.
ETA: as an aside to the main topic, my parents made sure that we knew our manners and how to behave acceptably in public before we were allowed to go to a restaurant with them. If one of the kids misbehaved, there was a warning and if that went unheeded, we all had to leave and it was made manifestly clear that it was the fault of the misbehaving child that the rest of the family’s meal had been spoiled. It may seem harsh to some folks, but we learned very quickly that we could go out and have a fantastic meal as a family provided we all behaved ourselves! There was not necessarily an outright punishment for misbehaving in a restaurant, but the knowledge that the parents were displeased with us was quite enough to ensure our best behaviour.
Oh yeah. Actually, what I’d really like is now that lots of states and cities are forcing out smoking areas, replace them with children allowed areas – outside of that area, NO KIDS. Might not help 100% with real screamers, but at least you won’t have them turning around and staring at you or kicking your seat or what not.
Of course, the best solution would be for parents to, you know, parent their kids but what are the odds of that happening?
I would love to go where there are no screaming brats.
The bar/casino idea might work if only there were no smoke. I hate that even more than I detest the brats.
This seems to be the topic du jour around here, and I just don’t see the outrage.
Not because it’s not horribly obnoxious, but does it really happen that often to people that you consider it a likely chance every time you go out to eat?
Maybe I just don’t go to the “right” places, or maybe things are different in different regions, but I can’t think of the last time I was out to eat and had my experience interrupted by screaming children. And I tend to go out to varied and numerous low/mid-scale eateries.
So, my answer to the OP is, “Yes, but only because I don’t see that changing my dining experience one jot.”