A Florida Restaurant Has Banned Kids and People Are Having Mixed Responses
Thinking of going to a restaraunt and treating your family to dinner tonight? Well, if you’re thinking of bringing your kids, there’s one place where they are not welcome. Hampton Station, a local pizza place in Tampa, Florida, has banned kids from its restaurant.
The restaurant has “NO CHILDREN” printed on their door in large, red type. And as you can imagine, parents are not happy. The restaurant has received heat on Yelp and a Facebook group called “Tampa Bay Moms Group,” where there is a post discussing the new no-kid rule.
“No children. All caps. The biggest font, at the top of the door. All after gladly accepting money from families for two years. Rude,” writes a Yelp user who gave the restaurant a one-star rating. “Seems that they’re banking on alcohol sales. [They] won’t be getting any from me,” the reviewer added.
“Kids have been banned. [It’s a] shame because [it] used to be one of our favorites,” another Yelp user writes, who gave Hampton Station a three-star review. “[We] won’t be back with or without our well-behaved youngster!”
The Reason for the Ban
The restaurant has responded to the backlash over the no kids rule, and says a lot of thought and discussion went into their decision. “We had a few incidents the past couple of weeks where kids were endangering themselves and other patrons. From a liability standpoint, we just can’t afford to have that,” the restaurant says. They added that they knew there would be backlash and they would lose longtime customers, but felt this was the right thing to do. “We had a lot of great kids come into Hampton, and we are going to miss them, but this had to be done for everyone’s well-being.”
But along with the negative comments and poor reviews, some people are in support of the restaurant.
“A business owner slammed by locals for managing his business in a safe and responsible manner?” one user writes with a five-star review. “I’m all for Hampton Station’s proprietor keeping his place adults-only. I wish he owned a movie theatre and an airline.”
“Awesome, it’s like the serenity adult section offered on cruise lines,” writes a Facebook user. “You just need to have a space where it’s a change of pace.”
“…I applaud the owner for stepping up and putting this policy in place,” a Yelp reviewer writes with a five-star review. “I will now make it a point to dine here and again hope more restaurants follow suit. Its a shame that parents can’t control kids and have zero respect for those dining around them.”
Another person on Facebook responded and said: “I like it! Sometimes hubby and I will have a date night, and we will go to a restaraunt where we have to listen to other people’s kids crying and carrying on. It’s nice to have an adult-only option.”
Although Hampton Station is no longer allowing kids, dogs are still welcome to dine with their owners on the patio.
What do you think of the restaurant’s decision to ban children?
h/t Rebook
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