Canadians think kid-free restaurants are great and want more of them

Several restaurants around the world have recently been making the news for their kid-free dining policies, and it looks like Canadians are really into the idea.

Last month, Italian restaurant Nettie’s House of Spaghetti announced its decision to ban children under 10 from dining in, starting March 8.

“We love kids. We really, truly, do. But lately, it’s been extremely challenging to accommodate children at Nettie’s,” the restaurant wrote on its Facebook page.

A week ago, another restaurant, a Chick-fil-A location in Pennsylvania, received attention for introducing a similar policy.

The Royersford-based restaurant banned unattended kids under 16 and cited four reasons to do so on its Facebook pages:

• [Kids under 16] are loud and their conversation often contains a lot of explicit language. We are a family-friendly restaurant where this is not tolerated.

• Food and trash are often thrown around and left on the tables, chairs, and on the floor. Tables and restrooms are vandalized. Decorations are stolen.

• Employees are laughed at, made fun of and treated rudely. Employees are cursed at and ignored when they ask the children and teens to either change their behaviour or leave.

• Unsafe behaviours also occur walking through the parking lot and drive thru lanes.

The comments on the Facebook post are largely supportive.

When Daily Hive covered Nettie’s House of Spaghetti’s new dine-in rules, we also published a poll, asking Canadians how they feel about the restaurant’s no-kid policy.

At the time of publishing this article, 2,186 people (76.2%) had voted to say the restaurant’s new rule was great and should be adopted by more eateries.

Around 16% (458 votes) agreed that the policy was not great, but fair. Only 255 (7.84%) considered it discriminatory and unfair.

“Going out has become a bit of a luxury after the recent price increases. I want value for my money when I go out,” one commenter wrote.

“Having children crying, screaming, running around, diminishes the experience for most people. My comfort and happiness are as important as any other person regardless of age, gender, race, beliefs, etc. Stay home if you cannot control your little bundles of joy or are unaware of what manners mean.”

What are your thoughts?