Diners Accuse Mom With Baby Of 'Ruining' Their Meal, Restaurant Kicks Them Out

When it comes to the babies-in-restaurants debate, the stories that usually surface are those of moms with loud kids being shamed. This week, the opposite happened — and frankly, it’s a breath of fresh air.

A family was having dinner at a Texas Roadhouse Steakhouse in Idaho. Halfway through their meal, some fellow diners swung by the table to drop off this note:

Mom Katie Leach explains that her 10-month-old sometimes yells when he’s excited or mad — like 10-month-olds are wont to do. The Texas Roadhouse Steakhouse has a super loud atmosphere, and he was having a harder time than usual calming down. Leach told KSDK News, “We all tried quieting him down which a majority of the time he did but he also was so excited to be around all the commotion. He was not yelling to be mean or because he was mad, it was purely from excitement and being happy.”

Leach says about halfway through their meal, two women from the table next to hers walked up, slammed the above note down on the table, then walked back to where they were seated and resumed their dinner. Excuse me, what? Am I alone in thinking this is some odd behavior? If you’re going to walk all the way up to another table, why not just speak?

Leach walked over to the two women, and used the power of speech to express that her child is young, still learning, and that she could understand their complaints if he were a little older. The women allegedly insisted they both had grandchildren who never make noise in restaurants and then both demanded trophies (Okay, I made that last bit up).

This is where the story takes a unusual turn. Leach approached a manager to tell him about the mad grandmas and their note, and the manager sided with her. He approached the women and told them to quietly finish their meal and leave. He then paid for Leach’s meal and told her to return with her family anytime.

A spokesman for the restaurant said about the incident, “We were voted one of the loudest restaurants by Consumer Reports. We are proud to be loud. If you want to hear clinking wine glasses and clinking forks, then this probably isn’t the place for you.”

When you’re a parent, you have to pick your battles. Yes, you want to teach your child how to behave in public, but you also don’t want to disturb other diners or draw attention to yourself. That’s why many families choose loud, family-friendly restaurants when venturing out with small children.

There’s a time and a place to bitch about loud kids. Inside a restaurant that’s proud to call itself “one of the loudest restaurants” in the country isn’t one of them.