NJ Restaurant Bans Kids Under 10 & People Would Like a Word

This New Jersey restaurant announced a decision to ban all kids under 10 from dining in, and naturally, parents have mixed feelings

A New Jersey restaurant is making waves online for what has turned out to be a controversial new policy. Nettie’s House of Spaghetti in Tinton Falls, New Jersey recently announced on social media that, as of March 8, they “will no longer allow children under 10 to dine in the restaurant.”

“We love kids. We really, truly, do,” the restaurant wrote in a social media post announcing the new policy. “But lately, it’s been extremely challenging to accommodate children at Nettie’s. Between noise levels, lack of space for high chairs, cleaning up crazy messes, and the liability of kids running around the restaurant, we have decided that it’s time to take control of the situation.”

Nettie’s continued, “This wasn’t a decision that was made lightly, but some recent events have pushed us to implement this new policy… We know that this is going to make some of you very upset, especially those of you with very well-behaved kids, but we believe this is the right decision for our business moving forward.”

Now that likely would have been controversial only among the residents of the New Jersey town where Nettie’s serves customers. But since the post went viral, parents (and non-parents) are now weighing in from all over the world. As you can probably imagine, their reactions are very mixed.

“I love this decision. Nothing frustrates me more as a single working mom then when I get the rare chance to go out (with adults and not children and not to an Applebees or kid friendly restaurant) and there are kids not only acting up but parents completely oblivious to it and not even trying to discipline their children,” one user wrote.

Another added, “Can’t help feeling this will backfire spectacularly. (No I don’t have a kid under 10). The finest restaurants in NYC can accommodate kids but Netties can’t? Seems like the trouble is your patrons not the kids.”

Users with kids under 10 were especially fired up, to no one’s surprise.

“You own a restaurant, you should expect kids to be dining there. Will you be checking birth certificates at the door? My 8 year old is the size of a 11 year old,” one wrote.

Another parent weighed in, “That is really sad to hear… I was looking forward to trying out your place but with a well behaved 9 year old I’m not welcome .. sad ..”

At the end of the day, this restaurant is a private business, and it’s well within its rights to set an age limit for dine-in customers. It sounds like the decision mostly resulted from some parents letting their kids run wild in a restaurant, which can be downright dangerous for staff who are trying to do their jobs.

Nettie’s isn’t the first restaurant in the world to ban kids, and it probably won’t be the last. And even if you don’t agree with its decision, it’s a good opportunity to think about what is truly acceptable behavior when dining out with kids. Letting them run around unsupervised or wandering in and out of places meant just for employees? Definitely not okay. Now, if they occasionally get loud and cause a spill (like all kids do)? Well, that’s another story entirely.