Restaurant Goes Viral For Charging Fee To "Adults Unable To Parent" Disruptive Kids

A restaurant in Georgia has people talking after adding a new fee to their menu. According to several guests who have dined at Toccoa Riverside Restaurant in Blue Ridge, Georgia, a “bad parent” surcharge has been added to the menu, where parents could be charged around $50 if the owner or staff consider their children to be “disruptive.”

The restaurant’s menu was shared in a recent post on Reddit, where it clearly states that there is a surcharge for “adults unable to parent” included. While there is no exact amount given to the arbitrary surcharge, nor a specific definition as to how exactly the owner planned to define “adults unable to parent,” restaurant goers who have visited the restaurant have confirmed the controversial policy.

One family who had visited the restaurant with four other families, 11 children in total, spoke to TODAY about the surcharge, which they confirmed was indeed $50. The owner of the restaurant came to Lyndsey Landmann’s table at the end of the meal to explain that they would have to pay the surcharge because their children were “too loud,” and when she responded that the children had been quiet throughout the meal, the exchange escalated. “He got in our faces and told us that we belonged at Burger King and not at his restaurant. We asked to speak to the owner and he said he was the owner,” Landmann told TODAY. “I looked around the restaurant and everybody was frozen watching this show he was putting on. He was yelling.”

Romper’s request for comment from Toccoa Riverside Restaurant was not immediately returned.

Another reviewer on Yelp who said they had visited the restaurant wrote about the “super rude owner” who was heard “yelling in the dining room at a group he was going to charge 50.00 because he felt the kids made too much noise... are you kidding me?? What an a**. Funny thing was He was louder than the kids that were there.”

While some people were put off by the surcharge, some people were in support of it. “I’ve been out to eat more than once where parents were literally letting their kids wild,” wrote one Reddit user. “Not sure if this is the answer, but something definitely should be done about such parents.” Another person added, “Good, more places need something like this. Parents who bring their kids into a restaurant ... letting them do whatever they want is annoying as hell.”

This is not the first restaurant to get controversial when dealing with children and their parents. A New Jersey restaurant made headlines in February for its decision to ban kids 10 and under.