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Naughty Spoon Award
Award loser for September 2009:
Unfortunately the loser for this month’s NAUGHTY SPOON award would be Mel’s Diner, located at 1394 North Main St., Walnut Creek.
Four moms with their strollers approached a male employee, seemingly to be the manager, about a potential table for themselves and their babies. This employee stated that our option was to leave one of the strollers inside and only have three outside. We then continued to explain that the preference is to keep all the strollers together for safety and due to the amount of items on the strollers, we offered to instead sit inside as an option, even offering to close down a stroller or two to help with space accommodation. The employee then responded that we had been given our option and walked away.
The Moms stood there perplexed, unsure if he would continue to assist us or what should be done. At that moment, one of the waitresses, pushed into a Mom and their child in the stroller, causing them to be squeezed up against the railing and gate. The Mom said “Excuse me?” in surprise which the waitress responded in turn, “I can’t get past you and all of the strollers here.” Meanwhile, a Mom asked another waitress inside, “Do you know if the other employee will be returning to seat us or if we can sit together without having to separate the strollers?” The waitress replied that “Well he meant for you to take one of the car seats out of the stroller and leave the other strollers outside if you want to eat here, but I don’t know, whatever he explained to you was your option.”
This all took about fifteen minutes with no resolution. Exasperated with the lack of interest in even trying to accommodate the group while still not being directed any which way to be seated, not to mention being upset that one of the Mom’s had been pushed, the group left to find another venue for lunch that would be more receptive and understanding.
Boo on Mel’s Diner in Walnut Creek for this disappointing occurrence, hopefully this was a one time incident, nevertheless, they received the NAUGHTY SPOON award for Sept. 2009.
It is always a disappointment when I do get nominations for the “Naughty Spoon” Award and even more despairingly is when I receive multiple stories about how ‘unfriendly’ and ‘unwelcoming’ to parents and children a restaurant is.
The Naughty Spoon Loser for this month of October is the “San Francisco Creamery Company” located at 1370 Locust St. in Walnut Creek. With all the hot weather we have been having, many parents and babies have frequented the restaurant which offers a vast menu of ice creams, sundaes, shakes as well as diner style food as well. It was even featured on an episode of “Man vs. Food” for their “The Kitchen Sink” sundae of over 8 ice cream scoops, 8 toppings, 3 sliced bananas and mounds of whipped cream, toasted almonds and cherries which normally serves 6 people +. With such a delicious sounding menu of cool treats and being their specialty, and being owned by a family themselves nonetheless, it is extra disappointing that these below stories have been relayed.
One mom recounted how she and her son in a stroller, since the restaurant only had 3 patrons, inquired if she could sit in a booth, was astounded by the icy reply. She was informed that “NO! I don’t know why every mom and stroller who comes in here asks if they can sit in a booth, it’s a fire hazard and we are not getting a ticket again for blocking the aisles.” Not only was this mom blamed for all of the other moms that happened to inquire about a booth but she was also blamed for a previous ticket from the fire department. She then reluctantly sat at a table and shared her experience with us.
Another group of moms recounted how they had hoped to sit together for an afternoon snack of cool treats. After not being approached to be seated for a few minutes, the moms thought that they could start adjusting the arrangements of the tables and chairs so that they could all be together as they had been waiting a while to be seated.
Immediately someone then came out to chastise the group of moms for moving the furniture around in an impolite manner, stating how inconvenient and hazardous it was for the outside patio to be rearranged without asking. When a mom tried to explain why they had moved the furniture, it was received with further unpleasantness instead of being more understanding and then attempting to re-seat the group.
Such a shame as a family established restaurant that these two incidents occurred to make parents and little ones not feel welcome or accommodated as hoped.
Visit their website: http://www.sanfranciscocreameryco.com/
Award loser for November 2009:
I did not receive any consistent nominations for the “Naughty Spoon” Award this month! If you do have any stories or experiences to share, please email me at: hilarie_hsu@hotmail.com for Dec.’s nominations!
Award loser for April 2010:
Website: www.tomatina.com
It is unfortunate to announce that TOMATINA, located at 1325 North Main Street
Walnut
Creek, is the “Naughty Spoon” loser for April 2010. They were the loser TOO for
March 2010, that’s TWO months in a ROW!
We received many, many upset and disappointed parents and families comments at their lack of understanding regarding the needs when it comes to babies, toddlers and even younger children who would like to dine with their families there.
Latest incident!
Tomatino's seated us at a table, and then decided we couldn't sit there because of the fire hazard with the high chair and then told us they would add us to the wait list. They just took the stroller and put it outside without asking us if that was ok or if we needed anything off of it, or even telling us where it was. It was just gone when we turned around (this was one of our mom’s stroller) and were very unfriendly in their tone while doing all this. It wasn't so much what they did as it was how they spoke to us.
Here are some example excerpts of bad and poor experiences:
1) Waiting, waiting, waiting... having checked in and being told by the hostess that it would be just 5 minutes for our group (3 moms and 3 babies), 20 mins. later, we still hadn’t been seated. After checking in at the 10 min. mark as a kind reminder, we were told that they were just waiting for the only table that would be able to handle three high chairs. There were several tables outside that could have worked too but we were informed that ‘those were being saved for parties of two’ so they did not want to put tables together to seat us. 20 mins. later when we checked in again, they said they had to give the only table that could have seated all of us to a party of six because they were concerned that one of our strollers would be too cumbersome. We asked to speak to the manager, who came over and shrugged his shoulders and said that they aren’t able to do much because the wait staff has to be able to maneuver around each table and the highchairs or strollers would be in the way. We left after that conversation and after waited 30 mins. without the hostess or the manager ever having even stepped out of the restaurant to let us know the status of our table, not even once. We had to rotate and take turns going in to ask what was going on with three small babies in strollers pacing up and down outside, we were frustrated and felt as we had been treated as a subpar group because of the babies and their equipment and seating needs.
2) Two moms with babies who needed high chairs experienced a conflicting situation where they only had one high chair available. The waiter came over and said they did not have any others available so if they wanted to be seated, they had to decide which child would get the high chair and the other would be seated in the booth. It was very difficult for the mom who did not have the high chair to enjoy her lunch as she had to constantly make sure her 13 month old child did not wiggly under the table, slip in the booth bench and generally sit long enough to eat her lunch as well comfortably. Oddly, there were 2 other high chairs in the restaurant and when asked about them and why they could not be used, the waiter said he has been told the chairs just weren’t to be used but wasn’t sure why.
3) Three moms and two babies and a toddler had a minor spill of a water cup when the older child grabbed their own sippy cup too quickly and knocked his mom’s cup of water over instead. None of the wait staff came over and a mom had to get up and request for additional napkins due to the spill. Instead of a waiter coming over to help with the clean up, the moms had to mop up the table themselves and attempt to clean up the water on the floor. When their waiter finally arrived, instead of lending a hand or offering more napkins, his comment was “this happens all the time when we have kids in here” and then asked if they were ready for the check. When the mom asked if she could have another cup of water for herself, he stated, “Sure, but let’s try to keep it away from the kid this time, okay?” Feeling quite offended, the mom was mortified but too flustered to respond.
So unfortunate to hear about these poor experiences, though there may be good ones as well, it seems that a pattern has occurred with Tomatina in Walnut Creek. We do hope for more positive experiences in the future but be aware of the recent upsetting and frustrating situations as of late, therefore, they are the Naughty Spoon Loser for March 2010 and April 2010.