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Restaurant Patrons Get Discount for Good Kid Behavior

Written by Tom Ryan

It works for jail time and for car insurance, but at least one restaurant is also providing a break for good behavior from kids.

Sogno di Vino, an Italian restaurant in Poulsbo, WA, has gained overnight internet fame for providing a $4.00 discount to a family because their three kids were well-behaved. The restaurant, in a resort town and one of the main suburbs of Seattle, was so impressed at the children's table manners that they thanked the kids — ages 2, 3 and 8 — with a bowl of ice cream.

The incident only went viral after a friend of the mother posted the $4.00 "well-behaved kids" discount shown on her receipt to cover the free dessert on the social news website, Reddit.

Owner Rob Scott told examiner.com that this is the first time a discount was offered on the bill, but he said the restaurant frequently gives free dessert to children who are well-behaved. Servers have the discretion to offer a discount to customers. Mr. Scott told the Associated Press, "It was just an act of kindness."

While recognizing the challenges parents face bringing their kids to a restaurant, Mr. Scott said an unruly child can ruin the dining experience for other patrons, some of whom hire babysitters for their night out. Servers often face irate parents when they're told their kids are upsetting other patrons.

"Sogno di Vino means 'to dream of wine' (in Italian), it doesn't mean Chuck E. Cheese," said Mr. Scott.

The Today.com article noted that McDain's Restaurant in Monroeville, PA banned children six and under in 2011 because parents weren't controlling their kids. A casual restaurant in Atlanta, Ga. earlier this year also earned internet fame when it wrote a disclaimer on its menu urging parents to take their crying babies outside.

Restaurants and stores have long carried serious and semi-serious signs to send messages around kids' behavior, including "We love children, especially when they are tucked in chairs and well behaved," "Kids must use indoor voices," and "Unruly kids will be sold as slaves."

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