Grant Achatz: what do you think of a child ban at Alinea?

[Anonymous]

Ok, so he's not tongueless. But he IS tasteless, literally.

[Anonymous]

Common sense is a rarity in this area, and proudly so, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Common sense is a rarity in this area, and proudly so, unfortunately.

This is Chicago, you realize?

[Anonymous]

If you can afford $500 per person for dinner you can afford a babysitter. If it takes 3 months to get a reservation you have time to get a baby sitter and a back up baby sitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't feed those dishes to my dog let alone pay $500 for it.

Enjoy Applebee's!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't feed those dishes to my dog let alone pay $500 for it.

Enjoy Applebee's!

Enjoy your $500 meal! As ESPN says, come on man!

[Anonymous]

I would never take a kid there. Ever. I don't blame him for banning kids if he does go that route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would never take a kid there. Ever. I don't blame him for banning kids if he does go that route.

i am from Chicago, have kids, and have eaten at Alinea. while it was not my favorite food and i am pissed that we spent so much money to eat there, the entire atmosphere and experience was pretty amazing. i am shocked that anybody would even consider bringing a child there, let alone actually do it.

[Anonymous]

I can't decide which is more ludicrous. The arrogance of claiming your restaurant fields hundreds of calls a day from people they can't serve, and yet you can't figure out how to have a waiting list and charge a reasonable cancellation fee, or the arrogance of bringing your small child to a restaurant like that. Seems like the idiot parents and the restaurant deserve each other.

I think a childfree policy, or a policy of charging the full fee for children, even those too young to eat is totally reasonable, but I also think that a restaurant without a cancellation policy is asking for people with the stomach flu to show up.

[Anonymous]

those dishes don't look appetizing to me.

[Anonymous]

And this is news?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't decide which is more ludicrous. The arrogance of claiming your restaurant fields hundreds of calls a day from people they can't serve, and yet you can't figure out how to have a waiting list and charge a reasonable cancellation fee, or the arrogance of bringing your small child to a restaurant like that. Seems like the idiot parents and the restaurant deserve each other.

I think a childfree policy, or a policy of charging the full fee for children, even those too young to eat is totally reasonable, but I also think that a restaurant without a cancellation policy is asking for people with the stomach flu to show up.

+1 to the whole damn post. Obviously babies (and 98% of kids) don't belong there, but that restaurant has some bizarre policies. Prepaying? No cancellations? Odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the babysitter could have cancelled at the last minute. Alinea's has a no cancellation policy.

I saw this on another blog, and that's what happened. The babysitter cancelled last minute. Alinea's doesn't take ordinary reservations--you buy a ticket (for $200 per person, not including wine) for a specific date. So if you don't show up, you're out the money. I think the parents made a mistake by going anyway, but I do kind of understand where they were coming from. Depending on how last-minute the cancellation was, they might have been able to sell their tickets on Craigslist, which probably would have been the best solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't decide which is more ludicrous. The arrogance of claiming your restaurant fields hundreds of calls a day from people they can't serve, and yet you can't figure out how to have a waiting list and charge a reasonable cancellation fee, or the arrogance of bringing your small child to a restaurant like that. Seems like the idiot parents and the restaurant deserve each other.

I think a childfree policy, or a policy of charging the full fee for children, even those too young to eat is totally reasonable, but I also think that a restaurant without a cancellation policy is asking for people with the stomach flu to show up.

+1 to the whole damn post. Obviously babies (and 98% of kids) don't belong there, but that restaurant has some bizarre policies. Prepaying? No cancellations? Odd.

+2 The parents shouldn't have brought the baby, but I blame the restaurant's for their policy almost as much.

[Anonymous]

Looks like what my dog throws up when he eats without breathing between bites. Maybe they should get a dog to taste the food first.