A pizza restaurant in Tampa, Florida better batten down the hatches because they are about to be attacked by the stroller brigade. Last week the owner of Hampton Station decided that children were no longer allowed at the establishment. The man who came to that decision is named Troy Taylor and am about to go carve a statue of him made out of string cheese as soon as I find out what he looks like. He says it was not an easy decision to make, but it needed to happen because of “a lot of people who couldn’t keep their kids under control.”
Okay, his statue just got a lot bigger.
Of course there people on the restaurant’s Facebook page who are leaving 1-star reviews along with their own 1-star comments. Seriously, it’s like they forget that businesses are privately owned and business owners can decide who they would like to cater to. This pizza restaurant happens to want to cater to adults, but a few of the comments are as golden as a pizza crust:
“gross pizza grosser people terrible location…dont go” says Tim Michael who happens to live 1,009 miles away from the restaurant and doesn’t understand how punctuation or capitalization works.
“I just heard about the new no kids rule. As a parent of a 12 and 13 year old, I see this move as discriminatory, especially to lower income families. Not every family can afford a both sitter and a night out,” says Peggy George who doesn’t understand how discrimination works.
“There are better places to get pizza and beer. Hampton is Not Family Friendly!!” says Jim O’Shea who is trying to make up for Tim’s lack of capitalization while confirming exactly what the restaurant wants people to know.
People need to get the fuck over it. There are plenty of places that kids aren’t allowed and this is one more of them. It’s not like Hampton Station is the only place in Tampa to get pizza. I did a Google search and there are literally dozens and dozens of other pizza restaurants there, so these people can pack up the kids and go to one of them. There is even a Chuck E. Cheese’s at 4308 Dale Marby Highway which is a sixteen minute drive away. You can click that link and go the fuck there.
If you have a moment and feel like making up for some of those shit 1-star reviews, make your way over to Hampton Station’s Facebook page and leave one of your own. If other people are going to leave bad reviews even though they have never eaten there, we should be able to leave good ones. There are plenty of people, myself included, who would love to go to a restaurant and know that without a doubt they will not be disturbed by a screaming child with an inattentive parent. Hampton Station has the right to do this and I think they should be commended for it.
Bravo!
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Sounds like my kind of restaurant I suppose.
Leslie
Some entitled parents just can’t bear the thought of not bringing their fuck trophy everywhere. It’s beyond rude being subjected to wailing, trouble making crotch drops in fancy schmancy, expensive restaurants and those which are clearly going for an adult vibe.
There are so many places which welcome kids, far more family-friendly everything out there than adults only, which sucks for those of us who do not want children and just want one space where we will not have to deal with unexpected outbursts from either untamed little wildlings or the petulent parent parade representatives.
Annie
Amen, Rachel, amen!!!
Also ask these trashy people what kind of car they’re driving, why mommy’s got the latest expensive smart phone, why they’ve got premium cable at home (sounds like the beginning of a country/western song, doesn’t it?). I’ve dealt with these liars before and it comes down to, they don’t want to spend money on babysitters when they can spend it on tobaccy and booze. Those two items are necessities.
Oh, and they could leave their monkeys on crack with a relative, but they’re afraid the relative would get
killed, or at the very least injured, and then, heaven forfend, they might have to pay money to a lawyer.
We’re talking serious trashy people here.
Rachel
“Not everyone can afford a babysitter and a night out”
Well not everyone can afford to have what may be their only chance to go out for the next 2 months ruined by screaming crotch monkeys.
Annie
Could they PLEASE start a franchise restaurant in Arkansas????
I’m sure Troy Taylor is going to find out more people will be going to his establishment, spending more money, and he’ll be saving beaucheau (sp, sorry!) bucks that he would have previously had to spend on repairs in his restaurant from unruly, obnoxious brats! Win/win!!!
If Troy can’t start a restaurant over here, could he PLEASE go on a speaking tour to restaurant owners and talk to them about growing spines and not allowing hellspawn and their clueless parents to ruin other customers’ dining experiences? Step 1: Escort them off the premises!!!!! Step 2: Give them maps of the nearest McDonald’s and Chuck E. Cheese’s. I rarely frequent those establishments and complain about the ungodly noise, why take your cretins to places where I like to have a quiet/calm meal?
Geo
Yup. Don’t live in Tampa but about 30 miles west . We go to Tampa about 3-4 times a month. The amount of pizza places is staggering. The majority of these entitled, clueless mommies have never been to Hampton Station and would have never gone there and probably never even heard of it. Buuuuuut tell them their hellspawn are not allowed and they are OUTRAGED!!!
Starbuck
I want to work here.
Laura McGowan
I just went to leave a nice review to combat the bad ones, but I could only see pages and pages of love.
Love it 😀
MrsMac
I’m a parent of small kids and I LOVE places that are no kid zones. I rarely get to go to them, but when I do get a chance I don’t want the experience destroyed by someone else’s crotch fruit. I want to drink my boozy drink and spent my time exclusively in the company of other adults. There are plenty of kid friendly places in the world. They don’t get to have everything.
Meghan
As a former resident of Tampa and a fellow service industry worker, RIGHT ON! If oblivious parents of unruly animals feel the need to blindly rate 1 stars because of a ban on children, then they are probably the weak zookeepers who can’t control their animals in a public dining area. A message to you zookeepers: Watching your children throw food across the dining room, apologizing, and then not do anything to stop it OR clean it up, YOU are the problem. Watching your child run circles around tables, causing servers, who are carrying arms worth of food, to suddenly become circus entertainers performing a balancing act, YOU are the problem. Will you be paying/even offering to pay for the dropped food? Probably not. Will you help clean up the mess? Maybe. Does that make it fair for the servers or kitchen staff to have their jobs completely thrown out of whack, affecting the dining experience of THE REST OF THE PATRONS (and not just your puny little 2 1/2 top)? NOOOO. And for those of you leaving negative comments/ratings merely because you are a parent, and not because your child misbehaves in dining establishments, maybe your frustration is misdirected. Think back to grade school: don’t punish the class for one persons misbehavior. Don’t blame the teacher, blame the other parents who can’t/ won’t acknowledge that they are not the only table in the restaurant trying to enjoy a good meal.
Hampton Station, keep cooking, keep feeding, and stay awesome.
Zilla
I couldn’t have said it better myself!!
Ana
My brother works the line at a really nice restaurant ($30-$40/person before liquor easy). I went there last Sunday with my parents and some family friends and I was shocked to see how many under-7s there were there. I couldn’t blame the kids too much for being bored to tears and roughhousing under and around the tables, but the parents were just there drinking and not even caring. I felt bad for the kids being at a fancy restaurant with food they probably didn’t care for and I felt bad for the waitstaff having to handle the anklebiters and their drunk, neglectful parents.
MrsMac
Omg, I don’t get it! I make a point of taking my three year old and my infant out to restaurants because at some point they need to learn how to behave in these situations, but we go to places that cater to families/are kid friendly and we don’t stay longer than our children’s ability to behave nicely. There is no way I would waste money taking my kids to a spiffy restaurant where I couldn’t enjoy all the expensive yet delicious food and booze because I’m too busy trying to wrangle my kids.
Ana
I know, right? I’ve never been through the miracle of childbirth and I don’t think having wee ones means every meal out is at a Chuck E. Cheese, but I can think of way better things to spend $30 on than a lovingly stirred risotto for a toddler who will have one bite.
Michelle Phillips
Left a review of my feelings about this. I fully support the owners decision. I too, am a server, and I had a family with 5 kids, 7 to infant. They were all terribly behaved except the infant. Even Mom and Dad were rude.
Wish my restaurant would ban kids.
Erika
I just can’t get over the type of parent that can’t understand that not every place has to be family-friendly, that there are actually some adults out there who crave and will patronize adult-only environments.
Sandy
I think it’s G. R. E. A. T. That there are a few places where kids are NOT allowed. Damn I work in a family style restaurant and 75% of the parents that bring their screaming, Squalling kids into the restaurant don’t even pay attention to them I’ve had to pull knives out of the children’s hands. I’ve taken the sugar caddies away from them after they’ve licked all over the sugar packets. I’ve taken the salt and peppers and the damn ketchups and thrown the entire mess away after these families have left because the kids were licking all over them.
Kim Hayward
Bravo Troy Taylor. Bravo(standing ovation with a slow clap)
Donna Cason
I wish my place of employment had a no kids rule. Just came off a lunch shift where I had to serve 95 screaming little monsters while the teachers sat in a corner. Meanwhile, there were 2 other school parties: a 50 and an 80. I’m drinking my dinner tonight.
Habitua Linestepper
I have kids and I would love to tell them: “nope, you can’t go. It’s me and Dad’s night out. We’ll bring you take-out. Be good.”