What to do about crying baby at next table?

Question

Friends and I went out to dinner last Friday night. Semi casual place, pick your own table but food is served to your table. Later, a couple comes in with their toddler and infant. We thought it strange that of all the other 15 empty tables in the restaurant, they chose the one right next to us, barely a foot apart. The baby cries the entire dinner. We had to raise our voices just to hear ourselves. Parents never took the baby out of the restaurant. What could we have said? Our food was quickly served so all four of us couldn't pick up everything and go to another table. Was there really a way to avoid offending the parents? If we asked the waitress to ask the parents to sit somewhere else, they would have heard our request and get mad at us.

Answer 1

You should have quietly suggested to everyone at your table that everyone move and ask the waitress ,and tell her the problem.
She might have asked the other people to move. There should have been a hostess at the restaurant,otherwise this situation would have been avoided if there had been a hostess to seat customers.
That was very rude of those people to allow their baby to cry and ruin everyone elses conversation and dinner company.
There should be a sign in all restaurants concerning etiquette in this regard,but I am sure that if you lit a cigarette they would have asked you to leave because you were violating their space.
The first answerer Ginza obviously missed your whole point,you were not trying to deny the parents of the crying baby a night out,you were trying to have a nice out yourself without having to put up with a wailing siren. lol .
Another answerer Fil must be her sister or twin.

Answer 2

I agree with Georgiagrits above: You should've asked the waiter to move you to another table. Yeah, it sucks because your food was already at your table and it's a huge inconvenience to move your whole party, but it would've got the attention of those stupid inconsiderate parents. If you are willing to go through the hassle of moving away, they should get the clue that they are a nuisance. Then you should've complained to the manager. The parents should've taken the baby into the restroom until it calmed down.
I don't know what has happened to thise country. People think their children are allowed to do whatever they like no matter how it affects others without any consequences. Even babies need to be comforted if not disciplined. SOMETHING should've been done about a baby screaming in public. It's a disgrace.
Sorry these idiots ruined your dinner. Maybe next time, our answers here will prevent it from being so bad.

Answer 3

This had happened to us at a 92nd. Birthday party for an relative, the place was really busy. These group of people, sat close by us, with their loud children the oldest being about 11 to the youngest being about 2. Not only was the parents loud and wanting to be heard all over, the children were done eating and decided to play ring around the rosie, using our table and theirs. My mother in law tyrned around and asked the parents to please try to quiet their children down. These people became very nasty and told Mother in law to mind her own buisness. Well to make matters worse, my grandmother(92) was getting nervous, because of all this noise from these little brats and nasty parents. We finally turned around and said some words to the table of awful people, told the waitress to bring us the manager, told the manager what was going on, the manager then told the rude people that the kids have to stop running around. This did not happen, the kids still did their thing, and we ended up having a very nice dinner birthday party for free. We told the manager after they brought our tab, that was way over 110.00 bill , we were not going to pay because of this. We ended up taking our food else where to eat( outside of Smoky Bones), and left a nice tip to the waiter.

Answer 4

There was nothing you could have done. I hate when this happens. Parents should be more considerate. I guess I would have asked to be moved to a different part of the restaurant. If the parents looked at me funny, I would have said, I'm sorry, but we can't hear each other." When I left the restaurant, I would have told the manager that they should have a "child" section for families with young children. Many restaurants do this now.

Answer 5

If it was an open dining area with nowhere to "hide" then I would have asked the server to switch our order "TO GO."

This would have prompted him/her to ask why, and then you could have shared the reason. "...We think we will enjoy our meal a little more without the upset child right next to us."

The server could have decided and hopefully offered then if it might be easier to "move you to a quieter location" in the restaraunt or just pack your food "to go".


ADDITIONAL THOUGHT:
The reason why I believe it is polite and proper to involve the server is because it is their duty to facilitate a pleasent environment/ dining experience for you. They want to know how they can help. They can't help you if they don't know you have a need.

If you just get up and start moving yourself around the restaraunt, you may be seating yourself in another server's area, confusing things for the servers / bussers, etc.

The server not knowing why you moved may think you are just "One of those families that likes to play musical chairs" and become flustered now that "two tables" are being messed up.

It is correct to discretely involve your server and give him or her an opportunity to make the matter better.

Answer 6

some people have no clue. why bring a cranky or tired baby out for dinner. this is a pet peeve of mine. i love kids but i hate when parents make the decision to bring toddlers and babies to a restaurant. i would have asked them if the baby was sick or made a comment about the joys of going out is to not have to listen to kids crying as i made direct eye contact with one of the parents. I know restaurants are a public place but sometimes parents need to call in a babysitter and leave little little ones at home. maybe next time you should talk to your server about moving them or yourselves away.

Answer 7

I have had the same experience once and I simply went to their table and asked them if they could please quite the child as I was there to have an enjoyable meal with my friend but am unable to because of the continued crying of your child. Never heard another word nor cry after that. I enjoyed the rest of my meal. It is good to remind some parents about how rude it is to take uncontrollable children out to a public place.

Answer 8

Asking someone else via the waitress is cowardly and wrong.

Since the restaurant was empty, you could have kindly asked them yourselves, OR you could have moved to the other side.
I think getting your things up and moving to the other side of the place is a very strong hint to those parents.

Answer 9

you know this is why i don't like sitting next to other people and their brats because its not the kids fault its the parents fault.. but they don't do anything while the kid is crying and all you want to do is have nice dinner. most people are stupid like that.. so instead of yelling at them i move to another table and let them live haha

Answer 10

You should have asked the server to move ya'll to another table so that your conversation wouldn't spoil the family's "family night out". I'm sure the server would know what you meant, and would have been glad to move you to another - quieter! - table. And if the parents got mad, who cares? They were the rude ones, by not getting their child to be quiet.