Christine G.
Yelp
On Wednesday evening, myself and two girlfriends, along with our seven children (three of whom are my own) decided to play at PDK airport park, and then take our kids up to Downwind Restaurant and Lounge to have dinner. We arrived around 5:30pm, and were seated on the enclosed patio. Two of the three of us had been solo parenting all week, and it felt nice to not think about making dinner. Our children are all five and under, and, to put it plainly, they were loud. They were joyful, excited to be with their friends, and had a hard time staying in their seats. For the most part they stayed right around our table, but we had to chase some rogue one year olds and four year olds a few times.
A minute or two after we put our orders in, a manager came up to our table, looking quite stern, and things unraveled quickly. The manager (Kip, I believe?), began talking to us like we were five years old, asking myself and my friends twice if we were listening, despite us clearly giving him our full attention. He then proceeded to tell us, in a voice dripping with disdain, that we were too loud, and that our kids must remain seated for the duration of dinner (it should be added, at this point, that Downwind is not a fine dining establishment, but rather a casual bar/restaurant). That said, all businesses deserve respect, and we were loud. However, it was in no way the message that proved offensive, rather how it was delivered. You don't have two or three kids without occasionally being told you are too loud, and I always do my best to rectify the noise/issue after someone brings it to our attention. Kip's address to us moms was a clear scolding, the disapproval evident in his voice, and the way he was glaring at us. After he left, my friends and I all glanced at each other in amazement that someone would be so rude, and we fairly quickly made the decision to ask for our food to go and to let our kids eat outside.
Kip walked back and forth a few times heading to other tables, and I finally got up the nerve to say something to him. I said, "Excuse me, I just wanted to let you know that the way you spoke to us earlier made us feel terrible about ourselves and really hurt our feelings. We are moms doing our best, our husbands are out of town this week, and we were just trying to get out of the house." That is not a direct quote, but it is correct in essentials. He proceeded to respond that when he saw three moms not parenting their kids, he felt the need to talk to us. After my friend responded, "Excuse me?" He then said that parents come in here to have them (the restaurant) babysit their kids, and that other parents (gesturing around the patio) manage to control their kids. He then proceeded to claim he wasn't saying we had done this, but, (please don't insult our intelligence) he had very clearly said we were A) bad parents and B) couldn't control our kids. As moms who work so hard to raise thoughtful, loving, kind children, this felt devastating- even if we knew it wasn't true in our hearts. I told him he was being very rude, and he asked if I wanted to talk to the owner (which should have been a very clear sign that the owner would react exactly as he did).
When the owner finally graced me with her attention, I relayed the entirety of the story, including that I was trying to show the manager that we were simply people, tired from a long week without our partners, and that what Kip had said was incredibly hurtful. She responded by shaking her head and saying, "Well, he's a nice man." I repeated what he had said, all of which was decidedly NOT nice, and she retorted with, "I don't understand what your husbands being out of town has to do with anything." I told her I was just trying to show her we moms were humans doing our best, people that need grace. She then proceeded to say condescendingly to me, "I think you are tired." At this point the owner and her manager had insulted myself and my friends in every way imaginable, and it was time to go. She thanked me for telling her, but I could tell I was being completely, wholeheartedly dismissed.
A grandmother stopped us on the way out and said, "I saw what happened to you- you didn't bother us at all. That was shameful."
I don't want the other staff to be negatively impacted, but goodness, the manager and owner acted incredibly rudely, and, should you have the choice, I think there are other restaurants who deserve your business more. In fact, the 57th Fighter Group has always been incredibly kind to our family- so maybe that should be your PDK airport choice.