Charged for an empty plate?!

That would work at a regular place but not a help-yourself buffet. What if she had 5 children that needed cool food? Go up to the buffet bar with half a dozen plates and pay for just one? They would soon go out of business.

It is very different when the meal is served at a fixed size it is a per meal cost and can be shared.

When it comes to refillable plates (or drinks) it is a per person cost.

They could have shown some discretion for a 10 month old, but to be fair to them, my niece takes her 2yo to our local chinese buffet (2 and under are free) and she puts a fair amount of different foods on the plate for her to try most of which she doesn't eat, but it is still a cost for the restaurant. They can't police every child to see how much food was actually given to them.

I noticed this happening. I won’t ask for an extra plate now. I just give my 18 month bits of my plate. At most he eats a small handful anyway. No way am I paying for a kids carvery for him to eat next to nothing. He won’t even eat meat so would be waste of money.

Yup…fine if they’re sitting on her lap, but messy and awkward without a plate if the baby’s in a high chair. If the carvery doesn’t mind the mess then no problem, but a plate would make it easier. But, depending on price, paying for a full on kids plate when the baby will only be eating a really small amount of it seems OTT.

Then you don't need a separate plate

Let him eat off your plate?
How do they control how many people are eating from the carvery if they issue ‘free’ plates?

The food is already paid for as it’s on the OPs plate, she isn’t asking for a plate for the baby and then going back up to put fresh food on it.
OP just wanted a side plate to transfer some of her already paid for food on to for the baby.

I think the problem is that Mumsnetters who have never worked in a customer service/hospitality role have no idea how badly people can behave and how far they will go to scam businesses,

Yes, the OP wouldn't take take advantage but very many would. get and extra plate for a small child and suddenly a 10 year old also appears having been waiting outside and uses that plate as well.

The refillable drinks one on here, there was also one about getting limitless salad when what they were getting didn't include it. Taking 6 year olds into places and telling staff they are under 4. And these are the ones that have been openly talked about on her. Those who do these things make it so much harder for the honest minority.

Deliberately using vocabulary to poke at someone. Ew.

you sound like a nasty greedy horrible person

Buy one of those silicone plates and keep it in your changing bag. Stops the issue.
I get why they would charge for the plate (as its probably seen as a child meal) but its ridiculous to charge for a 10 month old.

I don’t think feeding a 10 month old requires “piling up” on anyone’s plate, whether her own or a spare!

But they were fine with her loading her own plate.. other people keep suggesting that she should have brought a plastic plate with her and that would have been fine, but what’s the difference apart from the very small cost of washing an extra plate?

I honestly feel like I’m in a parallel universe.

However honest you may be , blame the scammers who have tried to get an extra meal for nothing...

yes she had already put the food on her plate, enough for BOTH of them. Which is not how carvery serving/pricing is supposed to work.

It's the principle of it. She took more food than she could/wanted to eat to feed another person (whether that's her baby or her DH) if her & her DH were going to eat of one piled up plate you think they should only pay for 1 person?

I bet if this was about a dog instead of a child everyone would agree with you! MN is a very strange place!

Bearing in mind that there will be plenty of people that pile up food on it 'for the baby', the restaurant has good reason for charging. Experience.

Anyone who has a baby surely would say YANBU. They usually have a few mouthfuls. They should have a more reasonable policy.

In itself it’s a nice idea but people will exploit it - that’s the problem.

The issue is surely not that it's per se a problem to give the OP a plate for her to put a few mouthfuls of food on for her baby, but that at a carvery having a plate is a proxy for having paid for a meal. If they give OP a plate, there is nothing to stop her then calling her bottomless teenager in and giving him the plate instead, to go up and get multiple portions of food. I think it's a reasonable policy - if OP really wants to give her baby only a few mouthfuls then it's hardly any bother for her to feed him from her plate.

Because you don’t want the baby making a mess on the table?

You may say 'it's only a baby, they'll only eat a couple of bites' but the point that's often overlooked is where do you draw the line?

In a commercial setting, you have to have a cut-off point for your customer offer, otherwise it leaves the door open for anyone to ask for a 'spare plate' to feed another person.

You might argue 'why don't they say 'under twos eat free' or some other age point, but then you will get people trying to sneak their older child into the free offer, and since children don't usually carry proof of age, that's going to lead to arguments and inevitably some loud, shouty mum and dad violently insisting their hulking seven year old is only two.

It's better to have clear rules, and it's reasonable in a carvery setting where people load their own plates for it to be 'per plate'. The OP will be considering her baby when she loads her plate, even if only minimal amounts. It would be different in an a la carte setting where plates held a fixed amount.

But she had already put the food on her plate. She wasn’t asking to go around a second time with the new plate. If they were happy for her to pile on the food on her plate, what difference does an empty extra plate make?

The expectation of a free plate for your 10 month to chow down on roasties and beef, the horror 🙄
People are being ridiculous (or bloody minded).

YANBU.

I think it’s more that comprehension isn’t your strong point, to be honest.

She could have just fed her child from her plate - by asking for an extra plate that could then be filled to the brim, she was effectively asking for an entire extra portion of food - which she obviously had to pay for.

The fact that she didn’t want an entire extra plate isn’t the point.

Interesting edit!

But I don’t think the Mexican baby is an average 10 month old…..