Charged for an empty plate?!

The answer is take a small picnic plate with you (or one of those collapsible bowls) and decant some of your food onto it for baby. Wonder if the staff will pounce and say that's not allowed? The trouble is some customers take the piss so it's one rule fits all. How much did they charge for the extra plate?

I've re-read all OP's posts and can't see where she said what venue she went to, only that it was a Greene King carvery.

And a quick google finds me a Greene King carvery that says "Here, the veggies are unlimited, the gravy flows freely, and we're always happy to see you."

So, unless the person that "confirmed it" was sufficiently invested to PM the OP, then, no, we don't know what sort of carvery it was.

My 10mo eats hardly anything. And they wanted to charge you for a full adult portion?

To be fair I just would’ve fed DC a few bites off my plate without saying anything!

You made it obvious!

I think that’s okay if it’s an all you can eat situation. Not a full meal for a 10 month old but a few £ seems fine. I suppose it’s because technically I could go in with 4 kids, pay for 1 adults meal and ask for a few extra plates.

I know - but my point is that they don’t really care about her intentions. If she takes another plate there’s nothing stopping her from going and filling it up to the brim - hence why she was charged for it.

No, it's like a husband and wife sharing one plate at an all you can eat dessert buffet.

🤣🤣🤣 yourself

as others have said, lots of 10 month olds eat a fair bit, if she needed a plate for him, clearly he was feeding himself or eating a fair bit. Not just a spoonful of mash.

Im not comparing an Adult male & a 10 month old baby🤣I'm saying the principle is the same. The OP paid for one adult to eat. She could have got a 'baby bowl' for her baby instead of taking the piss.

Carvery's aren't 'fair' but they all have their own rules. Either play by them or go elsewhere!

YANBU to not want to pay full price for a plate for a baby who will eat a few mouthfuls.

YABU to ask for a plate for him instead of just feeding him off your plate.

It's not unreasonable of them to assume that if you ask for your child to have their own plate, they are likely to eat a full meal which should be paid for.

In future carry a paper plate or failing that DON'T go back 😃

It's on their website that a baby bowl for their carvery is 2.49.

The OP states in her original post:

'After plating up my dinner, I asked for a plate for my 10 month old, not to take any extra food but to take it off my plate to give to him. They wanted to charge me for it! Never had this issue before, AIBU?'

She had no intention of filling the extra plate to the brim. She wanted to take the empty plate to the table then share her plate of food!

The mistake you made @OP, was in asking for an extra plate. An extra plate implies 'extra food', whether it's on your plate or the extra plate.

You pay for a plate of food regardless of how much you eat though, so the cost of people wasting half their meal is already factored in.

OP could have quite easily taken the second plate and filled it to the brim which is why she was charged.

There is a difference between a gastro pub / pub that serves Sunday lunch and a carvery. A carvery is well understood to mean a style of serving where you collect a served portion of meat and then choose your own vegetables and sides.

The greene king is a carvery; it is served meat and a self served side and vegetable situation and not all you can eat.

Some restaurants do

I’ve been to a number of Chinese and Indian buffets that very much do indicate that they charge for waste. I’ve not seen it in carvery style as it is not all you can eat.

The carvery public houses around here, serve the lot through 3 members of staff, pass you the tray, saves the food from contamination, dirty shirt sleeves hovering over the potatoes, and spit.
Especially in a pub where men generally don't wash their hands.

I have never been to a carvery where I served myself.

All the people who are being precious about the cost of half a potato and 5 peas to the business, what do you suggest we do about the greedy pigs who pile a mountain of food onto their plate and leave half of it? Should we start weighing portions and maybe charge a wastage levy?

I disagree, I think the price is relevant.

Several posters here have mentioned places that charge a nominal amount - £1, £2 for a "baby bowl". Is that the sort of charge we are talking about here or were they trying to charge for a full child's portion.

If it was just the £2 mark then I don't think that is unreasonable of them. You might only be looking to give a few scraps to a baby but maybe they have had people taking the piss with it in the past and feeding all their children for the price of one adult meal.

It's opportunity cost, not actual cost. Whilst they're faffing around with getting an extra plate, they could have been doing something else, and it may have meant other diners suffering slightly delayed serving etc, especially now they can't afford more than the minimum possible levels of staff.

Staff time to give you an extra plate = 1p.

There was a similar thing on Curb Your Enthusiasm!

No, that’s what self service means.

You serve yourself 😳

The only thing dished up by staff is the meat.

Well sorry but I see it as a negligible thing to give your baby a potato off your plate, just like when people can't finish theirs and waste it. Most carveries will not mind you sharing a few mouthfuls with a ten month old. I had this last week because I forgot my baby's plate and she would want a mouthful of my potato. Was I taking that much money off the carvery to give her some mashed potato?