Charged for an empty plate?!

The venue OP attended is not an all you can eat, it was confirmed up thread, someone checked the menu.
It's a queued carvery.

I don't think you know the situations the restaurant has faced. You can't have a policy for every scenario. What if the child is 2, 3, 4, 7 but doesn't eat much? 18 months but eats loads? How many people have been trying it on? Fed a family for the price of one carvery because the kids had a side plate?

I still think the restaurant was mean spirited, but with the shit people pull? I understand them to a degree.

I have never been to a self service carvery, isn't the staff dishing up the food, there is usually extra veg and mash included, if requested, the standard plate is full, I can't see you squandering much more than a few carrots or spuds.

It depends on the carvery. I've been to ones where it is an "all you can eat".

OP hasn't clarified either way, which is partly why there is a mix of comments.

it is, but

Say she normally eats 3 potatoes, shes not going to take 3 potatoes, shes going to take 4 so she can still eat the 3 she wants to and give one to the baby.

I'm not forgetting anything. I'm talking about the OP - I think I have only been to a carvery once, many years ago, so have no idea how big the plates are.

Also we are not discussing the people overloading and leaving food, we are literally talking about the issue that the OP raised.

Yes I understand the concept, but thanks for the explanation 😂
She isn't in an all you can eat Chinese buffet where you keep getting up to get more food, it's a carvery! When I go to a carvery I get served a set amount of meat, then pick my veg. Then sit down and eat it. No refilling or topping up takes place!
It's ONE plate of food😖

I think you're forgetting carvery plates aren't huge and some people just pile up food strategically and then can't eat all of it. I'd much rather know a baby was eating a potato than someone with eyes bigger than their belly was just leaving it to go in the bin.

I think the controversy is from the fact it's a carvery so they will make a loss if youre using more food than you need. The price will be based on the average cost of a person to them. You'll probably not get a problem in a restaurant with a set meal and price because you're paying that much and getting the same amount regardless so customers can't cheat the system. (They can and if you're super nice to the right waiter you would be sneaked an extra scoop of potato and some more peas... or maybe this is why I don't work in hospitality anymore! )

I agree, I’m quite surprised everyone is defending charging more for a small plate for a baby.

But then again hospitality here is a grim experience.

She wasn't going to take MORE food for the baby, she was going to give the baby a few bits OF HER OWN DINNER FROM HER OWN SODDING PLATE.

I dont think its other people that are hard of understanding though - shes taking enough food so she can take some off her plate and put on another plate. Or do you think she's going to go a little hungry and not fill up completely? Where does this food that shes going to give the baby come from?

Say she normally eats 3 potatoes, shes not going to take 3 potatoes, shes going to take 4 so she can still eat the 3 she wants to and give one to the baby.

Sure a potato is not a big deal, but she has paid for HER plate, not her plate plus more

I don't personally see any major issue asking for an extra plate in these circumstances. Your intentions were reasonable.
However, the workers don't know you from Adam. They've no reason to take you at your word. How do they know you truly intend just to use it to pass a few bits to the baby, and not to sneak a whole other meal when you think no-one's looking? Perhaps they've had a run on people pulling similar tricks and now just have a blanket policy?

In other words, you weren't unreasonable to ask. But you are unreasonable in being arsey about it when they said no.
Lesson learned, bring a plastic bowl from home next time.

thats different.

Its like the difference between ordering a pint of lager and sharing it, and refillable coke where you keep getting more.

With the lager its a fixed amount - say £5 per pint (yes showing my age) no matter who drinks which ever part of it, the cost to the business is fixed.

Refillable - say you normally drink a pint of coke £3 cost (and say cost to business 50p for the drink only not staff rent etc) - now you're sharing and you both drink 2 pints - which should have been £6, but you only pay £3, but the cost to the business is £1.

Rough explanation, but hopefully makes some sense

No it really is.

Its trying to game the system for an advantage - or theft in the big scheme of things.

All you can eat - is all YOU can eat (or drink) not all you plus one can eat or drink

It is extra food though.

OP paid for and took enough food for her to eat, not for her plus one (even though its a very small plus one, its still a plus one)

Really, it'd be like me turning up to Toby and asking for four plates but just charging me for one as I'm going to share my food. it doesn't work like that.

Now, was the pub a little harsh charging her for a plate, for a 10 month old, maybe, but if the policy is to charge for an extra plate, then that's the policy. customer can not go back there agian.

what would the cut off be in your situation? 2, 3 10 years old or would the fact they are sharing a plate be okay for you?

The problem here, similar to the bottomless drink thread, is that with a carvery, you pay per person, not per meal as per a a normal restaurant set up.

Urgh, I think this is more mean spirited than the drink thread, she was just being scabby. I think a lot of us have asked for a side plate and donated a spoonful. I can see the restaurants point of view, I mean when does a spoonful on a plate become a child's portion that they should be paying for?

But yeah, a bit mean spirited. Vote with your feet, leave a trip adviser review (try to be balanced here), but maybe it's a prompt for you to check in carvery/all you can eat type set ups in the future.

And the rude man who came in twice a week and spoke to me like I was shit, never got a cup refill.. The lovely lady who came in with her small kids used to get free macaroni and the chef would tell me to say, "now we have divided your portion onto three bowls for you". We obviously didnt but she was a regular and so sweet. I once carried her screaming child up and down the street so she could eat! None of this is relevant, im just reminiscing now! 😊

Not stupid at all. There's staff time to give one to you. Staff time to clear it away and wash it. Potentially the cost of breakage. The actual food costs are only one of many costs faced by a restaurant. Everything else has to be paid for.

This is the best and most insane thread I have seen in a while

I went to a greenhouse carvery about 6 months ago - asked the exact same thing and they were happy to oblige - my daughter is 3 and they still did not care. She is a picky bugger and ate a spoon of peas, a bite of Turkey and about 2 slices of carrot.

Happily wolfed down the ice-cream I did pay for her to have though.

When did normal family behaviour become "entitled" and "cheeky fuckery" chill out and unclench you bunch of pearl clutching weirdos.

See now I would have given you a plate if I.didnt think Id be caught because I doubt your 10 month old would eat much. But I probably wouldn't for the other table next to you with a 2 and a half year old so I can see why the staff have to follow a blanket rule so that they don't have accusations of double standards. Mind you, I have a small appetite so I always just shared my meal with my niece when she was a baby. Likewise, I would give hot water to people who had finished their cup tea so they could reuse their tea bag (hot water was only for pots because they can get stewed) and I'd only sneak them extra milk if I knew the boss wasnt watching.

But it IS different. If me and DH decide to pay for one meal and share it, we’re paying a fair price to the restaurant for what we each get. If we go to a carvery, and one of us piles enough onto a plate for two, but we don’t pay for a second plate, we are NOT paying a fair price to the restaurant for what we each get. I know you’re original post is about you and a baby, but I still think you are BU and your example doesn’t justify it.

Is everyone reading a different OP than me?

50% of the population are below average intelligence.

But it is odd for them to gather in such an odd clump.

Well it is different for a carvery.

Else you'd be happy to go and get a large plate piled high for a table of four.

And a plate needs fetching and washing.

It’s a carvery which generally means a hot buffet with unlimited food. She does want extra food to feed to her child.

Edited to say: since you think she means a set amount of food which she wants to share, we do seem to be reading the OP differently. Maybe you are right about how it works, in which case, no, she’s not unreasonable.