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AIBU?

to think a children's meal should be enough for a four year old?

62 replies

CustardLover · 02/05/2016 14:34

Had a nice lunch today in Carluccios - we all liked it, especially DS who's 4. He liked it so much (penne with tomato sauce) that he finished it in minutes - there was about 10 pieces of pasta in the sauce. I had to order extra bread and broccoli as well as give him my pasta to make sure he'd had enough food. When the waitress was taking the supplemental orders she commented that I should have ordered him an adult portion, which surprised me. He's not a fussy eater but he's not gluttonous and he's FOUR. AIBU to think that a children's meal, at £6.50, should have enough pasta in tomato sauce to satisfy a pre-schooler? Or am I being naive and do you have to switch over to the adult menu much earlier than I had expected? Restaurant owners - what is your expectation of child diners?

OP posts:

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Haudyerwheesht · 03/05/2016 22:15

Ds is 9 and it's only in the last year we've started ordering an adult meal and not always. Dd is 5 and I wouldn't order her an adults meal unless there was no choice

Scarydinosaurs · 03/05/2016 22:12

Our Prezzo kid's meal fed three children- aged 3, 2 and 1. Plus bits from our plates to try something new too.

Nandos have good kid portions too.

CustardLover · 02/05/2016 22:52

I was unlucky and in hindsight should have said so at the time - good to know that we don't need to abandon the children's menu yet! And I'll be looking into Prezzo too, sounds great! Thanks everyone.

OP posts:

AppleAndBlackberry · 02/05/2016 22:39

10 pieces of pasta sounds tiny. My 5 and 6 year olds don't always finish a child's portion depending on the restaurant but I wouldn't be happy with that. I cooked pasta for them this evening and they probably had about 30-40 pieces of penne in tomato sauce, plus chicken and fruit afterwards.

PinguForPresident · 02/05/2016 22:37

We went to Carluccios in the Easter hols: my 7 y/o was defeated by the pasta dish. It was massive. Probably about 50 pieces of pasta along with sauce adn meatballs. I'd have struggled with it.

Incidentally, I found Carluccios to be nowhere near as nice food-wise as Ask or Bella Italia. funny!

HelenF35 · 02/05/2016 22:36

Agree about prezzos kids meals being big. The tots meal for £3.95 we had was huge for the money. Hungry 10 month old still ate the lot though, and some of daddy's carbonara!

HelenF35 · 02/05/2016 22:33

My 10 month old would demolish that. 10 bits of pasta is ridiculous. I would have complained.

Alanna1 · 02/05/2016 22:05

We go regularly. The portions are large! You must have been unlucky.

Witchend · 02/05/2016 22:02

My 15yo sometimes orders from the child menu. Mind you, she's got a smaller appetite than ds, who's 8yo, and has since he was about 2yo.

0hCrepe · 02/05/2016 21:55

I see someone else mentioned strada, I thought their children's meals were excellent for my 9 and 11yo. They had 2 good slices of flat garlic bread, then a big pizza and a decent pudding (ds says it was the best one ever) plus a drink.

Noodledoodledoo · 02/05/2016 20:20

Think you had a stingy branch as well. We went on Valentines day and my little girl had about 6 breadsticks, the chicken and potatoes which when it came out was not far off the adult sized portion of chicken, followed by a huge pot of fruit at least 10-12 large chunks of melon, pineapple etc.

I always think Jamie's Italian kids portions are tiny - but they seem to fill up my nephew and niece - not been since my little one is eating.

ceeveebee · 02/05/2016 20:20

We eat at Carluccios a lot and my 4 yo twins can never finish the pasta - a lot more than 10 pieces, more like 50! Sounds like you just got a small portion

JugglingFromHereToThere · 02/05/2016 20:08

Yes, I do wish they'd offer a few veg at least as an option retro?
There seems to be this idea in UK that children don't eat veg, which isn't very helpful?

retrorobot2 · 02/05/2016 18:35

I have had this problem in the chains. We are fortunate that we have a 2.5 year old and an almost 4 year old and we just have them share an adult main course. If we have starters they are shared among everyone.

Some of the children's main courses in chain restaurants are ridiculously small and the choice can be very limited and not very healthy/interesting (Jamie's - I am looking at you) . The only place I can think of that had decent children's main courses was Cafe Rouge.

The problem with children's mains is that at most of the chains you have to take them as part of a menu and then the children end up getting some dessert as part of it, which we'd rather they didn't. Our two are savages for the food - unfussy and big eaters. We'd rather they filled up on a relatively healthy main.

Scarydinosaurs · 02/05/2016 18:34

Prezzo sizes are crazy big. I've never eaten at Carluccio's- ten pieces of pasta is ridiculous.

quietbatperson · 02/05/2016 18:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JassyRadlett · 02/05/2016 17:46

I find there are one or two branches that are quite stingy - and others really generous! We go back to the generous ones, it's DS1's fave.

YonicTrowel · 02/05/2016 17:32

Quite possibly a different waitress if OP grabbed one in passing to order the extra bits.

On a busy weekend, not sure of the waitresses would be paying loads of attention to portion sizes either!

When we got the disparate portions, I did mention it (the bowls were different sizes so it was clear!) and we were brought some more of the same pasta.

WorraLiberty · 02/05/2016 16:47

Weird really to suggest a 4 yr old should have the adult meal if they do a children's one, but perhaps she was just trying to diffuse the situation/ said the first thing that came into her head?!

It is weird that the waitress didn't notice the portion was much smaller than usual, and that rather than realise that, she suggested an adult meal.

YonicTrowel · 02/05/2016 16:46

I find Jamie's portions pretty small and Strada to have the best selection for the price. £6.50 for some kind of small main/small pud/drink is pretty standard for a chain kiddie meal.

If it was smaller than normal you shpd have said so. As the waitress, I wouldn't have read your comment as being about the portion but as about your child's appetite.

We once got served two very different amounts of the same kiddie dish so it might just have been an aberration of someone not filling the bowl as usual.

JugglingFromHereToThere · 02/05/2016 16:43

Weird really to suggest a 4 yr old should have the adult meal if they do a children's one, but perhaps she was just trying to diffuse the situation/ said the first thing that came into her head?!
A good thread for general discussion I think which hopefully restauranteers might see and respond to.
We used to like the children's meals at our local Brewers Fayre/ Brewsters which also had an excellent large soft play area and was happy to have them for longer than some places so we kept going back

Isetan · 02/05/2016 16:42

I always order the IKEA child's menu for myself or I'll share an adult sized portion with DD. I would not be impressed with 10 pieces of pasta.

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WorraLiberty · 02/05/2016 16:41

Blimey. Not sure where you'd go from that point then.

skankingpiglet · 02/05/2016 16:38

Worra the last time we went the '3 course meal' was breadsticks, a half dozen ravioli, a drink which she admittedly didn't have (only has water) and a small scoop of ice cream... The main was inhaled in seconds and she was demanding some of ours.

WorraLiberty · 02/05/2016 16:26

skankingpiglet I would have thought a 3 course meal is more than enough for a 22 month old baby.

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