Children's food poor quality

[Res_Ipsa]

Am I being unreasonable in being cross about this?

Me and DH sometimes eat out with our DC, and we usually order him a children's meal alongside ours.

The past 2 occasions, at different cafés, the children's meal has come in an unacceptable condition. Firstly was a small pizza which was basically black and inedible. The second time was a jacket potato which arrived tiny and completely solid due to being over-microwaved. The third time was a pasta dish which was overcooked, sloppy and cold.

I've had to complain each time, which I absolutely hate doing. But I wonder if it is part of a wider attitude that because it's for a child, it doesn't really matter about the quality/ state that it is in?

Are these isolated incidents and just been unlucky, or is it a common experience?

AIBU in being cross?

Can’t say I’ve had the same experience.

Me either

I think that often the children's meals are very basic, and very plain, and very cheap and that makes them much easier to mess up in the kitchen.

Never had this experience either. Perhaps it's indicative of the quality of the establishments more generally?

I agree.

I've never had that problem but it does annoy me that when you go somewhere with nice food and the children's meals are all basic things like sausages or fish fingers. My DC would want the nice food just in appropriate size portions - why don't restaurants do this?

Absolutely loads of restaurants do this, in fact most that I've been to. Not so much high street cafes though.

OP, perhaps you've just been unlucky as the cafes around here do some lovely children's meals.

Children's meals aren't a thing in many other countries. They just eat what the adults eat too and have some of their parents.

Only here do kids only eat pizza and nuggets and chips.

Why not order a main adult meal and split it between the children so its an appropriate portion size

We've never bought a child's meal.
Admittedly the 'children' are now 18&22 but they've always either eaten off our plates or we've asked for a half portion.
Most places we've been to have been more than happy to accommodate this, even when we've just asked for an extra plate

We often used to order ours a starter or some side dishes. Mine eat more than me now but I was thinking the other day how good the small plate places which are so popular now are great for family eating.

We have half portions of normal meals on menus where I am from. Much better imho than separate menu. There are always safe options like schnitzel and potato as well, but they are just a standard meal anyone eats so it makes kids part of the group not different. If that makes sense.
I know very few fussy eaters there.

There was a thread about child sized portions of the adult meals.

Not all adults want a large portion but aren’t allowed to order off the children’s menu and not all children want fish fingers and chips.

If I owned the restaurant I would have all of the food available to everyone but just have them in small, medium and large portions.

Nowherenew I agree. I have a small appetite and lots of places have huge portions and wish I could order a smaller portion. My DM sometimes used to swap meals with me but that was when the adult and child's menu was the same, just size difference.

Most restaurants I’ve been in will do you a half portion of an adult meal if they know it’s for a child (and not an CF adult trying to save money). I also tend to find chefs where I’ve worked like kids that actually eat proper food and they don’t have to have just plain food.

kids menus are more geared towards fussy types that like plain or familiar food rather than giving them a restaurant experience

I have no idea why posters on this thread don't just order a starter, side dish or half portion if they want a smaller version of a normal meal.

Yeah. It always annoyed me when DD's were little when places couldn't do smaller portions of the perfectly nice adult food and only offered a children's menu of the cheapest crappiest chicken nuggets and sausages.

I'd never order a children's meal for this reason, and usually so overpriced. We just get extra sides and share everything, the 'kids menu' food is also usually so boring and basic.

YANBU OP
When my kids were very little, they just had a bit of my food. When they got bigger I would order something for them to share (easy if you have more than one). Family chain restaurants, like Bella Itaila or places like that were always ok for kids meals I thought.
TBH, it never occurred to me to ask for a half portion from the adult menu. Too late now, they're all teens.

I never order Childs menu food, it doesn’t exist much here and Ds isn’t keen on ‘typical’ breaded stuff anyway.
Its usually fine to order a starter, sides or ask for smaller portions

We went to quite a posh restaurant that I'd never seen many small children at, for a birthday dinner when the DDs and DN were little and I was wondering what they might be happy with from the rather unfamiliar menu, I think they were about 4 and 8 years old. The waiter said they could have anything off the menu in a smaller portion but also the chef had made cottage pie just in case they fancied that. They all had cottage pie and wolfed it - I had a little taste too - best cottage pie I'd ever tasted.

I think in some places the child's meal is either cooked first and is kept under a hot plate until the adults meal is ready so it comes out overcooked and scalding hot or else they want to bring all the food out together so it becomes overcooked.

A lot of the local restaurants around be are happy to do half portions for kids and indeed not too hungry adults at a slightly higher price than kids. However they do also have the usual nuggets/sausage and chips for fussy eaters

They will sometimes give a half portion but only if you ask. It's not on the menu. Our favourite Italian restaurant does this. My DC ate from the normal menu to get nicer food from about 7.