Birthday dinner ruined - restaurant refused eat free offer!

[Heatherstory]

NC’d for this.

Birthday meal out at a local restaurant - they do an offer where the birthday person eats free as long as 1. It’s their actual birthday date and ID is provided to confirm and 2. There’s a minimum party size of 5.

It’s an all you can eat concept where food is brought to the table rather than you go and get it, a great deal as the food is lovely and the offer saves £30.

When we asked for the bill, we mentioned it was my birthday and I said I’d get my ID out of my bag. Someone came over (not the person we asked for the bill) and explained we were not eligible for the offer as only 4 of us had the all you can eat. My 2 year old DD was with us and obviously had a small meal (which we were to pay for).

My DH asked to speak to the manager - the person who came over said that he is the manager and refused to budge. We reluctantly paid.

We’ve checked the offer wording and it’s clearly stated it’s based on 5 dining (doesn’t specify it has to be the all you can eat) which we fulfilled.

It really soured the evening and we will not be returning which is a real shame as it’s a lovely restaurant, but they have been so underhand with this.

I don't know but I think it could be challenged. There's lots of things that might seem obvious but I think there must be a reason that companies generally word these things carefully. For example it was my birthday this week, a restaurant we use sent me an offer for this week of 40% off food.but specified for a maximum party if six. Now I could have turned up with my kids, their partners and the GC and had a party of 18. That would have been a bit much so they made their offer clear.

Maybe the OP was chancing it, maybe she misunderstood but the restaurant was at fault for not making it clear if they didn't make it clear.

You’re actually admitting that in public. Do the maths.

4 x £5 is £20. You think a restaurant would give away a £30 dinner to someone who’d only spent £20?
Why would they do that?
Do you not understand the concept of profit?

That would be seriously unfair of you. Disgraceful behaviour by you.
You do not deserve a voucher. The issue is already settled. You cannot count.
I hope they reply and tell you so.

@TwinklyStork

I admit plenty of things in public. I'm not ashamed of them.

Honestly, it's something that I wouldn't give any further thought to, beyond the actual wording. I wouldn't give a thought to the sums involved, it's just not the way my mind tends to work.

I understand the concept of profit, but since it seems that this particular birthday scenario (giving a free £30 meal to someone who'd only spent £20) would be a rare occurrence, I don't think doing so would affect the overall profits of the restaurant?

OP was chancing it. She actually dodged the question when asked explicitly would she assume the offer would apply if she had arrived with 4 toddlers as the diners. Presumably as she knew how nonsensical that would be.

Totally agree with you. If you're going to run a business, get it right.

OP I've saved your DH a job 🤣 (well AI has)

Birthday Policy Was Confusing and Honestly, Kind of Mean
We went out for a special birthday dinner for a family member, and the whole night was completely ruined over a silly rule we just didn't understand.

We were a big group—five of us total, including our two-year-old. I honestly thought five people at the table meant we qualified for their famous "free birthday meal" deal. I guess simple math isn't my strong suit! We didn't even mention the offer until the server brought the bill, which was my mistake, I guess, but I figured it was just a nice treat.

The food was totally fine, and the service was friendly right up until that moment.

When I mentioned the birthday offer, the manager came over and said you need five full-price diners. They then explained, in front of the whole table, that my two-year-old's £5 meal didn't "count."

I was genuinely shocked. We occupied a whole table for five people! To have a manager stand there and tell me my toddler is basically being disqualified from the count felt incredibly petty and took all the joy out of the evening. It’s hard to believe a restaurant would be so rigid about a rule that hinges on a toddler not ordering a £30 meal.

If the rule is that specific, they should make it crystal clear for idiots, or at least be generous when a family celebrating a birthday makes an honest mistake like this. A truly sour end to what was supposed to be a happy night. We definitely won't be back (unless they give me a voucher I suppose).

If your saving £30 that means its £30 per adult id say its obvious a 2yo wouldn't count towards the 5 diners my 2yo would just have bits of everyone's food

A rule I didn't know before this thread is - check the deal is still valid, and means what it appears to mean, before you order. I don't often eat in restaurants, and generally avoid 'special offers' of all kinds because ime they are usually deceptive, and stingy if actually honoured.

A £5 meal is a discounted meal. I wouldn't expect to be able to use two discounts at once. It would be like trying to add two discount codes when ordering an item online. It wouldn't work.

Well I'm sure the OP has had a lovely birthday, now that she's been called...

over dramatic
cheapskate
embarrassing
Delulu
They were delighted to see the back of you
trying to pull a fast one
Shameless and embarrassing
spiteful
Pathetic
foolish
entitled
trying to blackmail the restaurant
cf freeloaders
free-loader and entitled
Karen
pompous and self righteous
silly and pathetic
being petty
You sound horrid
taking the piss
greedy and grabby
a bit thick
vindictive
freeloaders
cheap
horrible and entitled
Miserly
Stingy
Tightfisted
Tawdry
being twats
Blackmailing cheapskates
grabby
Pathetic
stupid
very thick
nasty greedy people
lack basic common sense
a horrible person
throwing a tantrum
bullies
chav family
cheap cheeky fucker
a right chancer
imbecile

...and many more delightful things.

Anybody else want to start kicking now she's down?

They've said the offer didn't specify this

Not sure what all the arsey replies are about. If they don't want it covering toddlers meals, then they need to say that. That's how business works.

And if it didn't all the OP has to do is link to the offer to prove that. She's been asked to many times and hasn't.

I could not imagine prancing back into a restaurant with a voucher given to me because I gave a ridiculous review on Google trying to hurt a restaurant and to get something for free. I always read the one star reviews to laugh at the people who are being pathetic like you. Learn your lesson and move on with some dignity. You and your husband sound very unpleasant.

what was the bonus discount? did you get it because you checked before you ordered?

I completely disagree with OP and her DH that they were entitled to a free meal and I think that posting a scathing review of the restaurant is massively unreasonable, but I still think your post is tone deaf and you sound like a snobby nightmare.

Somebody willing to attempt to ruin the reputation of a restaurant even after they’ve been told repeatedly they are being unreasonable isn’t somebody I’d have spent hours trawling a thread to try and defend from some mildly mean words to describe they’re really nasty & vindictive behaviour.

And ‘kick her whilst she’s down’? What? By thirty quid that she’s trying to extort unfairly from a restaurant?

I agree they’ve been sneaky. They might think people will be put off choosing them for their meal venue if they can’t do the offer. By the time they’ve had their food it’s too late and the restaurant have got their money. I know there is a thing called small print but something along the lines of “*birthday offer excludes children’s meals” where it can be clearly seen would be helpful for potential customers.

That being said I would have phoned and asked first to avoid any confusion. And if the offer didn’t include kids meals I would have either still gone or considered a different venue. And that’s why they don’t make it clear on the advert because they don’t want people going somewhere else.

I’m another one who’s on your side, @Heatherstory. It’s annoying but definitely check in future so you can vote with your feet if you need to.

Sneaky?
Only to anybody lacking in common sense.
What business would, in theory, offer this to 5x people having a £5 meal each? None.
Businesses are allowed to turn a profit. This isn’t a ‘birthday gift’ it’s an offer that has to leave the business still profiting. The idea is you turn up with people paying the full price and the restaurant can then subsidise the cost of your food. The restaurant can’t be in debt to your meal FFS.
I can’t believe anybody thinks this has to be spelled out. It’s extremely obvious.

I’m disgusted that you would actually leave a ‘suitably penned’ review. Get a hold of yourself. You are being ridiculous. It shouldn’t need to be explained that a child’s meal doesn’t count!

Offers like this are always entirely at their discretion and they can change or remove them anytime, they're not contractual in any way. I wouldn't even have assumed I'd be able to get it at all based on just a sign or a website, I'd definitely not have assumed a £5 toddler meal would be classed as a diner.
Can't understand why when you walked in or booked you didn't say "it's my birthday, can I check the offer is still on", then they could have said "oh it is, but I'm afraid toddlers don't count". You could easily have booked elsewhere then if it was that important.
It's on you not them, they're totally within their rights to remove offers, set any rules etc without them all being explicit on the website. As someone else said, they don't have every minor condition listed, they won't be able to;
Serve kids their advertised alcoholic drinks (but doubt their drinks menu states this)
Make you something off menu (but doubt the food menu states this)
You can't take the tableware away with you (but they won't have a sign)
These things are common sense/restaurant ways of working, which we are all aware of. I think full paying diners for an offer falls into that category, and to be honest, I always assume an offer won't apply and politely triple check first - I'd never whip out anything at the point of the bill coming (quite often offers don't apply if you order specific things or if you don't have a certain number of courses etc). There's always small print and you have to ask. They're not ripping you off, they're following the rules that were always in place but you didn't bother to check them and now you're annoyed at them, plus you caused a big awkward scene for the staff - I'd be mortified.

There will be plenty of people who don’t realise a children’s meal doesn’t count. So yes it is sneaky and it’s deceptive. If people “lack common sense” as you put it, then the restaurant shouldn’t be taking advantage of that. They should make it clear on their advertisement but they won’t do that because it could potentially put people off choosing them.

I’m not saying children’s meals should be included, but the restaurant should be making that clear. If they don’t then yes it is sneaky.

I really doubt there would be plenty of people who don’t realise a child’s meal doesn’t enable them to have 30 pounds off. This thread would back that up.

Again, not sneaky. Common sense.