I applaud this man!  I've had several dining experiences ruined recently because of ill-mannered little bastards.  In the most recent instance, several families were seated together behind me; while the parents proceeded to order drinks and get plastered, their sprogs cried, played chase, kicked the booth I was sitting in, and otherwise made nuisances of themselves.  When several of them came over to my table I was tempted to have them sit and beg for bread sticks, and use the sweetener packets for a game of fetch!

I hate cell phones as well.  In Europe it's common for restaurants to use cell phone jammers to prevent assholes from ruining other people's meals.  Jammers aren’t legal in the US, but they’re easy to buy via overseas websites.  Many models are cell phone size.

peco wrote:

I was sort of on the fence about kids in restaurants, until I was at a spaghetti place and the 4-year-old birthday brat in the next table picked up the baseball bat he got for a present and smashed the plates on our table for shits and giggles, and then his dad tried to pick a fight with me when I took the bat away.

Cell phones are fucking annoying, but kids have no place in a restaurant.

I would have used the bat on the dad.

It's not a matter of "nothing I do annoys people", it's a matter of when and where to annoy people.  There are just things you don't do without coming off as a complete shitstain... among them are:

- beat your kids in public
- talk on your cellphone in a restaurant or theatre
- text and play games on your cell phone/iWhatever in a theatre
- operate your cell phone while driving (often on the sidewalk, wrong lane, etc.)
- beat your wife in public
- piss on the sidewalk
- let your dog shit on other people's lawns
.../etc.

I think it's a fair business decision to ban kids from their restaurant.  If it's a poor decision, they'll pay for it in short order.  If it's a good decision, they'll be rewarded.