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Diners to mom with screaming baby: 'Thank you for ruining our dinner'

Dining out turned into a falling out when a loud baby caused tension between customers at an Idaho restaurant.
/ Source: TODAY

Dining out turned into a falling out when a loud baby caused tension between customers at an Idaho restaurant.

A woman who brought her 10-month-old son is upset that diners at a nearby table accused her of ruining their meal. Katie Leach admits the boy screams when he’s “super excited and happy or just for no reason at all,” but that she’s doing her best to teach him to stop.

"We all tried quieting him down, which a majority of the time he did, but he also was so excited to be around all the commotion," Leach told NBC affiliate KTVB.

"He was not yelling to be mean or because he was mad, it was purely from excitement and being happy."

About halfway through her dinner at the Texas Roadhouse in Nampa, Idaho, two women slammed a note down on her table, Leach told the station. It read: “Thank you for ruining our dinner with your screaming kid! Sincerely, the table behind you.”

Leach said she apologized to the women, who snapped back that their grandchildren never behave like that. Leach then spoke to the restaurant manager, who apologized, paid for her dinner and said the family was welcome to come back anytime, she noted.

“We were voted one of the loudest restaurants by Consumer Reports. We are proud to be loud. If you want to hear clinking wine glasses and clinking forks, then this probably isn’t the place for you,” Travis Doster, a spokesman for Texas Roadhouse, told KTVB.

The incident prompted hundreds of comments on Facebook, with many people expressing sympathy for the diners whose meal was disrupted. The note was excessive, but the parents should have stepped out or left with the screaming child, many commenters said.

The TODAY anchors were split.

“I would never leave a note like that,” Willie Geist said. “But we have a quick trigger with our kids. If you’re in a restaurant, church, wedding or a movie theater — if the kid starts screaming, get them out.”

Tamron Hall said she’s not bothered by loud kids.

“I don’t get that anger,” she said. “A Texas Roadhouse buffet is not church.”

Natalie Morales noted it depends on the age of the child, so people should be more understanding of a 10-month-old’s behavior. Plus, parents are often mortified when their child is loud, she added.

People are usually understanding as long as the parent is trying to do something, Al Roker said.

“In this case, I’m in full compliance with Mr. Geist, you get out of there as quickly as possible,” he noted. “You say, OK, this is not acceptable, you’ve got to go.”