Diners polarized over unruly kids

After enacting a sudden ban on “small screaming children,” a Cape Breton fine dining establishment has unwittingly found itself at the centre of a nationwide tug of war over the place of unruly kids at restaurant tables.

“Effective as of now, we will no longer allow small, screaming children,” read a Sunday night post on the Facebook page of Cape Breton Island’s Lobster Pound and Moore.

An immediate barrage of “hate and threats” forced restaurant owner Richard Moore to reverse the policy and issue a lengthy plea for forgiveness. But his apology post was soon flooded with messages of support.

“Stick to your guns!” wrote a woman from Halifax.

“If your kids can’t behave in a restaurant … DON’T TAKE THEM!!” wrote a mother from Ontario.

It’s a scenario that’s played out dozens of times before: A restaurant bans loud or misbehaving children — sometimes in a fit of pique — and instantly finds itself either lionized or vilified by opposing camps of parent and diner alike.

Roy Public House in Toronto declared itself an adult space after a string of incidents, including a baby in a tantrum who sent a salt shaker into another patron’s meal and an unsupervised toddler causing a server to drop bowls of hot soup.

On the other side of the coin are restaurants that seem unwelcoming — even hostile — to minors.

In 2013, a Vancouver mom wrote a respectful note to Earls Restaurant noting she had noticed it didn’t have a high chair or baby change table.

In a response that soon made the rounds among Vancouver parents, Earl’s head office replied that it was no accident.

“Our restaurants do not, as a rule, offer high chairs & booster chairs or changing stations,” read the reply.