I take my sister out to lunch each year and she does the same for me in feb. I took her to Baker's Square today as that is where she wanted to go. I order a kids lunch, chicken tenders and mashed potatos, water and no dessert. I order my little one a kids meal and my sister orders a sandwich, I feel bad that the order is so "cheap" and order an appitizer for my little one and sister to share. When the bill comes to the table I pick it up and look it over, she brought the wrong check the first time around. There was a "misc. food charge" $2.00. When I asked what that was she said it was a service charge for an adult ordering off the kids menu, even though I had to show my band card to get the waitress to allow me to order it. If I had know that there would be a $2.00 fee I would have ordered the adult portion and shared it with my daughter, it would have been the same price as my kids meal and the "service chare" but I would not have had to pay for her meal. When I pointed this out to the manager she said it was company wide policy and she would remove it if $2.00 was that important to me, she was quite loud and rude about it, I told her that I would indeed pay their fee but would never return to Baker's Square again. It's not the fact that they charge the fee it is that they didn't tell me about it and then slip it on the bill at the end. I also told the manager that the adult portion is not even healthy for the adverage adult and that is was a shame that they were charging people more $ for the same amount of food, if they were trying to cut portions. Just sucks and I thought I would let everyone know about it. ~Mandy

Oh, man! Me, I would have said, yes, you will remove the charge, and then be just as loud as the manager.

But then, I don't back down easily as a general rule, espcially if I'm right.

I had an experinece at a big italian chain restaurant that does Soups and salad, you know the one. I went in with my crew on a weekend and ordered off the menu they handed us. There were a bunch of us, 8 or 10, big group for lunch. Maybe more. We could not get the wait staff to help us, and they were pretty dead, except for us.

Well, we got the bill, and the meal was more expensive than what the menu said, plus we were charged a large group tip.

I raised holy hell with the management. I didn't care that the weekend rates were higher, because we were not given the weekend menu. And we certianly didn't pay the large group tip because the service sucked. I mean, when you have to go hunt down the wait staff not once but several times in a meal...

I would have had them take off the 2.00 and then be as loud as she was YES I would have. Thanks for letting us know.

You should have made her take it off. When she said she would take it off if it is that big of a deal you should have said if it's not a big deal then why is there such a stupid charge like this if the first place. That is just plain dumb to charge that. I am like Vines, I would have raised hell!!!

I called corporate yesterday and they didn't call me back. I called again today and talked to a man that said he had never even heard of a "corporate policy" of charging $2.00, he understood it to be that adults could not order of the kids menu at all, no exceptions at all, even medical reasons are not considered. Then he proceeded to tell me that they barely broke even on kids meals and sometimes they even lose money on them. They charge $3.00 for a grilled cheese and a few fries and they say they are not making money on that? I had 3 small chicken nuggets and a small scoop of mashed taters and it was also $3.00, drinks are extra. They claim that they just cover cost on these meals, I don't buy that, if that were the case they could increas kids meals to $4.00 and make money but they don't, why? He was a real asshole too and promised me a call back today with the official policy on kids meals and guess what? He never called back, what a surprise. We won't be going back there ever again, I also want to find out what other places they own, as I am sure there are others owned by the same chain. I told him that I felt it was unfair to not only charge me the "fee" but it was downright wrong to slip it on the check hoping it would be unnoticed. I also told him that if there is such a charge, it should be posted on the menu. He says he will get back to me, we shall see. ~Mandy