Restaurant issues-the Melting Pot

[Guest guest]

We have been to sit-down restaurants with our 7-year old son who has

autism hundreds of times. Like other families we make modifications to

be considerate of other diners such as eating out at slower times,

eating quickly, leaving or walking outside the restaurant if we our

son seems overwhelmed. Generally, in the last four years, we have made

things work.

We recently had a strange experience at the Melting Pot restaurant on

Federal Highway in which the restaurant manager told us we were

causing a disturbance and offered to comp our dinner to " hurry us

along " and get us to leave the restaurant.

On Saturday, December 13, we decided to celebrate a family birthday by

eating out at the Melting Pot. We had eaten there before with no

problems. To accommodate the needs of our 7-year old son who had

autism we made a reservation for an early time at 5:30 pm when the

restaurant would be slower. We asked for an end booth so that we would

be near fewer people. We brought snacks and activities for our son to

keep him occupied during the wait.

During the dinner, our son drank and ate and toward the end of the

entrée was vocalizing (not screaming, squealing, yelling, running) at

conversational level. We were shocked when the manager, Bob Hopkins,

approached us in the middle of our meal, offering to " comp " our dinner

if we could hurry it along as we were disturbing other diners. Though

we tried to explain to him that our child has a disability, he

persisted. At no point did the manager make any other offer to change

our seating or alternatively resolve the situation. He thought that

offering to pay us off was acceptable for asking us to evict the

restaurant. We note that at least one-third of the tables had

typically developing children at them. We also note that as we left,

our server apologized for the experience and noted that we could have

been seated in a back room which would have addressed any perceived

" disturbance issue. "

We would love for Autism Speaks to develop a rating or symbol

identification system that could identify restaurant chains that have

personnel who are aware, well-informed and can provide a reasonable

level of service and accommodation.

Perhaps this list might serve a purpose by identifying

restaurants/chains where families have had good experiences.