Pizzeria tells parents to take their crying kids outside

A metro Atlanta family restaurant is making a desperate effort to keep the peace amid complaints about unruly—and sometimes screaming—children. The owners of Grant Central Pizza in Grant Park say they received a number of complaints, so they added a new disclaimer to their menu.

If you visit Grant Central Pizza, you’ll notice the menu offers pizza, pasta, and a parental disclaimer that reads as follows:

”Dear all present and future patrons: GCP is proud of its reputation as a family restaurant, a title that we will work to keep. Unfortunately a number of our diners have posted unpleasant experiences because of crying and unsupervised children. To ensure that all diners have an enjoyable lunch or dinner with us we respectfully ask that parents tend to their crying tots outside.

Donnie Parmer, the restaurant’s co-owner, says he wants to make it clear he likes kids, and he wants them there. He says Grant Central Pizza is a family establishment. But, he says, he doesn’t want one person to ruin the experience for everyone.

Parmer says the restaurant received a number of complaints about children crying on Yelp, and there was also an incident where a child hit another customer in the head with a toy. That’s when Parmer says the written request to parents became necessary.

It's important to note that the restaurant is not banning any customers, or planning on throwing anyone out. Their disclaimer on the menu is a "polite reminder," like the signs at cash registers asking people to hang up their cell phones during a transaction.

Some customers at the restaurant told FOX 5 that noise is just part of the experience in a family restaurant, but others weren’t as understanding. Some told us that the only bad thing about the message on the menu is that it had to be printed for parents in the first place.  

Parmer says they have not received complaints about the disclaimer since adding it to the menu.

Should restaurants kick crying kids out?