Teppanyaki with toddlers?

[podda]

We are sailing with two kids that will be 1 year old and 2,5 years old. I have never been to Teppanyaki or a similar restaurant so I am not sure if it would be a good choice.

 

I am wondering if it could be dangerous? The details say:"Flying shrimp. Onion volcanos. Twirling Knives" Do you know if such small kids would get their own seat (or a highchair) at the table? I would not buy a meal for them off the menu but they would eat off the kids menu. Are you just watching the chefs and listening/talking to them or can you talk to your own dinner party (in this case the children) without being rude?

 

Any input you have on whether we should go to Teppanyaki or not is highly appreciated. TIA 🙂 

[BirdTravels]

The kids would get their own seats at the table. Order off the kids menu. The chefs preform to the table. If your kids enjoy a show, it will be fun. If your kids react poorly to the chef and cooking, it will be a downer for the whole table 

[Pappion]

We went once and our table mates had a toddler. They left the toddler seated next to us in a high chair watching Elmo at a very high volume on a tablet, and He was swinging his legs kicking me the entire meal.  We asked the mom to turn down the tablet and possibly slide the child more their way, both requests were ignored with a kids will be kids attitude.  We left before dessert.  

 

If you're attentive parents it could be fun for you and your kids, if you aren’t it could be a nightmare for your table mates.  

[Funky Fusion FoodsJ]

3 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

The kids would get their own seats at the table. Order off the kids menu. The chefs preform to the table. If your kids enjoy a show, it will be fun. If your kids react poorly to the chef and cooking, it will be a downer for the whole table 

 

3 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

The kids would get their own seats at the table. Order off the kids menu. The chefs preform to the table. If your kids enjoy a show, it will be fun. If your kids react poorly to the chef and cooking, it will be a downer for the whole table 

I have to agree with Bird, as long as you’re willing to whisk your children away from the restaurant should they have a negative reaction, you should be fine.  If they do have a negative reaction and you don’t, it would be miserable for you and others.  That being said, my experience...earlier this year I was at Tappanyaki on the Jade during a Med cruise.  A young couple at our table with a 2 year old.  We had a blast!  The Tap chef kept the child engaged making the whole experience great for everyone.  However, I have to say on an earlier trip I had with a Cuba cruise the Tap chef wasn’t very good even with the adults present, so no way he’d have engaged a toddler.  Luck of the draw on what you’ll get, but in my experience worth the risk to have a great experience.

[BirdTravels]

The show is highly interactive with constant banging of spatulas on the grill, knocking of salt shakers on the grill, loud singing with participation of people on the table. 
 

[Two Wheels Only]

I've taken mine when the younger was only 2. We had a great time.

We ordered from the kids' menu as soon as we arrived as it takes time for the food to get delivered. 

 

Now that they're both older, they eat off of the regular menu whether Teppanyaki on the ship(s) or at home. I'm even teaching them how to use chopsticks. 

 

2 hours ago, podda said:

I am wondering if it could be dangerous?

 

No worries.  Obviously, the child can't dive across the grill like Mini Me...

 

 

... 

[Sweetnspicy]

I agree that it’s not really toddler friendly. It’s a really interactive dining experience. 

[Albinroo]

We did Teppanyaki earlier this year on the Getaway with 3 kids, aged 5, 3 and 1. The youngest slept the whole time so can't really say anything about his experience. The 3 year old was entertained and the 5 year old loved it, thought it was the best dining experience of the whole week. They both ate off the kids menu and are generally picky with food but because of the fun show the 5 year old wanted to taste my food and ate the whole bowl. I actually went down to the restaurant before opening and asked if it would be OK to bring so many young children with us and she assured me it was more than fine. We shared table with two other parents and their 2-year old, he wasn't as entertained as ours but on the other hand he didn't make a fuss either.

I would strongly disagree that it's a "bad idea for everyone at the table", we even had people from other tables coming over and saying how fun it was for them to see our kids reactions. However, we were of course ready and willing to leave the restaurant in case anyone would start acting out of order, but that applies to any restaurant. A good thing on a ship where you can always visit the buffet later in case it doesn't work out... 

Enjoy your trip!!

 

[dexddd]

We've gone with our kids but they weren't that young.  We did dine one time with a family with kids maybe 2 and 3.  It was a disaster.  Kids antsy, playing with food, chef gave kids some food off grill, kids mixing in their beverages, food ending up on floor, parents did nothing other than tell them how cute it was.  Solid hour and half of distraction for the folks at the table.  Staff tried to  occupy kids without luck. 

 

As others have said, it really could vary but know the dinner lasts at least 1.5 hours.

[Turtles06]

8 hours ago, Mr Smarty said:

Toddlers at Teppanyaki is a bad idea for everyone at the table.  I do not mind kids at all, just this is NOT the place for them by any stretch of the imagination, even if your child is 'well behaved'. 

 

I agree with that.  Especially in this case; the OP has kids who are 1 and 2.  It’s really not a dining venue for babies. And everyone around the table is dining together; it’s a shared experience. 

Edited September 26, 2019 by Turtles06

[CarnivalCruiser32]

I completely disagree that it's not the place for kids and that it's not toddler friendly. I haven't been to Teppanyaki on a ship before (none of the ships we've been on have had that option before the one coming up this December where we have a reservation for my niece's 5th birthday) but we've been to Benihana countless times with my niece starting when she was just 1.5 years old and she's always loved it.

 

We never had a problem with our table mates (as far as we know anyway) thinking she wasn't behaving or acting out of line and ruining the experience for them. It's really a fun time and in our experience, at Benihana at least, the chefs pay special attention to the kids and try and amaze them which was extra fun to watch. To see the tricks they do myself is obviously awesome, but to also see how much my niece LOVED seeing them as well was well worth any dirty looks we might not have noticed we were receiving. My niece really loved the onion volcano and the fried rice heart the most, but she's always leaned into the artsy side so she really just overall enjoyed watching the chef perform the knife tricks. I personally don't think it's dangerous and yes they do throw utensils up in the air, but as far as I know they're trained really well because if they hurt people - that's a lawsuit you know?

 

The first few times we took my niece we went for Lunch so maybe that was a different type of crowd and it might benefit you to try and get the earliest seating to avoid possible attitudes about kids ruining dinner.  I think also just make sure that the 2.5 year old will eat the fried rice (ex. my niece is: Picky. so we did a sort of trial run with just takeout chinese fried rice before the first time we went to Benihana just to make sure she'd actually eat rice because she has always refused to eat meat so we knew she wouldn't partake in that part and we didn't want to starve her at the restaurant hahaha) and you should be good to go. You can always hype it up to them and be like "we're going somewhere super fun to eat super yummy food!!!" and they'll automatically be excited because you've already framed it that way for them. The chances of them having a good time are higher just bc they're already excited and are looking at it in a positive light

 

Also, the huge benefit of doing that type of meal on a ship is that if they don't like it or don't actually eat much (I'm looking at my niece who recently has started taking one tiny bite and saying she's full...until we leave the restaurant and suddenly she's STARVING XD) you can pop by the buffet and get them some mac and cheese (my niece's main food group) right after 

 

tl;dr - just take them! it's really fun and they would probably love it. Yummy food and fun entertainment! An all around awesome experience for the whole family in my very personal opinion.

 

p.s. - if you don't expose kids to different experiences and teach them how to behave in restaurants then they'll never learn how to behave in restaurants. Then you'll be stuck only able to go to like McDonald's forever (this is not a knock against MickeyD's whose chicken nuggets I would die for) because you're afraid their behavior will make fellow diners upset at more "upscale" restaurants like...that kind of thinking will just hold you back from experiencing awesome things with them. We find my niece behaves "better" in restaurants than some of her peers because we started taking her when she was really little and made it a normal thing instead of waiting until she was older and more "ready" to be seen out in certain kinds of restaurants with us. Our expectations were always that she behaved in general and that extended to restaurants and if she didn't (kids are tiny humans - they have meltdowns it happens, and I can't blame them bc I wanna have meltdowns all the time too) then we just left.  Like...everyone said "dONT take a 2 year old to Cinderella's Royal Table at Disney World she's going to ruin the meal for other older kids who've waited a long time to meet Princesses!!!!" and my niece was better behaved than most of the adults there and //I// got to meet princesses, so... idk. We've never used an iPad or a phone to distract her into behaving either, though we do bring emergency snack packs (think gold fish, pretzels, actual bread rolls lol, etc) in case she needs to munch on something before the food arrives. YMMV but just my experience has been positive to exposing kids to stuff early - they seem to thrive on learning new things and actually do enjoy doing more "grown up" stuff with you when you don't automatically assume they won't behave *shrugs*

Edited September 26, 2019 by CarnivalCruiser32

[ColeThornton]

The dining area around the grill is pretty limited as far as space for putting multiple high chairs there. Could that be done without infringing on the others seated there?

 

I guess it's a decision the OP will have to make.  Some folks will be glad to see the young'uns there and others will give them the death stare.  Many will say that even if you decide to take the kids out after they have been fussing it's too late, the ambiance is already shot and the meal disturbed.

 

I'm definitely not a kid hater but Teppanyaki doesn't seem like a good venue for kids. I agree with the folks who say kids have to be exposed to new experiences and dining out but when you are on vacation with other people is that the appropriate time to do so?

 

By the way, if you are a member of Cruise Critic it's okay because your kids are perfectly behaved and never cause issues, at least according to the posts I read.  (that's a joke, sort of).   🙂

 

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by ColeThornton

[SouthLyonCruiser]

Unless you have an unusually well behaved children, make other arrangements for them as they could ruin the experience for you in that you may have to leave before the dinner is done or ruin the experience for others at your table if you stay and let them cause distractions.

[ziggyuk]

There are always two sides to these things.

 

You got the parent who are convinced their darlings are no trouble and you have the adults who don't want children distracting from their experience.

 

The issue only arises when the children don't behave and the parents can't/won't identify when its right to remove the children, it can be a great experience for children but a disaster when misbehaving children are not dealt with, not only a disaster for other guests but the children and parents too.

[CarnivalCruiser32]

8 minutes ago, CarnivalCruiser32 said:

I completely disagree that it's not the place for kids and that it's not toddler friendly. I haven't been to Teppanyaki on a ship before (none of the ships we've been on have had that option before the one coming up this December where we have a reservation for my niece's 5th birthday) but we've been to Benihana countless times with my niece starting when she was just 1.5 years old and she's always loved it.

 

We never had a problem with our table mates (as far as we know anyway) thinking she wasn't behaving or acting out of line and ruining the experience for them. It's really a fun time and in our experience, at Benihana at least, the chefs pay special attention to the kids and try and amaze them which was extra fun to watch. To see the tricks they do myself is obviously awesome, but to also see how much my niece LOVED seeing them as well was well worth any dirty looks we might not have noticed we were receiving. My niece really loved the onion volcano and the fried rice heart the most, but she's always leaned into the artsy side so she really just overall enjoyed watching the chef perform the knife tricks. I personally don't think it's dangerous and yes they do throw utensils up in the air, but as far as I know they're trained really well because if they hurt people - that's a lawsuit you know?

 

The first few times we took my niece we went for Lunch so maybe that was a different type of crowd and it might benefit you to try and get the earliest seating to avoid possible attitudes about kids ruining dinner.  I think also just make sure that the 2.5 year old will eat the fried rice (ex. my niece is: Picky. so we did a sort of trial run with just takeout chinese fried rice before the first time we went to Benihana just to make sure she'd actually eat rice because she has always refused to eat meat so we knew she wouldn't partake in that part and we didn't want to starve her at the restaurant hahaha) and you should be good to go. You can always hype it up to them and be like "we're going somewhere super fun to eat super yummy food!!!" and they'll automatically be excited because you've already framed it that way for them. The chances of them having a good time are higher just bc they're already excited and are looking at it in a positive light

 

Also, the huge benefit of doing that type of meal on a ship is that if they don't like it or don't actually eat much (I'm looking at my niece who recently has started taking one tiny bite and saying she's full...until we leave the restaurant and suddenly she's STARVING XD) you can pop by the buffet and get them some mac and cheese (my niece's main food group) right after 

 

tl;dr - just take them! it's really fun and they would probably love it. Yummy food and fun entertainment! An all around awesome experience for the whole family in my very personal opinion.

 

p.s. - if you don't expose kids to different experiences and teach them how to behave in restaurants then they'll never learn how to behave in restaurants. Then you'll be stuck only able to go to like McDonald's forever (this is not a knock against MickeyD's whose chicken nuggets I would die for) because you're afraid their behavior will make fellow diners upset at more "upscale" restaurants like...that kind of thinking will just hold you back from experiencing awesome things with them. We find my niece behaves "better" in restaurants than some of her peers because we started taking her when she was really little and made it a normal thing instead of waiting until she was older and more "ready" to be seen out in certain kinds of restaurants with us. Our expectations were always that she behaved in general and that extended to restaurants and if she didn't (kids are tiny humans - they have meltdowns it happens, and I can't blame them bc I wanna have meltdowns all the time too) then we just left.  Like...everyone said "dONT take a 2 year old to Cinderella's Royal Table at Disney World she's going to ruin the meal for other older kids who've waited a long time to meet Princesses!!!!" and my niece was better behaved than most of the adults there and //I// got to meet princesses, so... idk. We've never used an iPad or a phone to distract her into behaving either, though we do bring emergency snack packs (think gold fish, pretzels, actual bread rolls lol, etc) in case she needs to munch on something before the food arrives. YMMV but just my experience has been positive to exposing kids to stuff early - they seem to thrive on learning new things and actually do enjoy doing more "grown up" stuff with you when you don't automatically assume they won't behave *shrugs*

 

just wanted to add: I think the kids will each count as a person at the table so the high chairs wouldn't be smushed in with 6 other people taking up their space. It would most likely be that only 4 other people would join the table and I think they'd do their best to seat you guys with another family if possible tbh. in my experience cruise lines have been really considerate about that when they're managing reservations

[CarnivalCruiser32]

11 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

The issue only arises when the children don't behave and the parents can't/won't identify when its right to remove the children, it can be a great experience for children but a disaster when misbehaving children are not dealt with, not only a disaster for other guests but the children and parents too.

Agreed!! I think there's a balance to it and the issue is definitely when parents/caregivers won't leave the situation when the child is not behaving appropriately or don't think that certain behavior is an issue when it is. I generally think it's a disaster to go into something thinking they'll misbehave though because if you're expecting that the chances of it happening are higher you know? But if you spot that something is amiss then the right course of action is always to remove them and yourself from the experience. I've seen a handful of moms do that quite successfully and I've gotta hand it to them because it's difficult as heck and I'm only an Aunt

Edited September 26, 2019 by CarnivalCruiser32
*an

[CarnivalCruiser32]

22 minutes ago, CarnivalCruiser32 said:

 

just wanted to add: I think the kids will each count as a person at the table so the high chairs wouldn't be smushed in with 6 other people taking up their space. It would most likely be that only 4 other people would join the table and I think they'd do their best to seat you guys with another family if possible tbh. in my experience cruise lines have been really considerate about that when they're managing reservations

Oh also - I realized I forgot to answer about the talking question! In my experience at Benihana there’s a fair bit of “performance” by the chefs but there’s definitely time to talk in between and that’s not been considered rude to do. We talked to each other and to the other family we were sitting with more than a few times and it was always totally fine. We also got really excited about some of the tricks and were like “OMG look at that!!!” to my niece and it was always fine. Unless people were upset and they never told us but generally I find you can feel the upset vibe if there is one and we’ve never felt it. Talking was totally allowed and picture/video taking was encouraged (again, at Benihana at least, idk if the ship will have different expectations)

[1025cruise]

11 hours ago, Pappion said:

We went once and our table mates had a toddler. They left the toddler seated next to us in a high chair watching Elmo at a very high volume on a tablet, and He was swinging his legs kicking me the entire meal.  We asked the mom to turn down the tablet and possibly slide the child more their way, both requests were ignored with a kids will be kids attitude.  We left before dessert.  

 

If you're attentive parents it could be fun for you and your kids, if you aren’t it could be a nightmare for your table mates.  

Mean me would have moved the high chair back myself after the parents decided to ignore the issue.

 

 

[tomk3212]

We have two grandchildren, ages three & one-and-a-half and while we LOVE our grandkids, there is no way we'd ever take them to Teppanyaki.  Not until they're older! (over 5, IMHO)

 

The comparison to Benihana, while valid in principle, is not realistic as the overall space in the Teppanyaki restaurant aboard ship is much smaller compared to your average Benihana on land.   As such a misbehaving child in Teppanyaki can have a bigger impact on the dining experience for everyone in the restaurant.

 

As several other posters have pointed out the bottom line is/are the parents; they have to be able to know when their child is misbehaving and take the appropriate action.  It's a balancing act, as all parents know.

 

To the OP I would say that, IMHO, a one and a two-and-a-half year old are too young for Teppanyaki.  Hope you have a great cruise, whatever you decide to do!

[DinaS]

First, let me say that we only cruise during times when most children will be in school - we never go during the summer or during any school breaks.  

 

That being said, this isn't just about Teppanyaki on a ship - this is about ALL dining venues with very young children.

 

I don't care if it is the most casual place, or a fine dining restaurant - well behaved children should be welcome, and are welcome, at least to us.

 

The problem starts when a child throws a tantrum (or starts crying, or making a fuss, or being the center of attention - good or bad).  If the parents allow bad behavior, it is going to ruin the experience for everyone else, and that's just plain selfish and rude.

 

If the parent(s) take the unruly child out when it starts, in my opinion, that's fine.   

 

You know your children, and how they behave.  If you don't know how they will act in this situation, and you want to bring them to a restaurant of ANY kind, you need to be prepared to remove them, and yourself, if they act  up.    

 

We have been in restaurants where there were three children at a table, probably all under the age of 6, and they were so well behaved we didn't even notice them until they all got up to leave.  We have also been in restaurants where one unruly child ruined the experience for EVERYONE around them.  We never blame the child -  we hold the parents completely responsible.

 

Personally, I would never bring children to a restaurant where we are sharing a table with strangers, but I wouldn't get upset if we ended up sharing a table with well-behaved children.

 

 

[Laszlo]

From a diners experience I'll give you my point of view. Our first experience was ruined by a two year old and her ignorant parents. We he a table of 8? The kid was miserable from the get go, didn't want to be there, would start crying with the occasional scream. Mother kept saying "Use Your Words Honey". I was good and bit my tongue, the couple next to us however finally had enough and had a few choice words for the mother Lol. About halfway thru the meal the couple and the kid got up and left. The host came over to apologize and invite us back for a free dinner

[richg35]

People who don't want children around their vacation experiences should vacation at adults only resorts.

[ColeThornton]

2 minutes ago, richg35 said:

People who don't want children around their vacation experiences should vacation at adults only resorts.

 

That's like saying people with young kids should only go to fun park vacations.

 

There's nothing wrong with people wanting certain parts of their vacation venue to be for adults.  There is plenty of room and different venues for people of all ages.

[beerman2]

56 minutes ago, richg35 said:

People who don't want children around their vacation experiences should vacation at adults only resorts.

If only the parents would be parents and not warn the kids or count to whatever number they do.

 

It's old school but if a kid is throwing a tantrum/ acting up in any way the parent(s) should remove the child immediately NOT try to pacify or reason with them.

 

 

There is a big difference about having kids around vs. kids causing a scene in a restaurant. 

[Laszlo]

1 hour ago, richg35 said:

People who don't want children around their vacation experiences should vacation at adults only resorts.

What a brilliant statement