Winnipeg restaurant owner banned kids under 15 before opening, then got hit with reviews claiming something impossible

A Winnipeg restaurant owner has sparked a debate after announcing that diners under 15 will not be admitted to her dining room, according to the New York Post. The Winnipeg restaurant ban applies to Miss Christine’s Kitchen, a Jamaican restaurant in the city whose new Ellice Avenue location is set to open on November 30.

Owner and chef Christine Pattison, 55, announced the policy in a Facebook post shared the week before the report. The post says the dining room welcomes guests ages 15 and older and aims to create a “warm, cozy and relaxing atmosphere.” The Winnipeg restaurant ban covers dine-in service only, so families can still order takeout.

Pattison, a mother and grandmother with a long restaurant career, says children have been a steady disturbance to diners. She says some customers booked later reservations or asked for fringe tables, as they wanted to avoid the children. The Winnipeg restaurant ban, she says, is meant to protect the experience of adults who worked hard for their money.

Pattison says adults deserve a break and kids can eat through takeout

The dining room has dim lighting and about 30 seats, and Pattison asked why anyone would bring a child to a darkly lit restaurant with nothing to entertain children. She says adults deserve a break, and she expects that families who lose the dining room will order from the menu of braised oxtail, jerk chicken and fried plantains instead.

Supporters of the policy spoke up online. A father of three children under eight said he fully supports it and argued that not everywhere needs to accommodate kids. A child-free commenter said more restaurants should adopt the same rule, and another parent said they would leave their kids at home to eat at an adults-only restaurant.

Critics pushed back on the policy. Several people interviewed by a Winnipeg television station argued that restaurants should have no age limit, as restaurants do not serve alcohol the way bars do, and that parents should be able to bring their children. Another person said the world needs more inclusion instead of exclusion, a view that other critics echoed.

Many critics described the Winnipeg restaurant ban as a human rights violation. However, Pattison says she does not see where the discrimination claims come from. She says the Manitoba Human Rights Commission told her a complaint would need proof of discrimination and some sort of trauma, and she posted that the commission said all was good.

Debates over kids in adult spaces are not new, and a similar conversation followed when a baby sat alone on a bar table in Denver. The Winnipeg restaurant ban adds to a growing list of adults-only offerings, including a chartered flight from New York to Fort Lauderdale that JetBlue and Virgin Voyages launched in October.

Pattison deleted the original negative comments from her social media accounts. However, she shared other negative reviews on the restaurant’s Facebook page to show the backlash and asked review platforms to remove them. Some of those reviews alleged food poisoning and server misconduct even though the restaurant has no servers and no dine-in service yet.

Pattison says she is sticking to her guns on the policy and expects to lose some customers, although she believes many will order takeout instead. The Winnipeg restaurant ban takes effect when the Ellice Avenue location opens on November 30, and formal complaints could follow.