Comment Archives: stories: Food & Drink: Features
Re: “No, Scooter Gabel doesn’t hate kids”
Ned, parent your children and Scooter won't have a problem with your daughter. Treat her like a princess and let her do whatever she pleases, then well you sir are the problem. Scooter has not banned kids from the restaurant, which makes me wonder why you are so upset by this rule. If your child is not one of the screamers or kids breaking stuff then why are you so concerned?
Re: “No, Scooter Gabel doesn’t hate kids”
Hi, my name is Skylar and I am 10. Scooter does not hate kids. He took me and my brother in to work with him one day. He is a lot of fun, and very nice. But me and my little brother behave. He even took my brother on a field trip when his teacher was mean. He is a cool guy.
Re: “No, Scooter Gabel doesn’t hate kids”
If he's trying to turn his business into a bar then that's fine. When I was a kid I went to dinner with my parents all the time, nice restaurants and everything. The difference is I didn't act like an ass when I was little or my dad would whoop my ass.
Re: “No, Scooter Gabel doesn’t hate kids”
Honestly I never gave it any thought... I've only been to the Indy once or twice and always late at night, so I just never associated it with food... But I'm not sure how that's relevant, I wasn't making any comparisons, I used to take my daughter to Cappy's because she likes pizza. I don't "draw a line" anywhere... Just never happened to think about taking my daughter to the Indy.
Perhaps what you're getting at is that what Scooter's really doing, by inches, is rebranding his place from a neighborhood pizza joint, where one might naturally assume kids were welcome, to a bar, where kids are not welcome. I suspect that's correct. If you're saying, "Well, ya know, Cappy's is really a bar, people shouldn't be taking kids there anyway," I say everything about the place says daytime pizza joint -- except the nasty sign up front.
What's REALLY weird is when I did not understand your question and asked for clarification, someone "disliked" that. Huh?
Re: “No, Scooter Gabel doesn’t hate kids”
I was just curious where you drew the line between bar and restaurant.
Re: “No, Scooter Gabel doesn’t hate kids”
I agree with everything Ned said on the top comment here. We no longer eat in person at Cappy's, and only occasionally get take out from there. From my observations of the Cappy's parking lot, this arrogant policy on kids has hurt Scooter's business because it seems empty often a lot more than it was in the past. When will Scooter eat humble pie and admit he was wrong? When will the Cappy's franchise tell him to stop this anti-kids policy? It hurts all the Cappy's locations for Scooter to be such a dick.
Re: “No, Scooter Gabel doesn’t hate kids”
Joel: The other locations do not have the sign, or the attitude. They ARE kid-friendly. Only Scooter seems to be afflicted with such monsters that he feels the need to scare off families. This is part of what makes his whole tale so suspect. Surely there were not hundreds of bad kids busting his fountains... Why could he not have booted the few kids that caused the trouble and welcomed the rest? This is the part those of you who think he's a hero don't seem to get... CL jokes about the idea that he "hates kids," but he does seem to think that ALL kids are the same as those who troubled him.
Re: “No, Scooter Gabel doesn’t hate kids”
I had no idea this controversy existed. I hit up the St. Pete location from time to time and they have a small shelf full of toys near the register. That, to me, is the sign of an incredibly kid-friendly business. (I have a 2 y.o. girl)
And when my daughter is loud and unruly, we take her outside. It's a shame Scooter had to create this rule because not enough parents practiced common sense and courtesy towards other diners.
Re: “No, Scooter Gabel doesn’t hate kids”
I guess it's splitting hairs, since both have food and alcohol, but I think of Cappy's as a pizza joint and of The Indy as a bar. I take my children to pizza joints, I don't take them to bars, that seems reasonable to me. Would love to know what your point is.
Re: “No, Scooter Gabel doesn’t hate kids”
No. Why do you ask?
Re: “No, Scooter Gabel doesn’t hate kids”
Ned, do you also take your kids to the Independent?
Re: “No, Scooter Gabel doesn’t hate kids”
So happy he got more business by being a jerk. He got what he wanted -- he's a hero of the DINKS who buy more alcohol, this was always about changing his customer demo. Those of us with families will continue to take our business where our money is welcome -- elsewhere.
This is not about thinking it's OK for kids to misbehave. Mine don't, and if they did, I'd remove them from the restaurant. It's about singling out ONE kind of misbehavior for a sign at the door, warning those of us with kids that we are on probation, under scrutiny and on notice. Rowdy, drunk sports fans after a game can disrupt a meal -- there's no sign warning them to behave, no warning at the door saying "RAYS FANS, KEEP IT DOWN, OR ELSE!" Scooter wants their business and doesn't want to make them feel watched or uncomfortable. People gabbing loudly on their phones can disrupt a meal -- there's no sign warning people not to do this. Scooter wants their business and doesn't want to make them feel watched or uncomfortable. There was only ONE form of misbehavior Scooter wanted to call out, and that's because he made a calculation that any business he lost he'd make up double in people who are annoyed by children; he was tired of watching the snob money going up to the Refinery. Absolutely his privilege. And mine to eat elsewhere, and to encourage my friends to do likewise. It makes me sick to see that he's so proud of what he's done.
Unruly customers are a fact of life in the restaurant business. Whether they're noisy kids or belligerent drunks, you deal with them by warning them, then kicking them out -- you do not post a warning to everyone of the same demographic that they are on notice. You don't tar everyone with the same brush, you punish the offenders and welcome everybody else. Unless what you really want is to make a certain group leave. Well played sir. I'm glad to know you have a steady customer for your bland, overpriced, greasy product.
Re: “A foodie’s festival”
Yes, that may be something they want to consider for next year. At least with water.
Re: “A foodie’s festival”
It was WAY too hard to find just plain water to drink. When I asked at the food booths, I was told "we're not allowed to sell water". I waited in line at the vodka booth, hoping they'd sell me some soda - nope. "Not allowed". What??? They pointed to the beer booth, where the line was about 20 people deep. Ridiculous. EVERY BOOTH SHOULD HAVE WATER! I was frustrated and near tears, finally one guy at the food booth next to the vodka people gave me a bottle from his own stash. Very furstrating!
Re: “Joey Redner: He’s a Tampa Kid”
Here's to Cigar City for giving us a brewry to be proud of. Here's to Tampa. Now pass the Jai Alai.
Re: “Tampa Bay plays host to a growing army of mobile eateries”
I'm glad our event helped in this article :)
Re: “The alternative dinner date”
Great description of the experience at the Thai Temple. I don't suppose I'm the first to point out that Palm River Road runs on the south side of the Palm - not the Hillsborough - River?
Re: “Three alternative Italian cheeses you'll fall in love with”
you have a local WB Cheesemaker in Tampa...Cheeselicious.net!
Re: “Taco nirvana at Casita Taqueria”
You should add that it's excellent for kids, too, weekday evenings and lunch time. We bring our 14 month old twins every other week and give them quesadilla kids meals.
Re: “Mi Ranchito: Lunch, pets and an oil change”
Its amazing, how peple if we ca call it people, dedicate themself to write such trash as above, nevertheless, we at mi RANCHITO, HAVE BECOME MILLIONARE IN THE PERIOD OF (5) YEARS.
WE HAVE TWO LOCATIONS, The pork is the best in town, the petshop store is/was a next door busines irrelevant to the restaurant, whicvh is a family orientated cafe, for family who love clean and healthy food. The facts of Mi Ranchito cafe are contrary to the garbage statements made above by a none educated baster, lier, envious of hard working and propered humans, more power to MI RANCHITO CAFE, AT COLUMBUS AND HAVANA. GEORGE.