Bay Area restaurant goes viral for strict policy on misbehaving children

FOSTER CITY, Calif. - A restaurant in Foster City caused discourse online after a social media post went viral last week on the establishment's policy about fining parents when their children run around and are unruly.

Chez Xue, which translates to "House of Xue," is a family-friendly restaurant, but the owner has concerns about it being treated like a "playground." Their policy was implemented months ago to curb these incidents.

"I'm very proud of the fact that my restaurant has always been and will continue to be a family-friendly environment," Chez Xue owner You You Xue said. "We are a gathering place for families, people bring their children. We have like four or five high chairs on standby for that, so we're always going to welcome children, but we ask that people just respect the fact that this is a restaurant." 

Restaurant policy provokes conversations

The backstory:

The June 28 post, made on X by user "Raymmar", highlighted the restaurant's policy.

"We are not a playground. Please ensure children REMAIN SEATED at all times and respectful of fellow guests and the dining environment," the restaurant's policy says. "Running around, shouting, making noise with utensils, etc. WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!" 

It also said that guests who don't abide by the policy may be asked to leave, and that parents will be held financially liable for the damage caused by their children.

Examples of parents being held liable are also available for the public to see. 

The most recent incident was back in January when a parent paid around $5 after a child was playing in the booth seats and bumped into the table, causing a teacup to break.  

"We have this long booth seating, and the children were running up and down, playing on that, and then they ended up knocking, sort of stumbling and falling into a table and knocking a teacup to the ground. It was important for us to put our money where our mouth was," Xue explained. 

The other example of damage was in April 2025 when a customer's child picked up and dropped a credit card machine on the ground, causing the screen to shatter. The restaurant charged the parent $327.03 in damages. 

In December 2025, a parent was charged $109.38 after their child carved designs into the table using a dining utensil.

"I honestly put this notice on my menu because I didn't want to put my employees in the position of parenting other people's children. It should not be their job," Xue said. "…Their job is to serve the guests, not to, you know, run a daycare or a playground, and although the message that we're sending should be obvious, unfortunately it was not obvious, so we had to put it forward." 

In response to this policy, Xue noted that it's been positively divided amongst community members. While some are arguing that they shouldn't charge for a simple broken teacup because that's the cost of running a business, other people have generally been very supportive. 

"I've received calls from community members who have never been to my restaurant before. They saw the article in the news, and they said, 'You're saying something that all of us want to say, but we're afraid to say it,' because you know, you don't want to rub other parents the wrong way," Xue said. 

He welcomes the conversation of people expressing their feelings, but wanted to clarify that the billing from damages isn't a scheme to make money off charging people. 

Their intention is to send the message that Chez Xue is a respectful, communal dining space that embraces families. 

"This is just asking people to treat the restaurant as they would like their home to be treated," Xue explained. "My goal has always been to bring accessible Chinese food to the public in a fun and upscale environment where people feel great eating here… Dining out is a privilege for so many people. Still, a lot of families, you know, they don't get that kind of time to go out with their friends and family many times a week, sometimes just once a week, once a month." 

Xue reiterated that having people's dining experience be disturbed by a child running around or screaming is what the policy is trying to amend. 

Since being implemented, the restaurant hasn't had any severe incidents with children in the restaurant. Xue believes the policy is working and doesn't have plans to take it away any time soon. 

Speaking up for other businesses

Dig deeper:

Chez Xue's statement goes beyond the restaurant. Other family-friendly businesses that also want to create a welcoming, respectful atmosphere for everyone dining in have faced this same dilemma. 

Xue said that this viral moment has helped him realize that he's speaking for more than just his restaurant, but also for the industry at large. 

"Not every restaurant can put such a blunt and unvarnished message on their website, so you know we're taking that responsibility, and hopefully this will only result in positive changes like it has already at my restaurant," he said. 

As long as the children are sitting down and respecting the restaurant environment, Chez Xue will continue to welcome everyone and maintain a family-friendly atmosphere.

"If we wanted to ban children, we would have done so already," Xue joked. "… All my team love children. Like I said, I really am proud of the fact that this is a family-friendly restaurant!"