A Brampton family said it was shocked after a 12-year-old girl was made to stand against a wall and get measured by restaurant staff to see if she should be charged as an adult.
The family of four went to an all-you-can eat sushi restaurant in Brampton earlier this month. They said the policy written on the restaurant’s menu was that child pricing applies to those between the ages of seven and 12.
But when the family got the bill, they saw that the 12-year-old girl was charged as an adult. They brought the issue up with the staff and were told the girl would have to be measured. Staff told them that if the girl was over five feet tall, she would be charged the full adult price for the buffet.
“I said ‘excuse me,’” Helen McCarthy, the girl’s aunt, told CTV News Toronto.
The family took photos of the young girl being measured, which they said was embarrassing and humiliating.
“My poor niece was so embarrassed she was speechless,” McCarthy said.
“No kid should have to go through this. A child should not be punished for being a child,” the girl’s mother said.
The restaurant manager of Tokyo Maki Sushi in Brampton told CTV News Toronto that a new employee was working that night and that he was not present to deal with the issue. He also said that the restaurant does not measure height, but makes the judgment based on what they see.
“If a child is 11 or 12 years old and is over 60 inches tall, we charge them an adult price. That is our restaurant policy,” Raymond Wang said. “We have been in business 10 years. We are trying to keep our prices low for our customers.”
The girl stood at under 60 inches and was not charged as an adult, but the family said they are going to be more careful when dining at all-you-can-eat buffets from now on.
“Whenever I go to a restaurant, I’m going to ask if there are other restrictions, if there are any age restrictions, any height restrictions,” the girl’s mother said. “I just don’t want to go through this again.”
With files from CTV News Toronto's Pat Foran
