Restaurant's 'Well-Behaved Kids' Discount Pays Viral Dividend

A Washington state couple was delighted to find $4 deducted from their restaurant bill for their "well behaved kids."

Laura and Chris King took their three small children to Sogno di Vino, a sophisticated Italian restaurant in Poulsbo on Feb. 1. Listed under the $58 subtotal was a $4 deduction with the words "well behaved kids." The restaurant also gave the children complimentary ice cream.

"This was definitely a random act of kindness," King told the New York Daily News. "We didn't go to the restaurant expecting a reward. We expect our kids to act this way whenever we are out and about. This was just a small surprise."

Sogno di Vino owner and server Angela Scott said she was so impressed with the kids' manners that she wanted to congratulate them.

"You would never even know that children were in the dining room," Scott told the Daily News. "We just wanted to say, 'Awesome! You guys were so good!'"

Laura King posted a photo of the restaurant receipt on her private Facebook page, and it soon went viral after a friend posted it on Reddit.

She also blogged about the experience.

"As a family of five with kids aged 2, 3 and 8, we know the restaurant staff isn't always terribly excited to have us at one of their larger tables. Having worked front of house in the restaurant industry prior to having children, I also know first-hand what it can be like to serve families," King wrote Feb. 4. "We don't expect handouts for acting respectful of the folks who bring us our food. But it certainly makes you feel good when someone else notices your kids in a positive light."

The kind gesture is refreshing after a flurry of mean-spirited restaurant receipts went viral recently. One receipt photo that made the rounds in November showed a slip for a $138.35 bill with "single mom, sorry" written in under the tip.

A few months ago, customers at a New Jersey Applebee's used their receipt to insult their waitress: "Stop eating b****!" it read.

Most recently, a pastor at a St. Louis Applebee's stiffed a server who included automatic gratuity on a bill for a large party. "I give God 10%. Why do you get 18?" the customer scribbled, before writing "Pastor" above the signature.
A fellow waitress snapped a photo of the bill and uploaded it to Reddit. She was fired when the customer complained to management.