After receiving several complaints from loyal¹ customers, the owner of an upscale Italian restaurant in Mooresville, North Carolina, has taken the controversial² decision to ban children under the age of five. And, despite facing some backlash on social media, he claims that business has grown significantly³. 

 

美国北卡罗来纳州穆尔斯维尔市的一家意大利高级餐厅在收到老顾客的不少投诉后，店主做出了禁止五岁以下儿童入内的决定，这一新规引发了争议。不过，尽管这一决定在社交媒体上引发了一些网友的强烈抗议，但店主却声称客流量有了大幅增长。

 

Caruso's describes itself as a "traditional, classy, intimate⁴" restaurant but young children crying, screaming or playing on iPads at full volume and disturbing the other diners apparently⁵ didn't fit in too well in that picture. So the owner, Pasquale Caruso, adopted a "no child under five" policy in January 2017, to ensure that his upscale eatery lives up to its reputation. 

 

"I had several customers complain, get up and leave because children were bothering them, and the parents were doing nothing," Caruso told the Mooresville Gazette. "It started to feel like it wasn't Caruso's anymore, that it was a local pizzeria instead." 

 

Caruso added that he didn't like taking this kind of decision, but in the end, he had to do what was best for his business. 'I try to please everyone, and create a nice atmosphere, keeping the restaurant elegant⁶. I want it to be a place where couples and friends can have a nice evening out," he said. "I was starting to lose money and customers, because I had very young children coming in, throwing food, running around and screaming." 

 

Yoshi Nunez, the restaurant's manager, told the Washington Post that the final straw was a little girl using an iPad with the volume on high. Despite repeated requests from the staff, her parents refused to turn down the device⁷, so they had to ask them to leave. "They were upset, but they didn't seem to care about what the other guests thought. We tried to be nice about the situation, but we're here to take care of customers and we can't tell a parent how to control their kids," he said.

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