BLUE RIDGE, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – A north Georgia restaurant went viral on social media for having what’s called a “parent surcharge” on their menu.

The charge, according to the restaurant, is for adults who can’t parent their children.

“I have never left a review in my life for a business. When we left there, we were leaving reviews,” Bryan Caracciolo said.

Caracciolo is still in disbelief after what he calls a “nightmare” experience at Toccoa Riverside Restaurant in Blue Ridge.

The restaurant now gaining national attention for one-star reviews left by Caracciolo’s friends online who say the restaurant wanted them to pay extra for bad parenting.

“He basically said he has raised his children and he’s not going to raise ours,” Caracciolo said.

Caracciolo, a restaurant owner who lives in central Florida, said five families, including his own, visited the restaurant on vacation with 11 children all under the age of 8.

After finishing their meal, Caracciolo said someone from the restaurant made a surprise visit to their table — saying the group should pay a “parent surcharge.”

The fee is listed on the restaurant’s menu next to three-dollar signs and the words “unable to parent.”

Caracciolo said he thought it was a joke.

The owner told Atlanta News First he’s had this parent surcharge on the menu since the pandemic, but he’s never had to enforce it on any of his customers. He wants to emphasize the charge is not for kids but for adults who don’t know how to parent.

The restaurant says they never charged Caracciolo and the others the fee. But they told Atlanta News First the group had to be “really bad” for them to bring it up at all.

A representative for the restaurant went on to say there’s nothing wrong with kids and families coming to the restaurant. However, kids running wild through the dining room isn’t parenting.

Caracciolo said all the kids were well-behaved.

“I don’t suggest a family go there,” he said.

With the surcharge going viral on social media, some have called the fee “discriminatory” and “vague.”

Others, like Lee Ellis, told Atlanta News First he drove over an hour away just to pay the restaurant a visit.

“I think it’s a good thing and I came because of it,” Ellis said.

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