visited the restaurant with her husband Simon Jones, 58, and their 13-year-old daughter<\/a> for her birthday on November 9th. The 45-year-old claims her request was refused because company policy places an age restriction of 12 on their children’s Sunday lunch option.<\/p>\nThe embarrassed mum-of-two then ordered a \u00a314.49 adult’s vegetarian meal, plating up her dish in the hopes of taking any leftovers home. After managing just five mouthfuls, she requested a takeaway box to take her gravy-covered leftovers home in, but says they only gave her a paper bag. Feeling upset about the incident, Amy spoke to a manager and claims she was told they no longer provide takeaway boxes as people had ‘taken advantage’ of them with refills.<\/p>\n
Amy claims ‘discretion’ should have been used in her case and says she’s been put off eating out again. Toby Carvery said their children’s menu is available only for children aged 12 years or under, and pointed out that this is clearly stated on their menu. The chain stated that their self-serve buffet ‘offers the guests control of the overall portion size’ and apologised that this wasn’t explained properly to Amy during her visit.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_KNM_TOBY_CARVERY_GASTRIC_SLEEVE_ROW_6.jpg\")
Amy weighed 17 stone before the surgery(Image: Kennedy News & Media)<\/p>\n
Her visit to Toby Carvery has divided readers online, with some slamming Amy for criticising the policy, and others sympathising with difficulties she’s had after her gastric sleeve surgery. Social media users have responded to the story by saying that Amy comes off as “a little entitled” and that Toby Carvery was right to refuse her order. One reader even said that it’s “not rocket science” that she was not allowed to order a kid’s meal and that she should have plated herself up a portion of food that she was able to eat.<\/p>\n
One user posted: \u201cSorry but they were right to refuse. Why should they be expected to change their policy for one person? These policies exist because adults paying for kids\u2019 meals then stacking plates high is a real problem. Those who cheat are to blame, not the restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another pointed out: \u201cGot to wonder why you\u2019d go to a buffet-style carvery place if you don\u2019t or can\u2019t eat a lot. Not on the restaurant to offer a cheaper meal option. The price is set for your age. Use their service as they provide it or go elsewhere,\u201d with someone else adding: \u201cI understand the reasoning behind not allowing a children\u2019s meal. If she only wanted a small meal, she probably should have just ordered a starter. She does come over as a bit entitled.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, others sympathised with Amy’s problem, saying that establishments should allow those with smaller appetites, like people who have had surgery or are elderly, to eat kids meals. One person shared: \u201cHaving had a gastric sleeve 11 years ago now, there are some places where they are just difficult. I either have just a starter or a kids meal where they allow; where they don\u2019t, I either leave it at my own cost or take leftovers. I also share meals with my kids, so if an establishment is being difficult, they lose out on a meal entirely. I carry a card in my purse to discreetly inform servers of my surgery. Some places serve enormous portions\u2014it\u2019s simply unnecessary.”<\/p>\n
Another added: \u201cI\u2019ve had a sleeve and I just make sure I take my own Tupperware. That way I get multiple meals out of what I order. I always ask any restaurant if I am allowed to order from the children\u2019s menu, and most do allow it. On the occasion they have said no, it\u2019s not a problem, as I have my Tupperware!\u201d<\/p>\n
One even expressed that restaurants that don’t ofter kids meals to adults “don’t deserve the custom.” They said: \u201cRestaurants who don\u2019t respect that adults may have health issues or smaller appetites don\u2019t deserve the custom. My dad had his voice box removed and struggled to eat, but he still enjoyed going out. It\u2019s about accommodating people, not policing who eats what.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amy, from Northwich, Cheshire, said: “I said to her [the waitress] that I had had gastric surgery and I wouldn’t be eating more than a couple of bites.<\/p>\n
“Her response was ‘no, I couldn’t [order a children’s portion] because there is an age restriction of 12 years old on the children’s meal and they can’t change this policy for anyone’. I then just ordered a vegetarian carvery as I was so embarrassed after having this conversation with the server.”I only had about five mouthfuls of food because I was full after this. I didn’t think it was any bother as I had been to Toby Carvery before and they had very kindly given me a takeaway container to take my food away.”A different waitress came over and I asked for a takeaway container. She said she could give me a brown paper bag. I wasn’t sure that would be fit for purpose as I had gravy but I said that would have to do as she wasn’t offering me anything else.<\/p>\n
“At that point I was starting to get quite upset as I felt quite embarrassed. I spoke to the manager and I said I could understand about the kid’s meal to a certain extent but I’ve got leftovers as, as I’ve said, I only eat small amounts now.”He said it was company policy from head office that they couldn’t give out the takeaway containers anymore as people have been taking advantage and going up for seconds and filling them up from the carvery. He said if he could [give me a container], he would but he wasn’t allowed and it was tough.”<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Toby Carvery said: “Our children’s menu is available only for children aged 12 years or under and this is clearly stated on our menu. We understand that some adult guests may prefer a slightly smaller portion.<\/p>\n
“The main appeal of our self-serve buffet offer is that it does allow for flexibility, in that you, the guest, are able to control the overall portion size by selecting as little or as much as you like to accompany the main element of the meal. We are sorry if this wasn’t explained very well at the time of your visit and sincerely hope this doesn’t deter you from visiting us in the future.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People have reacted to Toby Carvery refusing to serve 45-year-old Amy Jones a kids meal as she is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1285,51,786,105,455,182,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-585706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-bury","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-food-and-drink","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-real-life","13":"tag-social-media","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115590468650672379","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_KNM_TOBY_CARVERY_GASTRIC_SLEEVE_ROW_2.jpg\")
Amy before undergoing her gastric sleeve surgery(Image: Kennedy News & Media)<\/p>\n