Mums' spat with Christchurch cafe after 'squealing babies' asked to leave

Ris'Tretto Cafe's owner is defending herself from negative reviews online. Photo/ 123RF

A Christchurch cafe owner is defending her business from social media attacks by a "mums and bubs" group who say she kicked them out because their babies were too noisy.

Ris'tretto cafe owner Madeleine de Jong said claims she shouted at a group of mothers and told them their babies were too loud on Wednesday afternoon were untrue.

In posts on social media, including online review site Zomato and the cafe's own Facebook page, comments were left which accused de Jong of being rude and condescending.

"If you like being publicly yelled at by the manager that makes your daughter cry - this is the place for you," one person wrote.

"God forbid your baby makes noise," wrote another.

"We were kicked out in the winter rain by the manager because our babies were making excited squeals in the play area.

"When I questioned her about this, she blocked me from leaving and shouted at me in front of the whole cafe, scaring my 10mo and making her cry. What a god awful place."

A flood of one star reviews was balanced by regular customers at Ris'tretto leaving supportive comments saying the cafe was child friendly and they had never had any issues taking their kids there.

In a post defending herself on Facebook, de Jong said Ris'Tretto was and always would be child friendly.

"We pride ourselves on our free kids area, our free babychinos and our sponsorship of the Big Brother Big Sister project and our suspended coffee initiative," she wrote.

De Jong went on to say she was the target of a negative social media campaign against her, and that when she asked the mums to leave, one threatened to "badmouth" her online.

"Our regular Mums and Bubs group was friendly asked to assist is stopping their babies sqeeling at high pinch to allow other customers to enjoy their experience at the Cafe [sic].

"This request was made after a considerate amount of time and after customers were leaving due to the excessive noise."

She said the negativity made her sad and felt the story had been changed by the women to make it sound worse than it had been.

Hundreds of people "liked" de Jong's post in response and left supportive comments underneath.

"I feel so sorry that your lovely cafe is the subject of Social Media Bullying," one person wrote.