Sumo Japanese Steak & Sushi

Our family was refused service and asked to leave AFTER we had already been seated because my daughter chose to bring in a child's hamburger meal.On August 4th, at approximately 5:15 pm, my family chose to eat at this establishment. My daughter does not like sushi. My wife and I love the restaurant's food and in an attempt to all enjoy our meal and eat together as a family we chose to purchase my daughter a happy meal from a local fast food restaurant and bring it with us when we dined. My wife and I both planned to eat sushi. We were seated and a waiter even walked over to take our order before another individual interrupted us and informed us that no outside food was allowed. I couldn't believe that the restaurant was going to turn down two paying customers (40-50 dollar meal) because my child doesn't care for their fare and chose to bring in a 3.00 happy meal. We were bending over backwards to accomodate our daughter just so that we could all enjoy our meal together AS A FAMILY. This policy seems to be greedy and pompous. I have done this dozens of times even at this same establishment and nobody has ever said a word to us. Apparently the policy changes depending who's on duty that night. We were embarrassed to have to get up and leave in front of everybody and my daughter was almost in tears thinking that she had been the cause of our dinner being ruined. I have interviewed management at several other finer restaurants in the area and nobody else has a policy like this in place. Also, this establishment allows birthday cakes to be brought in. Isn't that outside food too? We were unfairly targeted and our evening of celebration was ruined.Desired SettlementAll I want is an apology for ruining our evening and an explanation of why this policy is in place. Also I need these questions answered.... Why are birthday cakes allowed, but other outside food is not? Also, why have I been allowed to bring in food for my daughter many times before but was told that I couldn't on August 4th 2014? Why were we seated before being told about the policy when it was obvious was carrying a happy meal when we walked in?I have eaten at this and many other establishments across the state hundreds of times and never ever had this problem before. Again, I feel that we were unfairly targeted. Business Response Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience you and your family have experienced. As a restaurant, we make our profit from the food that we sell at our establishment. We understand that sushi may not be the choice of food for everyone. For that reason, we have on our menu variety of options such as chicken, steak, seafood, chicken nuggets, and more. We have a policy of no outside food (unless there is a special medical need) because in such a case as this, bringing in McDonalds advertises our competition. We do sincerely apologize for the confusion it has caused you and your family when we did not notify you of this policy in the past. We allow cakes to be brought in because we do not make cakes and do not foresee us making cakes for desert in the future. Consumer Response I appreciate the apology but you might want to bring this up at a future staff meeting and make sure that every employee is aware of this policy especially the people who seat your customers. This incident might not have been quite as upsetting if we had been told immediately at the door. However we were seated first and then we were told about the policy and had to get up and leave in full view of all other restaurant patrons....quite embarrassing to say the least. Since we had already been seated, we should have been allowed to eat and been informed of the policy for future reference. A little respect goes a long way.Final Business Response Thank you so much for your understanding and acceptance of our apology. We know that this will not make up for what has already happened but please accept this $50.00 gift certificate and please give our establishment another chance. Please look for [redacted].