terrible experience. i have never written a review about arestaurantor anything else but after my experience last night at babbo's i felt strongly enough to write this review. my family and i planned to meet three other family members at babbo's after hearing about it from a friend. when my wife, two sons, father and i arrived we were told we could not be seated because the rest of out party was not present. despite the fact there were more open tables than occupied tables we stood in the doorway to therestaurantas a few other parties came and went. it was cold and uncomfortable, especially for my 84 year old father who has difficulty standing because of neuropathy in his legs. my wife finally led him to a nearby table to sit before his legs gave out. my two sons sat on the edge of some wood in the doorway. we asked to speak to the manager after being told again we could not be seated until our entire party had arrived. we thought it was odd they would have to pull two tables together for the five of us as well as the full party of eight we were expecting. the manager finally arrived and was very curt. she stated it was the policy of therestaurantnot to seat guests until the entire party was present. we asked why seating five at two tables was any different than seating eight and she simply said that was there policy. i could possibly understand not seating two people of a party of eight but not five. although an obviously elderly, frail man should be seated in any circumstance. she obviously has little to no experience inrestaurantmanagement or customer service. at that point i decided we were leaving. i don't think i have ever left arestaurantfor that reason. it took a few minutes to get my father out of the chair and get his coat and gloves on. we were stared at the entire time. if this is the way a "family"restaurantis run, i surely do not want to be in their family. therestaurantlost out on a group of eight who frequently dines out and leaves good tips. we will never return and would not recommend thisrestaurantto anyone. there are far too many restaurants in saint louis with great food and great service to be subjected to this type of behavior. i expect better service at a fast food restaurant.