--- title: TMNT Shirt Gets Boy Evicted From Restaurant for Dress Code Violation description: Is nothing sacred? canonical: https://time.com/2956753/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtle-tmnt-shirt/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-04T13:48:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:11:23.835Z og:title: TMNT Shirt Gets Boy Evicted From Restaurant for Dress Code Violation og:description: Is nothing sacred? og:url: https://time.com/2956753/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtle-tmnt-shirt/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: TMNT Shirt Gets Boy Evicted From Restaurant for Dress Code Violation twitter:description: Is nothing sacred? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # A Boy Got Booted from a Restaurant Because He Had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shirt  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Jul 4, 2014 1:48 PM UTC  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Jul 4, 2014 1:48 PM UTC A four-year-old boy was [kicked](http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/buckhead/2014/07/02/boy-phipps-plaza-tavern-sleeveless-shirt/12120875/) out of a restaurant in Georgia for sporting a sleeveless Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt deemed in violation of the “Gentlemen’s Dress Code.” Lewis Roberts—the reptile ninja in training—chose the outfit for lunch out with the family at the Tavern at Phipps in Atlanta, local news station 11 Alive reports. > [](https://twitter.com/grubstreet/status/484742855542710272) The family was told Roberts’ shirt violated dress code and when they protested to the manager that the wee ninja was only four, the manager said the dress code applies to “gentlemen of all ages.” After being contacted by local media, a spokesman for the restaurant issued a statement clarifying that the “Rule does not apply for children and ladies—for gentleman (sic) only. It was an embarrassing misunderstanding on our part. She’s a manager in training who had a gross misunderstanding of our policy. We apologize and are reaching out to the family.” The Roberts family was happy to accept the apology and said they’ll dine at the restaurant again. Turtle power. \[[_11 Alive_](http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/buckhead/2014/07/02/boy-phipps-plaza-tavern-sleeveless-shirt/12120875/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2956753/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtle-tmnt-shirt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2956753/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtle-tmnt-shirt/"},"headline":"A Boy Got Booted from a Restaurant Because He Had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shirt","datePublished":"2014-07-04T13:48:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:11:23.835Z","description":"Is nothing sacred?","url":"https://time.com/2956753/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtle-tmnt-shirt/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre","georgia","atlanta","justice"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2956753/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtle-tmnt-shirt/","name":"A Boy Got Booted from a Restaurant Because He Had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shirt"}}]}] ```