Family friendly restaurants on Capital Hill (or nearby areas)?

[Anonymous]

Someone in the Rasika thread noted that they go to lots of family friendly restaurants on Capital Hill. We haven't found a ton, to be honest. We go to Union Market or the Roost, or to fast casual places like Cava. But in terms of sit down restaurants where you order from a waiter, we just haven't found much. Years ago there was Tortilla Coast, which wasn't great food but was an easy place to take kids.

Where have you taken your kids on the Hill that is family friendly? Important factors to us are: kids menu or kid-friendly menu (for kids who don't have sophisticated palates, I feel I must emphasize), waitstaff is welcoming to kids and not annoyed by them, bathrooms kid accessible, potentially they have some kid-friendly amenities or practices like handing out crayons and coloring pages or other activities.

I feel like we just must not be going to the right places.

[Anonymous]

Ted’s Bulletin

[Anonymous]

It's spelled Capitol Hll

[Anonymous]

In addition to Teds, La placitas on 8th st is casual Mexican. There’s silver diner in navy yard now

[Anonymous]

Matchbox

Crazy Aunt Helen

Tunnicliff’s

Mr Henry’s

[Anonymous]

Have you looked at the nutritional chart for Cava? Better off sitting at home with a bag of potatoes chips.

[Anonymous]

Alberto's and La Casina

Really - I can't think of any unwelcoming restaurants on the Hill. I don't like the Roost and Union Market because of the lack of service. We bring our own paper and crayons. If you want the full suburban experience, there's the Denny's on Bladensburg - they give out coloring pages.

[Anonymous]

Tunnicliffs, La Collina (a bit nicer), Hawk and Dove, Crazy Aunt Helens, Boxcar Tavern, Ambar, La Placitas - Honestly I would take my kids to almost any restaurant on the Hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tunnicliffs, La Collina (a bit nicer), Hawk and Dove, Crazy Aunt Helens, Boxcar Tavern, Ambar, La Placitas - Honestly I would take my kids to almost any restaurant on the Hill.

Taco City, Chiko, The Duck and Peach has a cool kids meal (eat on the patio), Hill East Burger

[Anonymous]

Matchbox is our go-to family spot.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all, lots of good ideas. I had forgotten about Ted's -- we go to the one over on 14th sometimes because it's big and has windows, and I'd totally forgotten there is one on Barracks Row. Matchbox is a smart option and I'll try some of these Mexican places -- my kids love Mexican food.

Any H Street spots you'd suggest? That's closer for us than Penn Ave and we haven't found anything sit down that feels like a good fit yet. We've gone to a bunch of places on date nights that I wouldn't want to take kids to (Sospeso, Brine, Maketto, Stable), at least not multiple little kids and not for dinner. What am I overlooking?

[Anonymous]

Ben's Chili Bowl. H Street just doesn't have that kind of restaurant right now. Maybe the place on the corner of 7th and H - haven't been there myself but it has an outdoor patio too.

Cafe Cacao on the patio would work, also Cafe Berlin.

[Anonymous]

Interesting - we find most of the H Street spots to be kid-friendly (maybe lacking kid-specific menus, but definitely ample options).

Some go-tos for us:

Queen Vic
Granville Moore’s
Stable
Mozzeria
Maketto
Biergarten Haus
Fresca
Sol
Smokin’ Pig

[Anonymous]

Granvilles is kid friendly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting - we find most of the H Street spots to be kid-friendly (maybe lacking kid-specific menus, but definitely ample options).

Some go-tos for us:

Queen Vic
Granville Moore’s
Stable
Mozzeria
Maketto
Biergarten Haus
Fresca
Sol
Smokin’ Pig

Of these, I agree with Mozzeria and Fresca. And Sol, but Sol is fast casual -- basically an independent Chipotle.

The others are highly kid dependent. I'd take one kid or maybe two very well behaved kids to Biergarten Haus or Maketto, but would not take more than that (so no meeting up with another family there) or take kids who were antsy or on anything other than best behavior. BH can get rowdy easily because it's a very alcohol-focused environment, especially if there's any kind of game on or it's a holiday. Maketto is not rowdy but can be a bit of a date-night spot and I wouldn't want to bother the adults there. Same with Stable -- I would not want to bother others. I've never been to Smokin' Pig. I could see taking kids to GM's or Queen Vic, but like BH, I'd be careful about when I went because it's not always a kid-friendly environment. All of these places require kids who are fairly adventurous eaters.