Are any restaurants truly child friendly?

[Anonymous]

Don't get an attitude because you didn't provide all the information up front and a lot of us responded to what was given. DCUM doesn't come with a Magic 8 Ball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't get an attitude because you didn't provide all the information up front and a lot of us responded to what was given. DCUM doesn't come with a Magic 8 Ball.

I'm not the OP. You're right it doesn't come with a magic 8 ball. But, it sure comes with one big bag of assholes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Christ, you people are always ready to jump on any little thing. We did not allow him to wander around - he was in a chair or my lap the whole time - but is at an age where he WANTS to be exploring all the time. Get it? I was looking for places like some other people (the nice ones) on this thread suggested that have play areas, where he'd be able to have some fun.

In general he just does not like to be tied down - whether it's a high chair, a car seat, whatever. So sitting with crayons isn't an option. He is more active than that, and he's too young to rationalize with.

To be fair, OP, "crazy exploring toddler" was what you said in your original post, and I know I assumed that meant you were looking for a place where it was okay to allow your child to wander around with an adult - you got advice based on how you phrased your question. There aren't many places like that aside from Chuck-E-Cheese and fast food places with play areas. When my daughter was too little to be interested in coloring, we distracted her with books, and we kept our dinners out really short to keep her from getting too antsy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christ, you people are always ready to jump on any little thing. We did not allow him to wander around - he was in a chair or my lap the whole time - but is at an age where he WANTS to be exploring all the time. Get it? I was looking for places like some other people (the nice ones) on this thread suggested that have play areas, where he'd be able to have some fun.

In general he just does not like to be tied down - whether it's a high chair, a car seat, whatever. So sitting with crayons isn't an option. He is more active than that, and he's too young to rationalize with.

To be fair, OP, "crazy exploring toddler" was what you said in your original post, and I know I assumed that meant you were looking for a place where it was okay to allow your child to wander around with an adult - you got advice based on how you phrased your question. There aren't many places like that aside from Chuck-E-Cheese and fast food places with play areas. When my daughter was too little to be interested in coloring, we distracted her with books, and we kept our dinners out really short to keep her from getting too antsy.

ITA. The original post made it seem like she wanted a place for the child to wander. And this age it is hard to bring any child to a restaurant.
1. Go early. Bring lots of distractions, like books or doodle pad.
2. Eat quickly. We order the childrens food as soon as we sit down so we can start that process.
3. Leave as soon as your done.

We (shock!) do let our toddler *walk* around a very limited amount when we get to the near scream time. But either I'm holding him in my arms, or holding both his arms and he is literally between my legs. And we only do it briefly to distract, like when we are waiting for the check. We are very aware of where the servers are and usually go to whatever part of the restaurant does not have many people seated so my pointing out the pictures on the wall will not disturb anyone.

If you're looking for a restaurant that has a real play area, you should just get a babysitter...

[Anonymous]

We are also a big fan of Thai food and we frequent a place in Fairfax that is VERY child friendly, but also nice. We usually go to 'dinner' before 6:00 PM or make sure that we are out of there by 6:00 PM when the fancier dinner crowd arrives. We are regulars at this place and the owners do a fantastic job entertaining our DS. They prepare special foods for him - for example they make a yummy fruit smoothie for him or a small mixed fruit platter etc. This keeps him busy while we wait for the main meal to arrive. They've also carried him around and shown him the kitchen etc., so that we can enjoy our dinner. We are very familiar with them, so we don't mind and he just loves it. He is older now (4) and he is pretty good at restaurants.

Other than that, we usually just go to pizza places, Panera etc.

I would not bring a young child (younger than 6) to a nice or fancy restaurant. It is not fair to the restaurant owners or other diners.

[Anonymous]

For me, if a restaurant has high chairs/boosters AND a kid's menu of some sort, they're kid-friendly. A lot of places will have highchairs but no kid's menu. I am cool if my 3-year-old orders off the regular menu, but if they don't have ANY suitable options for a child, I'd rather not bring her there. Last time that happened, she ended up eating soft pretzels and french fries, which is not the most balanced of meals, but oh well.

and yeah, would never allow my kid to wander, but it helps to be at a place that doesn't give you the stink-eye if the kid does manage to escape!

[Anonymous]

Christ, you people are always ready to jump on any little thing. We did not allow him to wander around - he was in a chair or my lap the whole time - but is at an age where he WANTS to be exploring all the time. Get it? I was looking for places like some other people (the nice ones) on this thread suggested that have play areas, where he'd be able to have some fun.

In general he just does not like to be tied down - whether it's a high chair, a car seat, whatever. So sitting with crayons isn't an option. He is more active than that, and he's too young to rationalize with.



It's dinner time, not playtime so not sure why you're looking for somewhere he'd be able to have some fun. If that's what you're looking for it is best to stick to Chucky Cheese or fast food with play areas.

If he can't sit, is more active and too young to rationalize with he may be too young for dinners out right now (unless you stick to the ones I already mentioned). My DS (special needs) couldn't behave appropriately when he was younger so we just didn't go out.

[Anonymous]

Austin grill is very child friendly. I always pick that when eating with groups with little kids and the big ones like it too!

[Anonymous]

In the summertime, I like to sit on the patio at the Argonaut. They have cornhole and a little garden area where my toddler can run around, and we can walk around on the sidewalk if she gets restless.

[Anonymous]

Comet ping pong on Connecticut is good because they can wander around in the back (where the ping pong tables are) area. Always noisy, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Christ, you people are always ready to jump on any little thing. We did not allow him to wander around - he was in a chair or my lap the whole time - but is at an age where he WANTS to be exploring all the time. Get it? I was looking for places like some other people (the nice ones) on this thread suggested that have play areas, where he'd be able to have some fun.

In general he just does not like to be tied down - whether it's a high chair, a car seat, whatever. So sitting with crayons isn't an option. He is more active than that, and he's too young to rationalize with.

this is your first right? food in not playtime, get carryout and go to a playground if your child needs to play. For most of us child friendly means there is some leeway in noise and mess but other than that, we don't expect much. As others have said, go early and eat quick. We have three kids ranging in age from 3-8 and we go out maybe once a week but more for an early dinner/late lunch-and always have. Your kid cannot sit-don't go to a restaurant unless it is Chuck E Cheese type places-but who the hell can eat there? Sounds like you best stay home since you aren't willing to put forth any effort in teaching him how to behave.

[Anonymous]

For us there came a time when we just could not go to a restaurant without one of us outside walking our child around since she too wanted to explore and we wouldn't allow it in the restaurant. We were "those" people before kids so we know not to let ours wander and make loads of noticeable noise. Someone on this site gave excellent advice years ago and I will do the best I can to recreate it.

1. Go to dinner early -- 5/5:30 latest
2. The first time you see a server, order all your food. No appetizers.
3. Tell the server to bring the kids' food first whether or not everything else is ready.
4. Tell the server to bring your check when they bring out the food.
5. Break out the crayons, toys, whatevs
6. When the food comes with the bill, pay it then.
7. Eat
8. Leave a nice tip. No matter how great you think your kids are, they make a huge mess.

Even with these guidelines we still abandoned restaurants for the most part -- unless we went to Red Robin -- from the ages of 18 months to about 3.

[Anonymous]

OP here.

I do think we're kinda at the point that, for now, we're going to either stop going, or only go if we know we can get in and out fairly quickly (and the kid is in a good mood, not too hungry but hungry enough...) or we're just going to get comfortable with having a sitter once in a while.

We may brave a place every few months to see how we can do in public, but at least right now, having him in a seat for more than an hour is just too constraining for him (even with all the crayons in the world).

And as a former waitress, I always clean up and leave a nice tip

[Anonymous]

I totally agree with 12:24 and have done pretty much all the stuff that she/he suggested. Though I did find that around 2 years, my daughter mostly stopped making a mess. I still overtip, but by less than I had to when the place looked like a tornado hit it.

But yeah, you do hit a point when restaurants are really not fun. It will get better. And if you keep trying, ideally your kid will figure out the whole public/private manners thing. My daughter is almost 3, we go out to dinner about weekly, and she has melted down exactly twice in restaurants. She's a very active kid, too. She loves going to restaurants (even pretty nice ones), so she understands that she has to behave or we won't keep going to them.

[Anonymous]

OP, I hear your desire for a place with a bit of a kid area for a young active kid. I agree with PPs that in most places your kid needs to sit at the table. But there a few options for a kid to move around:

Ikea in college park: the cafeteria has a play area with a tv screen and a few bead-sllding puzzle things on the walls, and a few rocking ride on things.

Chik-fil-a in further-out silver spring up route 29: they have an indoor play room, has one of those tunnel climber things and a slide.

Urban Burger in Rockville: very minimal "kid" area, but may be enough for a toddler. the back room has a booth's floor space available with those rubber kiddie tiles, and they have 2 toddlerish busy activity tables, and a TV on with kid shows. parent can grab a booth near this tiny play area, kid can scramble on floor and not be disruptive.

other mom and pop places may have a little kid-friendly area like the urban burger one above. any other suggestions?