Things I look for
-does it have a high chair?
-does it have a quality kid's menu (aka NO chicken nuggets, Kraft mac and cheese or crummy kid foods)
-Is there a bit louder background music so that my kids talking in their normal voices won't annoy others?

Mexican restaurants are our favorites!! Mariachi bands, kids can be super loud and you'd never know it, chips and salsa, parents can have margaritas. My kids really love the food and dh loves fajitas.

Anonymous wrote:I’m with you, OP. I drove my newborn straight from the delivery room to Ruth’s Chris.

Oh yeah? I gave birth at the Inn at Little Washington! And we hold every birthday party there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love when people credit their parenting instead of their kids’ natures. May you not have any additional kids that might disrupt your worldview.

You said it much better than I ever could.

x100000

Anonymous wrote:Are adults dropping big bucks for a special occasion, and will they give us the side eye?

If no, I consider it family friendly.

+1

My kids will eat anything but they are loud and obnoxious and need to move a lot. They ask waitresses weird questions, they look at people at the other table and ask about their food, they drop food and they want to get up and walk around a little. They may put breadsticks on their head and say hey I have horns.

I need a restaurant that can accommodate that.

Most “foodies” I know are fat

Anonymous wrote:What does that even mean? Play area? Mandatory chicken nuggets on the menu? Lets kids run around?

Since my kids were little, I've taken them to restaurants where I want to eat. Basically the same kind of restaurants I went to before kids. Of course, I'm not taking toddlers to Alinea or for 9pm dinner in the city, but I'm not going to eat at special super-casual kids-room-on-the-side eateries for 5-7 years of my life either.
They sit at their chair and are no more noisy or disruptive than any average patron (probably less), whether we are at a casual or a fancy place, so we're going to nice places with good food.

Why aren't you taking your toddlers to Alinea? If you've raised them right, they would appreciate it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m with you, OP. I drove my newborn straight from the delivery room to Ruth’s Chris.

On NYE?

Deep cut.

Anonymous wrote:I love when people credit their parenting instead of their kids’ natures. May you not have any additional kids that might disrupt your worldview.

You said it much better than I ever could.

There is a range of family friendliness. Some restaurants are good for patient, well-behaved kids who aren't picky eaters. Others are good for two families with 5 kids between them ranging in age from 18mo to age 9. These are different restaurants. It's good to pick the restaurant that suits your family and situation. I might take my kid to a nicer restaurant to celebrate a birthday, and we'd be fine. I would not take my kid and her two friends to the same restaurant to grab dinner after a swim meet -- they'll be egging each other on and both starving and overtired, and in that situation I want a place where that behavior will not be considered annoying or out of place.

A few days ago we went for an early dinner at a super family-friendly Mexican place near us and there was a toddler at a nearby table who kept periodically screaming. It was not pleasant, but also not the kind of thing I would complain about there. It's that kind of place, you know what you are getting, especially if you show up at 6pm on a Sunday.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m with you, OP. I drove my newborn straight from the delivery room to Ruth’s Chris.

On NYE?

Alas, the toddlers got there first.

Family friendly to me just means no one will be annoyed about your kids' presence. I don't want any funny looks. My kids are well-behaved, don't watch tablets but they are mac-and-cheese or plain hamburger kids (sadly) so I need something for them to eat.
We took them to a mom and pop bar and grill within walking distance of our house at 4:30 PM and some jerk confronted us about bringing our kids to a bar where adults are trying to have a good time. The sun was still up!

Anonymous wrote:I don't. I'm a foodie and am raising my kids to be foodies also. They're not chicken nugget type of kids.

Sidney and Mireille may only glance wistfully at the other children’s nuggets as they tuck into their sweetbreads.

My kids enjoy a variety of foods and are well-behaved at restaurants. Always have been. But I still prefer restaurants to be family friendly because they tend to be more relaxed and more tolerant of a child's presence. There are a lot of people who act like kids shouldn't even exist, especially in cities. They act annoyed when you get seated at the table next to them, even before they have a chance to observe how the kids are acting. So we opt for a more family-friendly place or we'll go to a nice place at an off time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't. I'm a foodie and am raising my kids to be foodies also. They're not chicken nugget type of kids.

I do not want my kids to me “foodies”

Me either. I don’t think food should be a hobby.