After too many sub-par meals at “kid friendly” restaurants, I:
A) came to a conclusion
and
B) made a vow
First up the conclusion… As harsh as it sounds, I’ve come to equate restaurants calling themselves “kid friendly” as typically some combo of a dumbed-down and often dirty atmosphere, broken crayons, sticky highchairs and offensive “kids” menus. The only consistent exceptions are a stable of Mexican food restaurants in Dallas that we frequent (specifically Mi Cocina and Gloria’s), which seem to have the combo of kid appropriateness and stellar food down pat.
Now for the vow… Until my conclusion is proven otherwise (really, why is this such an elusive concept??), we’ve vowed to only go out to eat if it’s a restaurant we really want to go to for the food (not because it’s “kid friendly”.) Otherwise we stay home.
Needless to say, we’ve been eating at home a lot.
We have had some surprising success at a few spots though. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not frequenting restaurants with multiple course menus or that serve a little amuse-bouche before the meal. We know our limits and try to stick to them.
We’ve had two great meals with the kiddos at Park, and Audrey and I had a great lunch recently at R+D Kitchen. Our formula is to go at a wickedly early hour (think senior citizen dinner hour in Florida.) Yep, we show up at restaurants at 5:00 pm… but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. We also come armed with our own bag of “special treats”, which is essentially a little stash of goodies like fresh crayons, new coloring books and a few small toys that don’t see the light of day unless we’re going out to a restaurant (the thrill of the new inevitably buys us at least a few minutes of mellow, content kiddos.) We’re also totally on board with the idea of aborting mission. If we sense the girlies melting down, we make it easy on everyone and ask for the check and everything gets wrapped up to go stat. Granted we’ve only had to do this once, but it’s in the arsenal if we need it.
So…spill it. How often do you go out to eat with your kiddos? Where do you take them? Do you have any strategies for a great meal out?
p.s. yes I know I still owe you my cooking group recipe for the week. It’s coming. I promise!
We've made an effort to not "dumb it down" too. And yeah, we also tend to eat early, carry our own crayons, and always monitor the melt down levels, but you know what? It works. Our kid at 3 now knows how to behave in a nice restaurant and I think it's because she's had a few years of practice at dining out.
ReplyDeleteOne of our favorite foodie places to go with her is Au Pied du Cochon in Montreal -- great vibe, great food -- and no one bats an eye at a well behaved toddler eating duck fat fries there.
My sister lives in Frisco. I love going to eat at Gloria's when we visit her... The black bean dip is delish!
ReplyDeleteAnne -- my girlies love that black bean dip more than life itself. It's embarrassing how much they eat ;-)
ReplyDeleteIronic... I just read this post then read the Boston Globe. Thought you'd appreciate this article: http://tinyurl.com/yhmr3rj.
ReplyDeleteWe very very rarely eat out for many reasons (my Love's food is way better than anything out in my opinion)...so when we do, we're very picky so we have our few favorites. And we keep it early, bring stuff to entertain, and also go with the attitude that it's not the end of the world to leave if we sense our babe isn't doing well. So same as you I guess :).
ReplyDeleteI KNOW, when I went vegan I was sad to find out that Gloria's black bean dip is not vegan...it's got lard in it unfortunately. :(
heather -- that's a great article. thanks for the link. glad to see that things *might* be changing.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best things I've found to do is familiarize yourself with the menu ahead of time whenever possible. That way you can all think about what you want beforehand and, here is the key, get your order in RIGHT away.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the kids are then mentally prepared for what their food options are so no melting down (ex: "I want a cheeseburger!" when in fact you are at a Chinese restaurant) In my experience with very young children, their attention spans are so short. And that lag time between arriving and actually eating is usually when the antsy-ness kicks in and the mayhem occurs.
we ate out a good bit 2 or 3 times/week until we had number 3. now we eat out maybe 3 times a month!! and we only go to a mexican restaurant AND sit outside :)
ReplyDeletekristen
Which location for Gloria's...wanting to try?! Also, give Bandito's (in Snider Plaza) a go. That's our go to fav...and read this recent bit
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.peoplenewspapers.com/2009/11/03/take-your-kids-to-banditos/
I'll second icicle's comment that it just takes some experience. It also took a few clear conversations to emphasize that going out to eat is a privilege; Mama and Daddy didn't have to take you with them.
ReplyDeleteThat aside, we try to go to places where we can order 'family style,' like at home. Separate meals for each person just isn't as much fun!
IOOF -- our fave forever was on Greenville...we still love it, but they've recently redone it and it's not the same. The original Glorias in Oak Cliff is the very best.
ReplyDeleteMy parents won't/don't take my kids out to restaurants that aren't fast food, but my mother-in-law takes us to different places. PF Chang's is a big chain, but we've found the setting and food to be top notch. They also play music really loud so the noise from my kids blends in. We have a local mexican restaurant that serves great food, it comes fast, and that helps. It's hard to find good places. We eat home most every night.
ReplyDeleteThose are great tips for me ... since I'm new at this mommy thing. We've successfully gone out for a few meals with our new kiddos, but that's because they're still sleeping so much and don't really make a peep in their carseats, but I know those days are numbered. And I know that I don't want to give up going out to eat for the next 10 years. So much appreciated!!
ReplyDelete... but do you get hungry again later that night when you're going out to eat at 5:30? I feel like I'd be ready to eat again by 9!! ;)
kristin -- now i'm going to be super LAME when i admit this, but i don't get hungry since i go to bed so early these days. Sad, i know!
ReplyDeleteI live in Boston and the Boston Globe did an article on this yesterday. It can be found here
ReplyDeletewww.boston.com/lifestyle/food. (I can't seem to link the whole article.)
My husband and I make an effort to avoid the typical kids menus at all costs. While we're lucky to have a 2-year-old who will eat anything that we put in front of her, I know that not everyone has a child like that. Even still, everywhere we go always has options off the regular menu that are SO much better than anything on the kids menu.
I don't have a kiddo, but dinner with the niece is either lovey dovey, or HELL...
ReplyDeletethanks for the tips...
We often go out for breakfast to a local cafe -we give the kids a little something to eat first before we go seeing they have to wait a little longer for brekkie than usual, and then we order them something easy, like a milkshake and raisin toast. We always take some small table top appropriate toys with us. It's not so much the food that we are going for as to teach the kids how to behave when out for a meal.
ReplyDeleteoh my God. joslyn, i did not know you have TWO amazing blogs. are you sure you really have a day job? it was so great to see you last night, and now we have a whole new subject to discuss ad nauseum...kids and food!!!
ReplyDeleteconfession: our typical dinner out with the kiddos entails Jason's deli. it's affordable, potentially healthy (depending on what they get), and I can have an endless salad with organic greens made just the way i like it. also, my hubby likes the big fat sanwiches, served with au jous (sp?). we also like Ginger thai restaurant, and even thougg the dream cafe in uptown lost it's huge lawn, they still have a playhouse and climbing structure for the kids, a relaxing fountain and pergola on the patio, and OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD Cloud Cakes and Austin Tacos (yay, brunch!). We also hit the restaurants way early for dinner or just take out and eat at home.
We go out a lot with our 2 yr old but never order off the kids menu - usually just ask for an extra plate and make her a meal from our plates...annoying that even the yummy, locavore, organic places still only have mac'n'chz, chk fingers etc for their kid's meals. Lila loves sticker books when we go out (esp the little dress up doll ones).
ReplyDeleteLove the blog! So glad I stumble across it and will be linking from my blog as well!
We try to go out every Sat. night with our kids - 3 and 6. We also won't order off of a kids menu. We just go early - 5:30ish and always to casual ethnic restaurants with a fairly loud noise level. We've found that besides mexican, japanese noodle restaurants, middle eastern, chinese and a few small italian restaurants are great. We also often order family style so that everyone can try everything. Lastly, I always have a case full of distractions such as dot-to-dots, colored pencils, coloring books and the best of all - wicki sticks.
ReplyDeleteWe probably go out two weekends out of the month with our girls. They're aged 2 and 6 and we too eat early and here on the Southern hemisphere it is also us and the oldies.
ReplyDeleteWhen we had just our eldest it was much easier but the two do tend to squabble. I used to punish myself though, trying to enforce home style eating rules in terms of how much, what. Now though, it's taken me a few years, but I just order something they should like and if they choose not to eat it - c'est la vie. It's not easy to do, I so know that, but as you say I would rather not go than turn it into a showdown. And, if we go somewhere nicer that has kids meals - however much they are bog standard, I don't care what they eat, if it means that we get to eat a few forkfuls in peace - great. Pens and paper are also absolutely essential!
This is so interesting to me. Our son is now 11, and we've done a lot of eating out over the years -- at regular restaurants where we go because we want to eat the food. He's become a very adventurous, very sophisticated eater, but it was an evolutionary process. Any decent, worth-returning-to restaurant will work with you to craft a meal for your child even if they don't (and hopefully they don't!) have a kids' menu. Your part of the bargain is bringing a child who can and will stay seated and not disrupt other diners. Any place that has bread and cheese in the kitchen, for example, will make a grilled cheese sandwich; any place that serves pasta can serve a bowl of it, plain, or with butter, or a little grated cheese. The more that the place makes fresh by-the-order (instead of all prepped ahead) the more they can serve plain -- chicken, beef, fish -- you name it. We've found that by having friendly conversations with wait staff, some pretty wonderful things can come out of the kitchen that never appeared on any menu. As I say, your part of the bargain is bringing a child that doesn't lose them customers by rampant misbehavior so that they want you to keep coming back. Don't be afraid to ask for help in crafting a meal, and always share tastes (we've also made plates for him out of our meals) so that your child has the opportunity to try new things. And I totally agree with the previous comment -- what's important is having a nice evening out together as a family; let go of worrying about how much or what's being eaten and just accept what is (and savor every bite of your delicious meal!).
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree about "family friendly" restraurants. They tend to be very mediocre and rife with processed foods. My girls are 5 and 8. We eat out about 2-3 times a month. We try to patronize local, non-chain businesses with great service that have a noise level that is equivalent to whatever our kids are capable of putting out. So, we tend to end up at places with a bustling, hip, urban feel which suits us just fine. I found you through Angry Chicken and love your blog. Love your profile. Looks like we have a lot in common. My husband and I honeymooned in Stinson Beach. Thelonious Monk, estate sales, strong coffee, & Bauhaus are on my list of favs too!
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