Family Dining

On the weekends, when places are busy we like to order in so that it feels like a special occasion, but without fighting the crowds. What makes this easier is that so many restaurants now have both pick up and delivery. We love to support local family restaurants and we find they are very accommodating to our peculiar family requests (“can we get some extra tomato sauce for our baby”?).

However, if you are looking for a family restraurant, mom’s favorite has some suggestions for you.

Looking for kid friendly restaurants?

Going out with the family is nice in theory, but in practice many moms know “it can all end in tears.”

Our family has found some kid friendly restaurants that help make the whole dining experience just a bit more enjoyable.

Remember that just because the restaurant doesn’t have cartoon characters and crayons does not mean that is is not family friendly. We recently went to a “4 star” steak house with our family, and although we were hesitant to walk in, we were shocked to see so many other kids and families there. The staff was attentive, flexible, and incredibly helpful. If you intend to bring the whole family to a formal restaurant just call ahead to make sure this is okay. After this experience we discovered that the whole family are budding “gourmets.”

What about kid friendly healthy restaurants?

Moms worry about the health of their kids, and when eating out it can be hard to find food on the kids menu that are not chicken fingers, macaroni, fries, and grilled cheese. How can you get around this? Many times, we don’t order from the kids menu, but instead we split a few healthy adult meals between us.

Some restaurants do have healthy kids menus. They include:

The Olive Garden. Just be sure the get the pastas, salads, and grilled items. As the fried food can have up to 1,500 a serving.

Uno Chicago Grill. But again, choose wisely! Forgo the deep dish pizza (2,000+ calories) for the thin crust pizza (755 calories). And choose the shrimp, and 7. oz. Filet Mignon instead of stuffed potato skins or flatbread pizza.

Romano’s Macroni Grill. Kids love the margerita pizza, which is 1/3 the calories of most other items on the menu.

One resource that has tremendously helped us is the book Eat This Not That by David Zinczenko.This book offers tons of guidlines on eating healthy when you go out!

Of course, when worse comes to worse and things end in tears, ask for the meal to be packed up and take it home! You might be shocked how many restaurants now provide take-away service (and with crying kids and mommies this can be the best bet for a successful dining experience!).

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