It was at that point that I realized I needed to take my children only to restaurants that were appropriate for them. We had an incident at a pizza place where all the kids were running around having a good time (and, yes, maybe getting a bit too wild, but we didn’t think it was out of hand) and an older patron came up to us and said “It’s called parenting.” Whew, did we feel unwelcome after that! And I had a horrible time with my then-two year old in a fancy restaurant when he had a major melt-down while we were on the second level – and I had to cart him through the entire restaurant and down the stairs with people staring and him crying for what seemed like an eternity. Restaurants that have either an older clientele (which, unfortunately can often mean “grumpy around children”) or restaurants that tend to be quiet, intimate places are more difficult for families, especially ones with younger children. I have found that most Mexican and Chinese restaurants are family-friendly, especially the roomier ones, as are fast food restaurants with play places and restaurants in food courts at malls. We recently had a lovely meal with a friend’s child and her parents at a traditionally “adult” restaurant – but she was welcomed (and well-behaved), so we all had a good time.
Family-friendly restaurants are ones with a welcoming staff towards you AND your children (they don’t make faces when you walk in with a brood!) with customers who are also amenable to families. When we’re with our boys, I like restaurants with amenities like open spaces for them to play in when ancy, nice outdoor patios, fenced-in play areas, or playground equipment, as well as goodies for them, like crayons, puzzles, word searches, etc. With the high price of babysitters, sometimes it’s cheaper just to go out to dinner ensemble! And I think more customers are understanding of families in restaurants, knowing that so many of us just really want to enjoy time out with our children.
There are 11,000 restaurants in Houston, so it’s a numbers game – with the high number of restaurants, we have a high number of kid-friendly ones. Like arts organizations, restaurants have gotten smart to the fact that so many people are having children now – and they want to take their darlings with them wherever they can. Ah, now that we have children, we still want to eat out, but how? Fast-food chains like McDonald’s were the first to latch on to the idea that parents wanted places where their kids could play AND eat, but luckily we can now augment those visits with many more quality restaurants (see our list below for the Houston area).