kid-friendly resturants?

Almost any restaurant in Park Slope is good with kids if you go early.

Johnny Mac's on 8th Ave. and 12th St. is very kid friendly and close to the Harmony playground in Prospect Park. They have an abundance of high chairs, a kid's menu and provide crayons and paper for the kids. The food is standard American (burgers and a few entrees). The food can be ho-hum, but they are so great with kids and they also have a decent beer selection.

Prospect Ale House 6th Ave and 6th St. Standard pub fare and very kid friendly.

Kitchen Bar on 20th and 6th Ave The waitstaff is very friendly and good with kids.


Stone Park Cafe on 3rd St, and 5th Ave serves more upscale American cuisine. They're also across from JJ Byrne Park.
http://www.stoneparkcafe.com/

Flexichick wrote: I think Johnny Macs and the Ale house would be fine, but I wouldn't bring kids to Stone Park. I'd also be pissed if I was eating dinner at Stone Park and dropping a fair amount of money (granted, it's no Blue Ribbon, but it can still cost you $75+/person) and there were kids running around.

As long as your brother/sister have the good sense to get up and go OUTSIDE if the baby starts to fuss, I think just about anywhere in the slope will accommodate. A lot of my friends bring their babies to Blue Ribbon. But will your brother/sister feel comfortable? I personally don't take my kids out to that kind of place because if they did get fussy or act out, we would leave and that seems like a waste of $$. And I feel a little rushd worrying how long they will behave and not bother other people. But if you want upscale, I heard that Applewood is very family friendly--doesn't she walk around with the baby? If you have a car, Picket Fences in Ditmas has very good food and is totally baby friendly.

two boots pizza is always crawling with children.

We've taken the kids to the restaurant at 200 Fifth several times without difficulty. The food is good, and the selection of hamburgers, chicken fingers, salads, nachos etc usually will satisfy picky kid eaters. If your kids are wanderers its not the place for you as there is limited floor space, but then again if kids can't sit at a table and eat they probably shouldn't be out anyway.

My first reaction was that Blue Ribbon is not a great place to take kids but it is noisy. Stone Park is not quite as loud or large, so I would say it was less so. Oddly, the strollers bother me more than the kids sometimes.

Come to think of it, there are not that many places in the slope that are so intimate that behaved children should be excluded.

Of course all the local children are tiny little noise monsters...Just kidding

erikka wrote: No offense Linus, but when I'm paying Blue Ribbon prices I'm not looking for TGI Friday environment--and how often are Park Slope kids well behaved (yours excluded, of course ). .

I think if parents go early it can work. But....it means being ready to take a kid away from a table and outside and ruin your own meal. That is why I personally don't bother going to nice places with my kids (who are well behaved actually). I will take them out of the restaurant and that really sucks when you want to enjoy that Riesling.

kensingtonmom wrote: [quote=erikka]No offense Linus, but when I'm paying Blue Ribbon prices I'm not looking for TGI Friday environment--and how often are Park Slope kids well behaved (yours excluded, of course ). .

I think if parents go early it can work. But....it means being ready to take a kid away from a table and outside and ruin your own meal. That is why I personally don't bother going to nice places with my kids (who are well behaved actually). I will take them out of the restaurant and that really sucks when you want to enjoy that Riesling.

Well, I'm operating on a couple of assumptions: (1) that someone who's going out with kids is probably going to go fairly early regardless and (2) that of course if your child starts screaming or crying or becomes otherwise uncontrollable, you're going to take him or her outside, no matter what the restaurant.

But Erikka -- you've been to Blue Ribbon, right? Maybe we just go at different times, but I don't recall ever going at a time when the noise level of the place was lower than the level of a small child, one who's not having a tantrum, anyway. When we go, we'll generally get a booth in the front, so between the separation from other customers and the ambient noise level, there's not much way our kids can physically disturb someone else.

So I don't see where this affects anyone else's dining experience, unless they just get stressed out at the sight of a kid. (What if he starts screaming? What if he throws something? I can't take it!) But I don't quite feel responsible for that.

Now as Kmom says, the poster's friends may just not want to have to take their kids outside in the middle of an expensive meal, but that's their call.

From a previous thread, I hear you can breast-feed your five-year-old at Two Boots.

Is there any place in P.S. that's not kid-friendly? I tripped over a stroller leaving Union Hall the other night during happy hour.

Subject: Re: complication

idealist wrote: The other complication is that we're all vegetarian, so I wanted to go somewhere where we could actually eat. I was thinking about Bogota maybe, if we went early.

I just dont want to order in all the time, b/c they're coming to kind of experience the city.

I would LOVE to take them to sugarcane, but the music is so loud for dinner.

Hunan Delight on Union Street and 6th Avenue has a big vegetarian menu.

Besides for the V-Spot, which I've never been too, I have not found a lot of true vegetarian offerings in Park Slope and frequently go to Manhattan for vegtarian dining.

Subject: Re: complication

idealist wrote: The other complication is that we're all vegetarian, so I wanted to go somewhere where we could actually eat. I was thinking about Bogota maybe, if we went early.

Bogota is perfect for vegetarians craving nothing but beans and cabbage. It's a fun, colorful place though. For a less attractive interior, but more vegetarian food options there's Vegetarian Palate at 258 Flatbush Avenue, between Prospect Place & St. Marks, 718-623-8808.

kensingtonmom wrote: [quote=erikka]No offense Linus, but when I'm paying Blue Ribbon prices I'm not looking for TGI Friday environment--and how often are Park Slope kids well behaved (yours excluded, of course ). .

I think if parents go early it can work. But....it means being ready to take a kid away from a table and outside and ruin your own meal. That is why I personally don't bother going to nice places with my kids (who are well behaved actually). I will take them out of the restaurant and that really sucks when you want to enjoy that Riesling.

Going early smart move and completely appropriate, even though AlDiLa is, unfortunately, one of those places you must go early or not bother going at all. Honestly, I usually feel bad for kids when I see them in situations where the parents drag them to fancy restaurants--they're probably Under certain circumstances good kids will crack and act out a bit.

But, as the PS stereotype goes, most people are not considerate and expect everyone to accomodate them--and, like I said before, no one thinks their child is anything BUT well-behaved. Unfortunately, all those people who are letting their kids gum up the books at B&N are also taking them to small, intimate and EXPENSIVE restaurants and acting in the same fashion.

For veggie options, I'd have to give V Spot and that place on Flatbush pretty mediocre ratings. You're probably better off going someone that serves meat, OR taking a small drive to Red Bamboo in Fort Greene.

homeowner wrote: I used to eat at Blue Ribbon a lot and there is no way that I would consider taking kids there to eat. As someone posted earlier its just a lot of money to spend on someone who has absolutly NO appreciation for the food and won't eat a full order of anything.

Blue Ribbon has a children's menu. In fact, those who think BR should be adults-only zone might do best to complain to BR's management, who apparently have a different conception of their own restaurant. Judging by how they pack them in, I doubt they would go broke if they got rid of the kids' menu--unlike some PS restaurants, which may only offer kids' options because they feel forced to. (Does Stone Park have a kids' menu? I was about to say it didn't, but I could be wrong--not that I would ever take a child there either way.)

Anyway, kind of a moot point for the poster, who is looking for veggie options--there are some at BR but I wouldn't go there for that. Italian's a good idea, but while La Villa is kid-friendly, I've always found the in-house service there terrible, so I only get delivery from them. (Also, I don't think they have a kids' menu, so you'll actually spend more for the kids' meal there.)

As for Al di La, I probably would not take most kids there at all, early, late or otherwise: it's too small and cozy a place so the potential for disrupting other people's meals is much greater. Maybe that's just me.

But how about the well-reviewed pizza place on south 7th Avenue? (Anthony's?)

kensingtonmom wrote: Do you have a car? The salads and appetizers and some of the pastas at Locanda Vini & Olii? on Gates Avenue are great. I mean those are THE best salads I have ever had. The home made gnocchi is really good too. They are child friendly (they are Italian) although no kids menu. Of course if you have a car, I would take them to Jackson Diner in Queens for the best Indian Food.

Anthony's pizza always works for us.

OOOH--that place is gorgeous. Not cheap, but a nice treat. It's an old pharmacy that they turned into a restaurant and left all the original fixtures intact. There's meat on the menu but they're really nice and will accomodate requests. If it was cheaper I'd eat there all the time.