Starting Thursday my family will have to stay in a hotel whilst we do some renovations to the house. We will only be displaced about 8 days but things will be hectic as the hotel is on the other side of town from our schools and places of work and my hubby and I have agreed to not worry about cooking to much. We will have a kitchen but not a lot of space for grocery's or anything, we figured we would eat out for dinner 5 or 6 of those 8 nights. We don't eat out much and I was hoping other moms may be able to tell me what restaurants have the tastiest\cheapest\healthiest options for kids. No one is too picky or has allergies. Thanks in advance!
California Pizza Kitchen has a great kids menu. Edamame mac & cheese, great fruit, and better than average pizzas.
Laughing planet - good kid options, family friendly, lots of rice, beans, veggies, meat or tofu if you want it, I think good value.
My kids also like Mio Sushi
We have grocery stores with cafes.
Do you all have anything like that? Everything is prepared fresh and with so many choices, everyone can have what they want that day. Salad or soup, sandwiches, meatloaf, pot roast.. Pizza, Burgers, Grilled fish.
I find when we are on vacation if I can have an actual Calendar with the planned meals in your case which food place, it makes it go a lot more smoothly.
Monday The chicken place
Tuesday The grill place
Wednesday Chinese
Thursday Taco place
Friday, order in Pizza
This way everyone will be in the mood for that food and there will not be a long discussion about, where are we going for dinner tonight.
We skip the kids meals at most restaurants. My kids hate most of the stuff on them and always want the "real" food off the adult menu.
Typically the adult meal is more than enough to feed 2 kids (with some leftover even then) so we'd have them agree on something and split it. Or I'd order something that I would split with one of them. Or we'd take the left overs from the adult meal home for lunch the next day. There's no reason a child can't eat off the adult menu except for the fact that the portions are often even too big for an adult. Splitting solves that issue. Some places have appetizers that make a whole meal for a kid. Add a side of fruit perhaps or veggies if the restaurant can and you're good.
I think kids menus pretty much have the same things wherever you go (chicken strips, fries, mac and cheese, etc.) Instead I would pick places with food you all actually LIKE to eat, pizza? Italian? bbq? Mexican? burgers? and just order off the main menu. My husband and I often got extra plates and shared with our kids, and/or ordered salads and sides to share to round out the meal. If the weather's nice maybe you can pick up some sandwiches and sides from a good deli and have a picnic dinner at the park :-)
We had to stay in a hotel for almost a month while we had some water damage repaired. It was crazy for me, but my kids still talk about their hotel adventure and ask when we can go back again! Check with your hotel- ours had free breakfast and a free happy hour Mon-Thu that had plenty of food to keep the kids happy! One night was tacos, one was veggies, hummus, feta, and pita, etc.
Our favorite restaurant for kids meals is Pita Jungle. It has a similar concept to My Plate (the federal healthy food initiative)- the kids get to pick one choice from a short list of options for a fruit, veggie, grain, and protein. They love making all the choices. The worst thing on there is mac n cheese as a grain option, but with strawberries, cucumbers, and grilled tofu I am fine with it!
They also love Olive Garden, Genghis Grill (or other Mongolian BBQ), Subway, and anywhere that serves breakfast for dinner, aka Brinner.
A friend who lives near Portland recommends this place:
http://www.oldwivestalesrestaurant.com/
L., can you give me an idea of what part of town you would be wanting to dine in?
If you go onto Yelp and type in the neighborhood name, usually a map of restaurants in that area will pop up.
Family dining: Old Wives Tales on Burnside has a good salad/soup bar. Unsure of their kids menu, but likely some good and healthy options.
There may be a Pita Pit in the neighborhood close by for wraps.
Pizza is always a good choice for a night.
Lots of cheap Mexican food here in Portland. Ole Ole has great burritos-- one of them usually lasts me two meals. Not always sure on the dine-in option...sometimes the tables are busy, sometimes not.
We have great Thai food here if your kids are adventurous; Cha'ba Thai has two locations and I highly recommend their food. We get take-out from there at least twice a month, and you can ask for mild versions of their dishes.
If your kids like sushi, Mio Sushi does have some kids options. Look online first to see if it fits the bill for your family.
Hawthorne Fish House is great, family friendly, fish breaded in panko and very 'clean' as far as the oil they use. Tasty.
Again, if you want more specific suggestions, let me know which area of town you are looking at. I'm over in Lower NE (below the Banfield, just north of Burnside) so we tend to find places in our neck of the woods, close-in NE and SE.
Buffet or Mongolian grill.
If you are looking for healthy and tasty, you are probably best avoiding kid's menus altogether. They are universally identical, highly processed, full of grease and empty of vegetables. Your best bet would likely be your local vegetarian restaurants (whether or not you are vegetarian) and some selected ethnic restaurants (but you need to be picky) - Japanese restaurants are often a good bet for lean proteins and lots of veggies. Chinese and Italian restaurants - often less so (although certainly a yummy treat).
Red Robin, Ruby Tuesday, Chipotle, Noodles & Co.
I agree with Laurie A, who suggests the grocery store. Super markets nearly all have deli's, salad bars and specialty sections of ethnic foods, from Chinese to Pizza, as well as along the lines of "home cooked" ready to eat. I find they are often less expensive than restaurants and frequently have daily dinner specials. Their servings for a meal are usually large enough to be shared. If your hotel kitchen has refrigerator, take leftovers and you can get breakfast items to take with you, like fruit, yogurt, juice, cereal, etc. There are endless possibilities for the picky eaters.
Restaurant drinks are often very over priced and add much cost to the meals, then you have tipping on top, so will get very costly for family dining on daily basis.
It's easy to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches right in your hotel room.
I assume your kitchenette has a fridge and microwave so take out food and doggie bag leftovers (pizza and Chinese food) should be easy enough.
Paper plates will make clean up fairly easy.
Generally I don't think kids menus are all that healthy no matter where you go but a little mac n cheese over one week won't hurt anyone.
Wait....aren't your kids 12 and 15? They're too old for the kid's menu.
I like Ruby Tuesday (they have great chicken dishes and salads), Red Tomato (Italian), McAlister's Deli.
If you happen to have some younger kids who are eligible for the kid's menu, I'd just order an adult entree and split it between them. That way you'll avoid the chicken nuggets and fries and burgers.
I've found it really helpful to check Yelp reviews. You can search by family-friendly. We went to Pastini Pasteria while traveling through Portland and enjoyed the food there. Family friendly and not too expensive.
MANY restaurants, have a website, and on their website, they display their menus. So if you look online at their websites, you can quickly figure out what restaurants in your area, have menus that you like.
We love Denny's kids menu. A have a good variety to choose from and they can even have breakfast for dinner. Salad and fruit are part of the kid's menu- which I like a lot. It's a good variety for the parents,too. You can go every day and get something completely different each time.
I love to take the kids to Perkins. They have a great kids menu and it's all pretty normal kid food. They have mini pancakes, regular pancakes with sprinkles or chocolate chips or regular or with fruit. They have both breakfast and dinner meals.
One day of the week is kids eat free with a purchased adult meal.
Another place I like to take the kids is anywhere there is a buffet. These kids eat totally different. He eats anything that doesn't bite him first. She, well, she's picky. So she can get what she wants and he can get everything.
