What does a child friendly restaurant mean to you?

[FoxCushion]

AIBU to think that there's a difference between a restaurant that allows children and one that's child friendly?

I'm having this debate with a friend because we're planning a big meetup and there will be several children attending. A friend suggested a rather formal restaurant which allows children but isn't what I'd called child friendly and 2 friends don't want to go there because they have babies and toddlers and don't consider it to be child friendly e.g no kids menu, high chairs, baby change etc

I'm not a parent yet but to me there is a difference and it doesn't have to involve a play area or be McDonalds but I find it hard to define it.

So AIBU to think that there's a difference between a restaurant that allows children and one that's child friendly? What do you consider to be child friendly in a restaurant?

High chairs, kids menu and above all else other children there so it drowns out my kids 😂

With multiple kids I’d much rather go to a pub or a chain restaurant. I’d say highchairs and baby change is a minimum, personally I hate kids menus but fair enough if you want that. Ideally space to move around if kids want to.

Child sized portions available.

High chairs.

A balloon?

There was an all you can eat place near us where children ate free as long as accompanied by adults who were paying.

I'd say child friendly is somewhere that caters to children as well as adults, has the facilities for changing etc and a kids menu and a more relaxed atmosphere.

I actually wouldn’t go to a restaurant that doesn’t have high chairs, I’m not holding my baby while she tries to escape my arms / reach for wine glasses. Not very relaxing at all.

Most pubs and restaurants are child friendly enough in that they have high chairs / baby change.

I don’t need gimmicky kids crayons and nuggets as an option and would actively avoid a kid-aimed restaurant that has a soft play or something in it as let’s face it, hell is other people’s kids.

in your situation I’d avoid either end of the spectrum and go to a nice gastro pub

Yes, there is definitely a difference between 'child friendly' and 'allows children'.

Allows children = almost all restaurants.

Child friendly = staff and/ or other customer wont scowl at you for bringing a child, there will be some generic child crowd pleasers on the menu, high chairs will be available

High chairs and kids meals is a pretty good indicator.

When DD was younger, I wanted somewhere where I wouldn't be unexpectedly disrupting/annoying other customers if she was chatty, or wanted to colour, or dropped a bit of food on the floor. I always expected and reinforced good behaviour regardless of what restaurant we were in but reality is that a baby/toddler might cry or squeal or speak in a louder than hushed voice. I went for pubs, family restaurants like Frankie & Bennys, places where they catered for and invited children to be.

In my experience it’s a distinctly British thing that a ‘child friendly restaurant’ is one with a kids menu containing all processed crap food and a plastic play area. In every other country I’ve lived in, a ‘child friendly restaurant’ is literally any restaurant!

Child friendly would be highchairs, child portions available and a a toilet suitable to change a baby/toddler in.

Child orientated would be colouring books, play area, themed food etc.

Child tolerated would be allowing children but not arrangements for them

High chairs, baby change and food suitable for kids (ie not too pricey since there may be lots of waste and maybe a kids menu)

Also lots of space for prams etc.

Somewhere like pizza express

Child friendly:
high chairs
baby change
Kids menu or at least half portions offered or kids eat free
happy to heat food for baby / provide hot water to heat/prepare bottles
no fancy tablecloth
maybe some crayons or similar
some quite nice bistros/gastro pubs near me have a small corner with books, cushions, some wooden toys for the kids to play

If they don't have high chairs and a changing station, they're not child friendly. What is the friend expecting the other friends to do with their babies/toddlers if there are no high chairs?

High chairs, baby change, decent kids menu. Mainly an atmosphere that means I don't feel like my DC are disturbing everyone else even when well behaved.

• Kids menu
• High chairs
• Relaxed atmosphere ie a bit noisy because there are other families with children there are no one is bothered by a bit of noise or a child moving about a bit
• Colouring crayons and paper

There is a big difference between child friendly and allowing children. For young children, if you want to have an 😉 time while you're out, you need to go to a family orientated place ie a Harvester, family pub type place.

No one giving you a snidey side eye when your child dares to exist.

I misread your post and missed the crucial info - no way would I be bringing my DC to somewhere without highchairs and a baby change. I'd assume they aren't welcome and that the other customers don't want kids there. I'd be on edge the whole time.

Child friendly means high chairs available, children's menu, a baby changing table in the loo.

Play area and colouring is nice and sometimes I will choose a restaurant because it has those things, especially if the meal out is meant to be a treat for the dc but you can still be a child friendly restaurant without it.

One of our favourite places, I think it's a brewers fayre, does all you can eat breakfast and also has a softplay. We love that as the little ones are happy and so are the teenagers.

One that welcomes families. For some reason I tend to find swish areas have more nice restaurants with the baby facilities mentioned, maybe because rich people demand a nice ambience and a half decent dinner with the bambinis in tow. Family run Italian restaurants are usually fine, unless they’re super high-end. Speaking as a parent I kind of always felt a bit sad in the chains with crayons in a pot places, good for not feeling conspicuous but the food tends to be crap and they’re not always that cheap either.

I'm not sure why I got a winky face rather than the word enjoyable!

It's the second time my phone has inserted a picture rather than a word today. It is obviously trying to make people think I'm 13 years old!

High chair and baby change as a minimum, hopefully enough space to park a pram too

I’ve been to one of those hipster places where they don’t have any high chairs and the waiters were a bit annoyed and told us to they don’t cater for children (we were in a big group and had a booking). We still sat down and let the kids share a burger and the younger one on lap.

I say any where that has kids running around, play areas fine, is dangerous to everyone so I won't go anywhere that has this

Highchairs and baby change as an absolute minimum. But to be child friendly, I’d also expect it to have an atmosphere that welcomes children rather than tolerates them. So kid’s menu, friendly waiting staff, not super quiet and fancy.

I appreciate some of these are things you wouldn’t know about from the website but no one wants to feel like they are spoiling everyone’s dinner every time their child makes a noise…

Nando's, harvester or a wacky warehouse...

Child friendly I would say somewhere that has a child’s menu and high chairs, and is cheap enough that a couple wouldn’t save to go there for a special evening out. Timing also makes a difference - more places are child friendly
at 5pm than 8pm.

I would say:
Pizza express
Wagamamas
TGI Fridays
Family run local Italian
Large food focussed pubs

It doesn’t need to have a play area to be family friendly