What would your dream family friendly eaterie be like . . .?

[pleasecutmygrass]

They just don't seem to exist! The choice seems to be;

• decent food with no facilities for children
• amazingly child friendly but with only chicken nuggets to eat
• something in between with just ok food and some colouring-in stuff for the kids

If you could create the perfect genuinely family friendly cafe/restaurant what would it be like . . . ?

this only a bit better organised, so that the wait to order the food is not so long...

I go to a cafe where they are very child friendly (colouring, toys, small portions of any meal, cutlery and childrens beakers) and the food is very good. Oh, and super allergy friendly too

Think of Frankie and Bennies.

Then think of somewhere the exact opposite of that hellhole.

lots of space for buggies!

also just small, cheaper portions of any adult meal, not a separate menu full of junk food.

What about Giraffe? Decent food, reasonably child-friendly. Busy as hell for weekend brunches.

Separate areas for those with babies/toddlers (including a small play area with colouring, interactive screen etc -think Ikea - & changing room) and those with older children who can remain at table but perhaps with selection of comics and activities available. Menu other than sausage/nuggets/burger and chips, ie smaller portions of the adult menu. Prompt service but not rushed.

Agree re Giraffe - the food is nice, there's a lot of choice and it's really family friendly.

1/ child sized portions of adult food reasonably priced.

2/ child sized cutlery

3/ Drinks served in small plastic cups rather than a tall glass with ice.

4/ Baby portions available for tiny people at about half the price of a normal children's meal

5/ Safe highchairs

6/ colouring books and crayons supplied.

7/ A play area, easily visible from the parents table.

8/ Very large glasses of wine for adults!

somewhere that served fruit juice at a reasonable price (rather than squash). I got charged £2.50 the other day for a glass of bog-standard supermarket apple juice for ds. The food took ages to come so he wanted another drink. The bloody drinks bill for 4 of us was more than the food (no alochol!)

breadsticks or similar for nibbling on while the food comes (especially at busy times when food takes ages)

went to pizza express the other night at 6pm - we didn't get out until 8.45pm because they made us wait so long to clear main courses, bring dessert menu and bring dessert.

my children are used to eating out so were very well behaved but it was very boring and frustrating for us all, just sitting in front of empty plates for all that time.
(To pass hte time, we drew pictures of a skeleton family called ''waiting for desserts'' and left it on the table when we left )