California Grill with kids

[PrincessBelle39]

Just wondered whether this is acceptable. I really want to go the Califoria Grill and my kids will be 7 and two/three days off 5. Do people usually take there kids? The older one loves the idea of what she calls a 'fancy restaurant', the smaller one would need to go into training although she is pretty well behaved. I certainly wouldn't want to annoy other diners by having the only children in the place. We were hoping to do this for my wedding anniversary. We are not staying onsite.

 

[Pakey]

Just wondered whether this is acceptable. I really want to go the Califoria Grill and my kids will be 7 and two/three days off 5. Do people usually take there kids? The older one loves the idea of what she calls a 'fancy restaurant', the smaller one would need to go into training although she is pretty well behaved. I certainly wouldn't want to annoy other diners by having the only children in the place. We were hoping to do this for my wedding anniversary. We are not staying onsite.

We've dined here many times and have always seen some tables with young children. The restaurant is somewhat noisy anyway because of the glass. The meals take a long time, sometimes they also seat behind on their adr's so you need to plan on 90-120 minutes and only you know if your children can sit quietly for that long. I have never had a meal at a Disney signature that was ruined or disrupted by a child and I'm sure most diners would say the same. I've seen them playing with small toys, coloring, etc.

 

[Leanne1977]

You will be absolutely fine, lots of families dine at the Cali Grill. We have been 4 times with our boys who are now 8 and 6 and they love it there. They are very well behaved and they understand what is and isn't acceptable in a restaurant, ANY restaurant, not just the posher ones.

As long as your children can sit down for a meal for around 2 hours you will have a wonderful meal. Its our favourite and it was my boys who requested we dine here on Christmas Day.

 

[MomtoGKC]

I brought all three of mine when they were 3, 5 & 7. We got one of the earliest ADR's - 5:30 maybe? The kids did fine. Even when all the food except for DD 5's came out (and took a LONG time) they were still OK. The best part was that if they got antsy at all one of us would just walk them out on the observation decks to look around for a minute. And, of course, we were able to go back up to the deck to watch Wishes later.

 

[webray]

CA grill is fine for kids, it is an upscale restaurant, slow dining experience which means 2-3 hours for full meal. No rushing here.

We could take our kids anywhere when they were young, and now that we have young grandchildren 5, 3, 2, 1 this is how we handle it. Our children and their spouses know that if we dine in an upscale restaurant if one of their children for whatever reason is restless and not in the mood to sit still and quiet during dinner they will leave the restaurant with that child.

Our grandchildren are very well behaved and used to dining in upscale places, so usually no one leaves, although it has happened, lol, once at artist point.
Hubby (grandpa) and I refuse to interrupt the meals of other diners in these type restaurants.

 

[Golden Rose]

We've taken DS twice, and it was manageable both times. When he was two, he slept through about half the meal. We had had a long day at the park, and he finally dozed off. He woke up in time to see the fireworks, which he LOVED from a distance. He had been terrified when we had actually been nearer the fireworks the night before, but he adored them from afar.

The second time we took him, he just wanted to color and have Daddy take him to the viewing platform... for pretty much the whole meal. We really didn't want him annoying the other guests, and he was really not into being there. We ended up taking our desserts to go and skipping Wishes.