Jiko's and kids

[buzz1fan]

We want to try Jiko's for dinner and our kids will be 1 and 4. Is this a quiet place to dine, or will we be okay? We will try for an early dinner if available.

 

[wen774]

We took our 5 and 7 year old last trip. We ate around 7pm. My kids are very well behaved in restaurants, so i wasnt worried. There were several tables with kids, but it was still relatively quiet. They loved the food...best mac and cheese!

 

[disneydiz]

We ate there the day after Easter, and the restaurant was probably 95%adults and older kids. It's a pretty quiet, reserved place, so you might want to go when it opens at 5:30. It's not a "fun" place for little kids to be.

 

[ahill004]

We also ate there in September and it was entirely filled with adults only. It is a much quieter place than most Disney restaurants. We also have a 1 and 4year old who behave well in restaurants but we probably wouldn't take them to Jiko. It isn't fun for kids. And would be especially hard for kids who've had some fun Disney style meals during the week. Jiko's definitely has more of a quiet, romantic feel to it.

 

[Pakey]

In the 4 or 5 times we have dined here, I don't recall ever seeing any children. The restaurant is dark, intimate, romantic with a very adult feel (especially considering the huge wine room right at the entrance). Our most recent meal here in January took almost 2 hours which is fine for adults but might not be much fun for children. This is probably the only signature that I wouldn't even consider taking my 3yr old grandson to because he's definitely not the type of kid who can sit quietly for 2 hours.

 

[Tricia1972]

Jiko is probably the quietest of the signature restaurants that I've been to. It's not very kid friendly in atmosphere, but we did see a handful of well behaved older children when we were there on 3/27.

That being said, while dining a toddler started screaming/crying. Our table had enough time to just look up and wonder what was going on than our eyes found the table with the screaming child and we saw a manager walking over to the table to see if she could do anything to help.

The parents must have waved her off because she left and they continued to sit there with their screaming child for the next 5-10 minutes. We were sitting at the far end of the restaurant (away from them), but we could tell that they got quite a few looks from other patrons and when their server came over to see if they could help - they finally took the hint and walked with their child until they calmed down enough to eat peacefully.

I have been to other signatures with unruly children, but Jiko is the only place that I saw wait staff and management jump in to calm the situation immediately, which makes me think Jiko truly is more adult orientated.

 

[JAZ2525]

The people I work for (I am their Nanny) took thier kids to Jiko on my recommendation last Feb and loved it. The kids were 5, 7, and 11. If you have well behaved children why not go for it?
Have a great trip!

 

[madalex]

In the 4 or 5 times we have dined here, I don't recall ever seeing any children. The restaurant is dark, intimate, romantic with a very adult feel (especially considering the huge wine room right at the entrance).

Interesting. In the 6 or 7 times I have dined there, I have always seen many children there. On our most recent trip (a couple weeks ago), I did not see any tables that did not have children.

 

[Tricia1972]

Interesting. In the 6 or 7 times I have dined there, I have always seen many children there. On our most recent trip (a couple weeks ago), I did not see any tables that did not have children.

That is interesting! When we went in October (October 11 2007 - 5:30 reservation), there were no other kids there. When we went this year there were a handful of kids there, but by no means were there kids at every table - of all of the tables maybe 4-5 tables had a child or two. ( We had a 5:40 reservation on the 27th of March.) I was attributing the great increase in the number of children this trip to last trip to two things - Spring Break and the Deluxe Dining Plan.

To the OP - I agree, if you have well behaved children go for it!

 

[Mommy2Corinne]

We are bringing my (will be almost 5 by then) dd in September. I'm not really worried ... she is pretty good in restaurants. She may get bored (like she did at Les Cellier last year, but she doesn't cause a scene or anything.) Our secret ... a bag full of Polly Pockets will keep her occupied for hours.

 

[chowdahsoup]

We took our 2 year old there last year and are going again this year when she is 3. Bring something to keep your children entertained. It is a quiet restaurant and dinner service can take a while, so I chose to walk my child around outside when she got antsy.

 

[tiggersmom2]

We dined at Jiko this past Tuesday, and it was full of children. They have a wonderful children's menu and my 1 year old and 5 year old loved it!

 

[tinkandpan]

If you have well behaved children who can handle a dinner for approx 2 hours or so I would say go for it. FOr me- when it was just my ds I would have done it. My DD2 on the other hand can sit quietly and well behaved for about an hour which wouldn't have given us enough time to finish our meals so we will be taking a break from the sig's until she is a little bit older. It's just not worth it to me IMO... So I think it just all depends on you and your kids. There are a handful of kids there but i would say it is probably one of the most adult oriented signature meals of WDW

 

[LibertyLover]

We've taken our DD5 to Jiko's twice. The first time she was 3 and the second time she was 4. Both times she was fine - of course the fact that we were able to keep feeding her pretty much the whole time we were there helped. The second time I was at WDW on my own with her for a quick "mom and me" trip and was seated in a smaller side dining room that held maybe 12 or 14 tables. Many of the tables had children at them and once in a while a kid might get up and walk around but in the main, everyone was well behaved. I had no problem being put in the side room because I felt it made things easier for me and for her. I don't know if it was just something that happened - I don't recall seeing kids in the main dining room, but I wasn't paying that much attention - or if it was deliberate planning on the part of Jiko's staff, but it was fine. Enjoy - Jiko's is one of the best restaurants on site.