Most toddler friendly signature restaurants?

[BubMunkeyBles]

We're doing 5 nights/6 days deluxe dining in September. We have two toddlers. Me and DH have ate at Narcoosee's and I wouldn't want to really take my kids there at this point. They are good restaurant eaters, just not quiet enough for a date night setting like that.

Any suggestions of which would be best? Our plan is to do breakfast and late lunch or dinner each day. We've done deluxe before and enjoy it, its a nice break for us and we like the appetizers etc. We're laid back time wise and just going to enjoy ourselves.

 

[rlovew]

Obviously CRT is good for children and will be expected to have children. Would you want to go to Mickey's Backyard BBQ (another 2 service with characters) or the Hoop De Do Revue?

Of the main signature restraunts- Brown Derby might be a good choice for lunch.

When I go to a signature it is for a date night so I expect the children near me to be fairly quiet and entertained by their parents.

 

[kamikazecat]

We took our 4yo to Yachtsman Steakhouse last year and found that restaurant to be a family friendly atmosphere. They even have a chocolate puzzle that the kids can paint for dessert.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

Another vote for Yachtsman, we brought DD3 and DS 1 last year and it was great. We also did Flying Fish without a problem.

We were going to try Narcossees this year with them .... now you have me a bit nervous.....

 

[Pakey]

I've dined at all of the signatures many times and Narcoosees is the most child friendly of all of them. Ca Grill would be my second choice.

The most adult are Citricos, Jiko and Artist Point.

 

[homedad]

When kids were 2 and 4 I think we did CG and Jiko and both places went well and kids behaved......I thimk we got their food right away and the puzzle painting desset kept them busy

 

[lady_hlh]

We've been to Narcosees, California Grill, Jiko and Flying Fish so far. I thought that Narcosees was the actually the best because it was pretty noisy and the waiter was so nice to my DD. When my DD couldn't decide what to order he wanted to make her a special plate. I would say Flying Fish was the second because it was also pretty noisy in there with a good number of kids.

 

[madalex]

In my mind, it's not so much that the restaurant needs to be "child friendly" as the parents need to be "other diner friendly." What I mean is that young children/toddlers will be welcome at all the Disney signature restaurants (except V&A, of course) and there will indeed be children at all of them. All such restaurants have children's menus and will do something to make the experience for young ones appropriate.

The real key is that the parents of young children/toddlers take appropriate measures to ensure that their child/toddler does not disrupt the dining experience for others at the restaurant. This means dining early when the restaurant is less full, bringing crayons and stickers to keep the child occupied during the meal, dining somewhat quickly and not brining a tired, cranky child to the restaurant in the first place. Most importantly, this means if the child starts to act up and get loud (as children do), to remove the child from the restaurant as quickly as possible. "Child friendly" does not give parents free rein to let their children run wild during the meal.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

In my mind, it's not so much that the restaurant needs to be "child friendly" as the parents need to be "other diner friendly." What I mean is that young children/toddlers will be welcome at all the Disney signature restaurants (except V&A, of course) and there will indeed be children at all of them. All such restaurants have children's menus and will do something to make the experience for young ones appropriate.

The real key is that the parents of young children/toddlers take appropriate measures to ensure that their child/toddler does not disrupt the dining experience for others at the restaurant. This means dining early when the restaurant is less full, bringing crayons and stickers to keep the child occupied during the meal, dining somewhat quickly and not brining a tired, cranky child to the restaurant in the first place. Most importantly, this means if the child starts to act up and get loud (as children do), to remove the child from the restaurant as quickly as possible. "Child friendly" does not give parents free rein to let their children run wild during the meal.

And... Please, don't let your child roar the entire meal. Once when we were eating at HBD, there was a child that kept roaring like a dinosaur. Our dining overlapped with theirs for about 10 mins. & he roared the entire time. Who knows how long he was roaring before that? I think everyone in there was ready to stand up & clap, when that family left.

I really think the question isn't which signature restaurants are child friendly it's whether the child is signature restaurant friendly. IME, some young kids are perfect in nice restaurants, & some just aren't ready. Only the parent knows that. As a general guideline, if they can't sit still & use low, inside voices for 2 hrs., they're not ready. Parents just need to be honest with themselves & accept that. If the kids can do both of those things, feel free to take them & expand their experiences at an early age.

 

[adventure_woman]

I ate at Narcoosee's last time we were there with just myself and DD...then almost 3. I made early dinner ADRs and there weren't many people there. Just an idea too...to do go during the prime dinner hours (I think ours were at 6:00)

 

[lolakat]

At age 2 we took our DD to Narcossi, Citrico, California grill Artist's point and Flying Fish. All the resturants were child friendly and had children's menus and special twisted Mickey straws which DD loved. With the exception of V&A all the "fancy" Disney resturants are just not that formal by real world standards. They tend to be big and a little on the loud side so I didn't feel like DD had to be absolutely silent the whole time. Artist's Point was maybe the most quiet of the ones we went to. Disney is a family place and all the resturants seemed used to having kids there. I agree that an early dinner time is likely the best bet as the resturant is not as crowded, there are more young families there and your toddler may not be as tired. Just be ready to go with the flow and walk with you child if they get antsy. We also bring a DVD player for her to use with headphones and some small toys to play with if she gets too bored.(some folks on here and in real life don't approve of that but we find it works for us.)

The Hoop Dee Doo review is also a very fun show for young kids and is 2 dining credits. The kids can pretty much be as loud as they want there Enjoy all the yummy Disney food!!