Signature restaurants and small children

[rayasmom]

How many of you parents have done this and regretted it? We are a family of 6 and are planning a December trip to WDW. I have scheduled california grill, jiko and chefs de france, but am wondering how wise this actually is. Our children: DD - 20, DS - 16, DS - 5 and DS - 2. I know our teenagers will be fine, but since we haven't dined at any of these restaurants, I just don't know what to expect from our toddler. Any thoughts from other parents?

 

[rayasmom]

Or maybe you have done this and had no regrets....??? Just feeling a little nervous, especially about California Grill.

 

[mmmears]

We've dined at Brown Derby, California Grill, Flying Fish, and other nice restaurants with our DD when she was 2 and 3 years old. We had no problems there, but she was the kind of child we could take anywhere and never have to worry about her behavior.

I would say that if your young kids are used to dining out and have good manners, by all means take them! If not, then I would skip the "fancier" restaurants since I wouldn't want to ruin dinner for the other diners.

The meals at these places take a while, so I always brought sticker books and quiet toys with me in case we were there "too long" for her.

 

[Brooke4]

My kids are 7 and 3. I was worried when we did signature dining this past March, but they did fine. The key was their afternoon nap. We are going back to Narcoossee's and California Grill in just 2 weeks.

 

[Lynne M]

Chefs is fine, it's a theme park restaurant and is rather noisy, and there always plenty of little ones there.

CG also tends towards the noisy, but the meals take a bit longer here. It's a tough call, and really depends on how long your little ones can sit without getting restless.

Jiko.....I might rethink this one, or possibly get the teenagers to watch the toddlers that night so you and your husband can have a romantic dinner. It's quiet and upscale, and while children are welcome here, you don't see as many toddlers as you do at CG or Chefs. It's also a long meal, which might try the patience of kids that age.

 

[jodifla]

Yeah, Jiko's is the one I'd rethink. It's a pretty quite, adult place.

 

[SandrainNC]

Last November we went to CG and my oldest was almost 7 at the time and my youngest was 16 months. When I booked the ADR my youngest was fine in restaurants. Well during our trip, he started acting up. It will be a very long time before we take him somewhere like that again. He is 2 now and there is still no way. The problem is he wants to hold the glasses or the sharp knife, etc. and if he doesn't get his way he screams. We had to remove him from every restaurant that trip. I was so embarrassed.

So, if your youngest does well in restaurants at home then he should be just fine. If he acts badly at home when you go out to eat then he will act badly at WDW.

The food was excellent though. I wish I could have enjoyed it more. We even went at 5:30 so he wouldn't be tired, he had a nap earlier and it was a non-park day. I think that was the fastest anybody has ever eaten there. We did leave and come back and watched the fireworks. He was an angel then!!!

Sandra

 

[crisi]

I regretted Jiko when my kids were five and six - they actually did ok, but the meal was too long. Plus our waiter was horrible - don't know if it was the kids he didn't approve of, or if he was just bad, but we had lousy service.

I regretted Narcooses and four and five. Once again, they did OK, but the bill for the meal was too much for the amount of time I spent entertaining and distracting kids vs. enjoying my meal and my husband.

We've done Flying Fish twice - once the same trip we did Jiko and I had a great time with my kids. This last time I regretted it (my kids were eight and nine), not because of my kids but because we took friends whose seven and eight year old were not pleasant dinner companions. We also did California Grill that trip - without our friends, but with our kids - and they did great.

I wouldn't take either of my kids at two to a signature place - the oldest wouldn't sit well for that long - he always needed to be active at that age and expecting him to sit for an hour long meal was pretty much the top of his patience. The youngest was tantrum prone - she'd sit for two hours, but the probability that she'd explode in the restaurant was too high at that age.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

In my opinion .Honstly I think it really depends on your kids as far as the younger ones are concerend. And only you will be able to answer that if they can sit for a length of time. They do take longer to serve at the 2tbs resturants so bring something so they can do at the table in the meantime to keep them busy.

 

[pixiedust23]

It totally depends on your kids. My parents took my brother and I when we were very young to the signature dining places of the time. They took us to Top of the World (where CG is now), Empress Lily, V&A, etc. We knew we would be in HUGE trouble is we acted up, so we never did. My parents reminded us how important it was to behave properly before we went to dinner, and if I do recall correctly my dad was the one, who spilled his drink all over himself and the table at the Empress Lily. Go figure.

 

[ROEDISNEY]

It totally depends on your kids. My parents took my brother and I when we were very young to the signature dining places of the time. They took us to Top of the World (where CG is now), Empress Lily, V&A, etc. We knew we would be in HUGE trouble is we acted up, so we never did. My parents reminded us how important it was to behave properly before we went to dinner, and if I do recall correctly my dad was the one, who spilled his drink all over himself and the table at the Empress Lily. Go figure.

Top of the World & Empress Lilly . THE GOOD OLD DAYS
I mention that name when I was there in April to the CM at CG she looked at me and had no clue it was called that lol.

 

[jayhjay]

I took my kids (5 and 3 at the time) to Artist Point at WKL and it was totally fine. They had coloring pages and kid-friendly food. We ate early, around 5:30. Generally I try to do early meals at nice restaurants - kids are less tired, fewer diners, etc. My kids are good in restaurants so they behaved fine (in fact, my little slept the whole time).

Next trip we are planning to go to Jiko and Narcoosies. I think I am going to put them in child care for the Narcoosies meal so that we can stay out later and see the fireworks w/o having tired kids with us. And then I will make an early ressie at Jiko so we are out of there before the main dinner rush.