Kid birthday outing?

This may not be the usual post but I am looking for a fun place to take my daughter who will be 4yr. Perhaps a old-fashioned ice cream parlor? or a restaurant for kids but one that doesn't just serve mac n cheese, hotdogs or pizza (typical kid food). Is there anything out there like that?? My daughter loves Fancy Nancy (kids book) so it would be nice to take her to a "fancy" restaurant without the threat of them looking at us like "you want to take your preschooler in here".
Any thoughts??

How about:
Margie's Candies
1960 N Western Avenue
Chicago, IL 60647
Phone: (773) 384-1035
http://www.margiescandies.nv.switchboard.com/

I would think one place a child would love to go, and would think is pretty "fancy" would be the Walnut Room at Macy's. Not at all intimidating as it really is for kids, and the tree is always spectacular.

Macy's
111 N. State

Have you been to American Girl? They just re-opened in Water Tower place and is an ideal place to have an afternoon tea, lunch or dinner with a little girl. I have taken my daughter there every year since she was 3-years-old for a girls holiday tea.

The catch is of course, that if she doesn't have an American girl, she will want one and your lunch may wind up costing you much more than expected. They also have American Girl dolls on loan to dine with you at the table.

Another alternative is Bistro 110. The chef is very accommodating to food allergies (my son is allergic to peanuts) and we have had wonderful meals there as well.

But the post below suggesting the Walnut Room is a great idea, especially if you are going out on your date in the near future.

What about tea somewhere? Like Unique So Chique tea room on Wilson? Their website says they'll do a party, so you could invite some of her girlfriends along. I've never been there but it is definitely on my list. Or tea at a downtown hotel? If you do a search on LTH I think you'll find some ideas.

Is it just you and your daughter, and not a party? In any case, as the father of a just turned 4-year old girl, I can't believe my daughter would care about any particular "fancy" accoutrements. If it was me, I’d save the cash spent at a nice place she wouldn’t necessarily appreciate more than any other place and instead spend it on a nice tea set and invitations, then invite a handful of her friends over for a private “fancy” party at home – proper dress acquired, of course. I’m sure she’d have a blast, and you’d have a tea set handy for next time. Then later, if your daughter is anything like my daughter, a simple trip out for ice cream when the mood strikes will more than suffice if you’re looking for a change of scenery. But only *fancy* ice cream.

Thanks for all the great suggestions!
And Vitesse98..EXCELLANT point.

I think we will save the Walnut room for when she is a bit older...and just hit an Ice cream parlor for some "fancy ice cream" aka sundaes

What part of the city are you in maggielov?

I'm in the North burbs (Highland Park)...
Willing to travel for fun though!
I just had a baby, 3 months old, but he travels great!

So sick of the Chuckie Cheese nonsense...I wish there was a REAL family friendly restaurant that you can take you child for a nice meal with lots of fun without having to worry if they aren't sitting still, or that they are AGAIN eating pizza or mac n cheese or other typical child fare.
So any business owners out there...here's an idea for ya!

maggielov4 wrote:

So sick of the Chuckie Cheese nonsense...I wish there was a REAL family friendly restaurant that you can take you child for a nice meal with lots of fun without having to worry if they aren't sitting still, or that they are AGAIN eating pizza or mac n cheese or other typical child fare.
So any business owners out there...here's an idea for ya!

from personal experience, try going out for early dinners(4-6 p.m.), and you can eat pretty much anywhere when they are at those restless ages.

Also there are a lot of small restaurants, especially ethnic restaurants, that are very family-oriented and love kids. The waitresses at Nuevo Leon for instance, if you let them, will take your baby and parade him around the restaurant showing him off throughout the dining room and the kitchen and will only reluctantly return him to his high chair. At least, that has been our experience there.

danak wrote:What about tea somewhere? Like Unique So Chique tea room on Wilson? Their website says they'll do a party, so you could invite some of her girlfriends along. I've never been there but it is definitely on my list. Or tea at a downtown hotel? If you do a search on LTH I think you'll find some ideas.

I went to a baby shower at Unique So Chique, and they put on a nice spread. It's very cozy, as in almost crowded. (I think we were their max, which was probably 15 or so adults.) I don't think it's really perfect for a four year old, although I could imagine somewhat older (middle-school aged?) girls liking it a lot.

Whoa, their website says they seat up to 50! They must have expanded.

I second the Margie's recommendation, although I'd suggest their second location on Montrose. It doesn't have quite the same character as the original on Western, but it does have the same great ice cream (and awesome hot fudge and caramel sauce) a private back room that they let you reserve for parties for only the cost of a minimum of one scoop of ice cream per guest.

I've had my daughter's birthday party there the last two years and it's been great. (She turned 4 this year, just a few weeks ago.) They brought ice cream for each kid and all the toppings on the side to let the kids build their own sundaes. They also let us bring our own cake to go with the ice cream, stay for 2-3 hours to do party games in the private room and let us put up some of our own decorations with no problems.

Margie's Candies (North Center)
1813 W. Montrose Ave., Chicago
Tel: (773) 348-0400

maggielov4 wrote:I'm in the North burbs (Highland Park)...
Willing to travel for fun though!
I just had a baby, 3 months old, but he travels great!

So sick of the Chuckie Cheese nonsense...I wish there was a REAL family friendly restaurant that you can take you child for a nice meal with lots of fun without having to worry if they aren't sitting still, or that they are AGAIN eating pizza or mac n cheese or other typical child fare.
So any business owners out there...here's an idea for ya!

I was thinking of some close to home for you. I remember my nephew had a party at Hackney's (on Lake) in Glenview that was pretty good. Buffo's in Highwood has parties. I assume you checked on (or might be avoiding) Michael's in Highland Park? As a kid myself, I loved going to Barnaby's in Northbrook for parties, but I have to admit I was a sucker for pizza and I know you are trying to find something unique! When you say you are concerned with the typical child fare, what kind of food would you be looking for?

well, this is not precisely what you asked for, but we enjoy the choo-choo diner in downtown desplaines. it's burgers, fries, milkshakes, etc, but they do them really well and most four year olds love the food being delivered by the trains. they also do a fun birthday song and deliver a birthday cupcake by train.

a more real restaurant-y suggestion is don juan's in edison park. we go there frequently with our two young children. the staff is very accommodating and seems to love having the kids around. the menu has a lot of very interesting higher end dishes for the adults, but they also have a nice kids menu. they always bring a little ice cream cone for the kids at the end of the meal.

Along the lines of the Choo-choo, but perhaps a little more adventurous, Sparky (my now eight-year-old son) had a blast at Kampai, where he enjoyed both the floating sushi barand the antics of the teppanyaki chefs. It's not inexpensive, but we had a blast, the sushi was good (the teppanyaki was like it is anywhere) and they were very kind, they clearly enjoyed having Sparky. Another place that's frequently suggested is GNR winner Myron & Phil's - not necessarily somewhere your daughter will specifically enjoy on its own merits, but somewhere where she'll definitely have a fuss made over her.

I will say that our experiences with the Choo-choo were not very positive - it's really, really cramped and really, really noisy - however, it's probably not going to be around much longer.