Do your kids eat off the kid's menu?

Something I've seen bandied around the internets a lot lately (so much so that I wonder if there isn't a meme I missed) is the idea that it's grudgingly OK to take kids to a restaurant, as long as there's a kid's menu, and that taking them somewhere that lacks one is rude and clueless behavior.

In the year that we have been eating out with the Nom, we have not once come across a kid's menu. He just eats what we eat, no issues (well, it can be hard to keep him from bogarting the good stuff - like tonight, he was double-fisting the tikil gomen alicha and no one else got any). We don't have problems, so far he's been a good restaurant citizen, and an adventurous eater.

Based on photographic evidence, it seems that the kids of LTH go wherever their parents go. So, what are they eating? Do they choose food that is at all "dumbed down" or do they have a more mature palate? This is a matter of great interest to me, as although I think we've made a great start in forming the Nom's tastes, I don't want to take a detour into nugget land

Do your kids eat off the kid's menu?

Only if we're on the road and we're hitting McD's or something.
If we're in a real restaurant they are allowed to order anything they want. I believe the key is to avoid "dumbing down" their tastes in the first place. It's easier to give them good food from the start than it is to change their tastes later.

Slightly contrary experience: We tried to keep our kids on the kids menu, when available, because it was cheaper, and I never worried about developing their taste. That would happen during the 98% of meals eaten at home. However, we only did this when they were happy to eat off the kid's menu. Eventually, they wanted the real stuff, and we never prevented them from ordering what they wanted. I can't remember the age, but our older one stayed on the kid's menu longer than his younger brothers. The end result is that by age 10 or 11 for our older one, and a bit younger for the younger ones, they were all confirmed adventurous eaters. (I could be off on these ages, as it was about 15 years ago) We've never had a problem in this department. Indeed, one or two of them now read this board, and two of them recently went to a GNR that I've yet to get to.

Jonah

Well, my kids aren't kids anymore -- they're 20 and 23, but when they were younger, they'd order chicken fingers, pasta with parm and that sort of thing off the kids menu when there was one.

Part of the problem was that my kids were not normal kid-sized -- they're now 6'6 and 6'5, and they were big as little kids too. We rarely had hassles over ordering from the kids' menu, but Thing 1 got to the point around age 10 where he wanted two kids' meals. When the pricing got silly, we'd say: "Here, order from the adult menu." He got to be an expert at menu manipulation, asking (politely) for combinations of items not listed together except on the kids' menu, such as fries with things that would get mashed, or cheese sauce or hot sauce for his chicken fingers.

The other catch was once we let him at the adult menu, he wanted steak.

very rare to have Shay order off a kids menu at a restaurant, she eats what we eat. The only place I can think of is @ Cajun Connection, but there she is getting alligator not the atypical mac-n-cheese, chix nugget, etc....

With a Filipina mother and a scratch cook for parents she has been exposed to different foods from as soon as she could try them. Shays current favorite dishes are a pork neck adobo VAngie has been making them for lunch or deep fried chicken wing tips, white rice and eggs......

A rare, rare treat for her is a kids meal from McD's, etc, she likes the play lands, and the toys of course. Plus the playlands are a good way to build up a kids immune system.

as for the "no kids menu = no kids allowed" concept. I dont follow that as a hard rule. If I have doubts about a place being kid friendly I ask folks who have been there, or just call up the restaurant, the host/hostess will typicall let you know by their answer if kids are welcome. I also feel you can pretty much take a child anywhere(if they are behaved of course), if you go for an early supper (4:30 - 5:30).

My son who is 24 and six foot two now ate almost nothing but pasta, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, and pizza growing up (he didn't like anything much else), and ate off the kids menu. When he was about 21 his tastes changed. He no longer eats any candy as he did when younger, and eats a wide variety of food including all kinds of fruits and vegetables, fish, shellfish, meats, he even asked to go to a restaurant so he could try a beef marrow dish. He now frequents many trendy restaurants on his own and eats all kinds of stuff. He still eats pasta and pizza of course but many other things too. Don't worry about them eating off the kids menu, as their tastes will change hopefully as they get older. Do keep exposing them to other dishes though. ON a contrary note, a few years ago some friends and their grown sons came over for Xmas dinner and the sons would only eat food that was "white". Meaning they would only eat white meat turkey and mashed potatoes. They would not eat any gravy or any side dishes....they did not like anything else. They seemed to never outgrow their babyish, childish preferences.

I think if children are well behaved, they can go just about anywhere. I guess I would draw the line at a place where the adults were not going to be behaving well-- say, at a bar/restaurant where there might be non-PG language, etc., and people might be annoyed if you had your kids there. (Not so worried about what the kids might hear, as that adults might rightly think their space had been invaded.) No kids, no future to the human race. No reason parents should be hiding. Of course, this assumes good behavior.

My kids were never very interested in kid's menus, except for one summer when my younger son ate almost nothing but chicken fingers -- though he did want and appreciate higher quality chicken fingers, no McDonald's.

Our kids, now grown, were extremely well-behaved, but we also went out of our way to insure good behavior -- I remember one period where I was never without new packs of baseball cards in my purse, to be handed out as a distraction after ordering (they were pretty cheap, not a high priced amusement), during the wait for food, which can seem endless to children. I was always ready for a quiet game of tic-tac-toe or whatever it took to keep kids from getting restless, including of course being ready to have conversations that would keep kids entertained.

Ha. I guess there are some advantages to having them grow up! Took my son and his girlfriend out to dinner the other night, and didn't have to provide constant distraction. It could be a lot of work, is what I recall.

Judy H wrote:My kids were never very interested in kid's menus, except for one summer when my younger son ate almost nothing but chicken fingers -- though he did want and appreciate higher quality chicken fingers, no McDonald's.

It's funny, your son & I have shared the same summertime menu obsession...except I was 27 when I had my chicken finger phase

The only thing I like about kids' menus is that they're a clear indicator that the kids' presence is desired. Which doesn't stop us from taking them all sorts of places that don't have one. But there's a certain additional ease that comes with having that no-doubt indicator.

Then, I try to hide it from them so they'll order off the regular menu

I don't have kids, but I do recall how my own parents raised me. I ate whatever my parents did at home & I ate whatever they did in restaurants - I got exposed to a lot of different things just because they like a lot of variety at home & my Dad in particular likes to try new things at restaurants. I don't think I've ever eaten off a kids menu in my life. Their attitude was very much "if we wanted you to eat mac & cheese we would have left you at home, we're here to enjoy whatever type of cuisine it is together", so that's what we did. I remember going through a phase where I hated coffee flavored desserts, which was unfortunate because that's one of my parents favorites, but other than that there wasn't much I didn't try & generally like.

We always encouraged our son to try anything and everything we ate. Early on he showed signs of wide-ranging appreciations. Eating Vietnamese curry sauces on his rice, enjoying Mexican salsa at quite a young age. He will still happily devour a bowl full of capers with a spoon. But the older he gets, the narrower his preferences have become, despite all this experience and encouragement. He tends to order off the kids' menu because it usually comprises the very safe choices he's looking for.
Mostly he likes cheese or pepperoni pizza; the worse by our standards, the better by his. He'll eat mom's pancakes, but prefers McDonald's. Mac and cheese is good, but only from Boston Market. In his school lunch...wait for it...Lunchables. Turkey sandwiches (meaning sliced turkey on white bread and NOTHING else) from Jimmy John's or Potbelly. Homemade---unacceptable. I could go on, but I'm afraid my tears falling on the keyboard will start an electrical fire.

I'll second or third the price issue, especially when Sparky has a preference for things like caviar and lobster. One suggestion: use the appetizer menu for a small-portion option. Right now, Sparky's appetite is usually not satisfied by kid portions (sigh.) so we have to buy him an actual meal. We do really appreciate kids' menus that have some thought behind them and have an option for small-portion sizes of the regular menu.

Keep in mind that the kids' menu isn't really a thing (at least, for parents who don't use it exclusively) until they start socializing with other kids who don't eat anything but french fries: you've got a ways to go before that becomes an issue.

I don't have kids, but it always depressed me that the majority of restaurants have a standard, boring, unhealthy kids' menu: chicken nuggets or fingers, hamburger, PB&J, grilled cheese, fish sticks, spaghetti. Would it kill restaurants to have a special kid-sized and -priced version of most adult-size dishes?

Khaopaat wrote:It's funny, your son & I have shared the same summertime menu obsession...except I was 27 when I had my chicken finger phase

Yeah, I ate a lot of chicken fingers that summer, too. IIRC, Dairy Queen had surprisingly good fingers.

mrbarolo wrote: But the older he gets, the narrower his preferences have become, despite all this experience and encouragement.... I could go on, but I'm afraid my tears falling on the keyboard will start an electrical fire.

Not to worry, I think this is a normal phase, both my sons went thru it, after eating just about everything when they were little. Now at 21 and 24, they eat very adventurously again. My older son used to want canned ravioli or Kraft dinner for breakfast, and hey, if that's what it took to get him to eat breakfast, fine. Now he makes homemade artichoke ravioli, and showed me how to make tomatillo salsa. Keep calm, keep setting a good example, and it will all come out well in the end.

Big Time! It is a big money saver for us and the kids will eat the food. Plus there are always sides such as fries or slaw (etc.) that the whole family will share as the girls can not finish their plates- as they save their appetites for the dessert. We always see if there is something on the menu that they will like and if not the kids' menu is the way to go. We also ask them if they want a bite of what we are eating so they can sample other foods. Paying full price for mass quatities of foods left on their plates was not our idea of a good time and it, frankly, did not promote family harmony. They will grow out of it.

My kids eat food off both the kid's menu and the adult's menu. The main thing that I have tried to do is train my kids to try things at least once.

If they don't like some dish, they don't need to eat much of it, but I ask them to try at least one bite. When I order food for them off the adult menu, it is hit or miss. I often try to order combination type of dishes so that there would be a higher chance that there would be something in the dish that they would like. The mussels and octopus did not go over very well, but they liked the squid, crabcakes, shrimp, and scallop.

My daughter (she's 6) eats off the kids menu sometimes and off the adult menu sometimes, depending where we are. We generally let her pick what she wants when we eat out, since when we eat at home she doesn't get a choice (very often.) Sometimes this means she eats cheeseburgers or hot dogs and fries, but sometimes it means edamame and sashimi or grilled salmon. When we're at home, we have a pretty firm "you have to eat at least 5 bites of anything before declaring you don't like it" rule (because she "hates" anything new for the first 2 bites and frequently likes it by the 5th) but at restaurants we figure that if we get to pick what we want off the menu, why shouldn't she, even if is a hot dog?

To the original mention of whether it's OK to take kids to places that don't have a kids menu, I assume that anywhere I'm spending less than $20 a person is fine to bring her, whether they have a kids menu or not, but I do look for the kid's menu as part of my decision on whether to take her with to somewhat nicer places. If nothing else, the presence of a kids menu says that the management of the restaurant is open to having kids, which is a good thing to know.

We've never ordered off a kids' menu for my 4-year-old. We either get an appetizer for her, if there's something appropriate (which means not fried and has some vegetables), or she shares whatever I or my husband order, and we order a side of veg as well. We're fortunate enough to have a child who will eat anything and has excellent restaurant manners, so we can take her anywhere, including out for our nice anniversary dinner. Which was definitely spending more than $20/person and there was no kids menu. I'm not sure that they even had high chairs or boosters, come to think of it. But she loved it, the waitstaff was gracious, and we had a great night.

My problem with kids' menus is the same as Pie Lady's - there's usually only crap on there, with no vegetables offered. I don't even bother to look at the kids' menu anymore.

Our sons just turned 1 and 2 years old and we eat out with them about onôce a week. We rarely order anything from the kids menu because, as others mention, the options are generally dismall. A few hours ago at Giron in Brookfield we went through the usual procedure of
- ordering fast, relatively healthy and safe dishes immidiately upon sitting down. in this case it was homade meatballs and ministrone soup but is usually a vegetable dish and specialty of the house
- when the initial food arrives we order our meals with the children in mind for 1 and mommy and daddy in mind for the other and then try to get at least a couple small plates or sides to see who likes what.
- then of course we ask for the check as soon as the food arrives in case we have to make a quick exit.

We generally have good luck and with the aid of some toys, a couple extra utencils, and inevitably a small dish with way, way, way too much salt or pepper courtesy of the babies who love to shake and pour we have a nice time.

As for determining where to eat we basically look to see if there are families and if there are not we look at the ambient noise level and where we might sit to not be a nuisance. I figure that most places are willing to accommodate us as long as we tip appropriately for the extra needs and do not disturb other diners. As an aside I would offer that the places we do not go often anymore are restaurants that seem geared toward the family. We find that some of the traditional diner type restaurants may treat us off the bat as undesirable customers because we have 2 small children. Now we usually go to family run places that are a little smaller or restaurants that are a slight price point above the typical American breakfast lunch and dinner joint.

we can take her anywhere, including out for our nice anniversary dinner...the waitstaff was gracious, and we had a great night.

This sounds like a place I want to be. Could you share the name of the restaurant?

bean wrote:

we can take her anywhere, including out for our nice anniversary dinner...the waitstaff was gracious, and we had a great night.

This sounds like a place I want to be. Could you share the name of the restaurant?

We were out of town, in Washington DC. We went to The Source, a Wolfgang Puck restaurant. Their appetizer plates were perfect for choices to offer her (she had the Tandoori Arctic Char, Pickled Japanese Cucumbers, Cardamom Raita), in terms of the dishes themselves and the portion sizes, especially when combined with sharing our dishes.

I think that as long as your child is well-behaved, there shouldn't be a problem taking a child to any restaurant. I think mine would thoroughly enjoy Alinea, if we could afford to take her!

In general my kids are too young (oldest one is just over 2.5) to be eating off the regular menu so we do usually order off the kids menu. However there are some restaurants where we just share whatever we order. We were at Markethouse and they had a kids menu but we ended up not ordering anything from it. He loved the butternut squash soup and also the risotto.

When we get pizza he eats that. Same with any pasta place (we'll just get a seperate plate and share). He's not too fond of hamburgers so if we eat them we just order him some fries...not the healthiest option but it keeps him occupied.