Looking for New Family Friendly Resturants for Dinner Out

A.,

In my family we absolutely recommend Peanut Butter (PB & Ellie's) Café in South West Portland. They offer healthy food in smaller sizes and a good selection of salads. Drinks for the grown-ups too. They're located right across from the Southwest Community Center on Vermont, near Gabriel Park. You can make a full afternoon out of this by visiting the park or taking a swim at the Community Center. Ellie's has a nice train table, a blackboard and just generally a nice family atmosphere.

Good cheer,

S.

Micky Finns Brew Pub on Woodstock is very family friendly- even has a kids play area w/toys you can pick up and bring to the table. I think Wed night kids eat free with adult meals. Love the people who work there.

These are all great suggestions.
Allow me to make a plea on behalf of all these pleasant, adaptable servers and cooks: Tip extra for messes, your kids are sweet and messy, many are demanding (kids and moms) and waiting tables at these places is tough. I have known a few servers, from PB&E's especially, to be rather soured on mom's and how they let there kids behave.
Mother's bistro downtown is very kid friendly, the owner is not nice to her staff but excellent to customers.

A.,

Our family loves American Dream Pizza on Glisan across from Providence Hospital. They have really good salads (build your own with lots of veggies). There are paper and crayons for the kids as well as really good choclate chips cookies. And, they deliver!

G.

We like to take our kiddo to Old Wives Tale, NE Sandy?. They have a little play area and the food is great. I'd call it a fresh funky home cooked portland style family restuaraunt. And I'm sure it's not a chain. The salad bar is wonderful! Check it out.

You didn't mention what area of town you live in, but there is a wonderful restaurant called The Raccoon Lodge in SW Portland, on Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. They have great food and great beer. They are very family friendly and have a fun magician there on Friday nights. McMenniman's (sp) restaurants are always good as well. They have a nice restaurant at Kennedy School in NE. Also, Pizza Schmizza is a fun place with stuff for the kids to do. My daughter takes her kids to The Rogue in NW and says it's very nice and very kid friendly as well.

Try PB & Ellies on SW 40th & Vermont. They have a family friendly Happy hour on Thursday's from 4:00-5:30 that we go to .

the 5th quadrant off N williams is good w/ beer specials on Tuesday nights.
Encanto on N. Lombard, full bar, wonderful food and inexpensive kid menu.
Malay Satay Hut off SE Powell, great malaysian food and full bar.
A pizza Scholls on Hawthorne, great pizza and drinks.

There is a place called Peanut Butter and Ellie's over on the west side of Portland. It has pretty good food and is set up for families with young kids. My hubby and I took our grandson there for his birthday and he seemed to really enjoy it. We got him a tee-shirt with their logo on it and he still talks about our time together!

Here is the link to their website:

http://www.peanutbutterellies.com/

Enjoy!
M.

Also try the Laughing Planet Cafe. It is really child friendly and great food too... they also have an extensive selection of microbrew beers :) There are several locations around portland and although they are not techinically local, they do try to minimize their footprint and use local suppliers whenever possible (see their website under "about us" and then "sustainability."

http://www.laughingplanetcafe.com/

Have fun!
A.

There's a new place called Grandma Leeth's in NW Portland. It's between highway 26 and 217 in the Gymboree shopping center. They offer childcare for ages 2-9 yrs. and the food is great! They have a childcare area which is great and they have big windows so you can see your children and they can see you! My 2 1/2 yr. old son loves it. You can order food for them and they read to them while they eat. Works like a charm! PB & Ellies is another favorite. Great family atmosphere and the food is fantastic! I love that they have children's programs too!

Old Wives Tales has a play area. 1300 E Burnside St
Portland, OR 97214
###-###-####

There are lots of vegetarian and vegan options.

The perfect place is PB & Ellies, in SW.

http://www.pbecafe.com/

It may be a bit off the path for people in SE, but it is SO worth it. They have something for all ages, and a small play area in the middle for toddlers. Check out the website. The food is good, too!

First, where do you sell your candles? Second, I hate to mention another pizza place, but I went to Old Town Pizza with about 6 other couples... we all had babies! As far as I could tell, the wait staff was awesome. Also Sip n Krantz in the Pearl and Sydney's Cafe are very kid friendly. No dinner, but a great place to hang out on a rainy afternoon.

We love to go to the Alameda Brewpub, on 47th and Fremont, they are right on par with the Laurelwood, but not as much kid chaos, also almost all of the places on Alberta (Helsers has great breakfast) are good with kids.

Try Max's pub in downtown Tigard. We live very near it and go there often. they have a children's play area also!

I haven't been there yet, but I've heard a lot of a place called PB & Ellie's Cafe. I get their newsletter once a month about their activities and event nights. You can check them out at www.pbecafe.com - Good Luck!

Hi, there; I've got 2 for you. (They are both on the east side.) Old Wives; Tales on 13th and Burnside has a kids' play area and it serves beer and wine. Also Aztec Willie and Joey Rose's Taqueria on 15th and Broadway NE. They have a play area and a full bar. Both are fairly reasonable ($10.00 for a standard dinner entree. Hope this helped!

I do not have any suggestions for specific resaurants, but try looking for ones without play areas, but a noisy atmosphere. Your boys are old enough to start learning that they need to sit at the table through the meal, and a noisy restaurant is the perfect place to practice. Just bring crayons, and activities as well as maybe a snack for while they wait.

Have you ever heard of PB & Elly's? I have heard great things about it!

Sip N Kranz in the Pearl is good for late lunches or morning coffee/breakfast. They have a large play room and are located just across from a water park (for summer activity). Also on the same block is a great sushi restaraunt, Sinju. They have a closed room with floor seating so the kids can walk around the table and not be a "bother" to other people.

A.,
I have a 3 year old boy and a 6 year old girl. We like Racoon Lodge on Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. It's much more family-friendly than the name implies. Great kid menu, with more than just hamburger and chicken nuggets. Coloring pages, and friendly staff help take the pressure off when kids are a little high energy. Locally owned. Great beers, too.

We also like Pizzicato restaurants. They are part of a chain, but I think it's based in the Portland area. The restaurants are just noisy enough so that the sound of a fussy kid isn't too obvious. They have coloring pages, and big booths so you can slide in with the kid on the inside and the parent on the edge. They also offer wine and nice selection of beers.

A third choice is Salivador Molly's in HIllsdale. Pretty good kid menu, and very fun decor. There's a bucket of peanuts on the table to snack on while you wait for your food. The shells just go on the floor--what's more fun than that?

Great question, by the way. I'm looking forward to reading all the responses.

We have a few other places where we go with the kids. Our girls are 2 and 4...

- Hot Lips Pizza on Hawthorne, no toys, but its large & casual, plus they have their own Soda, serve beer & wine. And not to forget, great pizza.

- It's a Beautiful Pizza on SE Belmot is another kid friendly place (and yes, they do serve beer & wine)

It's A Beautiful Pizza
3342 SE Belmont St (@ Southeast 33rd Avenue)
Phone: ###-###-####

- Laughing Planet Cafe on SE Belmont (there also other locations)- http://www.laughingplanetcafe.com/

- Pho Van on SE 82nd is also a good place to take the kids along

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