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A baked mac ‘n cheese — Mac and cheese and other kid-friendly items can be found at Patti Ann’s.

A Guide to the Most Kid-Friendly Restaurants in NYC

Dining out with babies, toddlers, kids, and even tweens can actually be enjoyable

by Eater Staff Updated Nov 29, 2022, 11:32am EST

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Mac and cheese and other kid-friendly items can be found at Patti Ann’s.

| Noah Fecks/Patti Ann’s

by Eater Staff Updated Nov 29, 2022, 11:32am EST

Dining out with kids doesn’t have to feel like a chore when a restaurant ticks off all the right boxes: high chairs and booster seats (call ahead for availability), a set of crayons, a menu with options for picky eaters, and perhaps even space to run around. It’s also a lot more pleasurable when an establishment actually welcomes babies, toddlers, kids, and even tweens. When dining out with children, it’s a chance to not only share a meal but it can be an educational experience as well — it all depends on choosing the right restaurant for diners of all ages.

Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; it may pose a risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial COVID transmission.

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Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

This sprawling barbecue with plenty of parking in the vicinity serves some of the city’s better smoked meats, spanning a pan-regional selection of styles. Since its founding in 2004, the menu has only gotten longer, adding sliders, banh mi, bowls, po’ boys, cheesesteak sandwiches, grilled salmon, and many other lures for kids and adults. Sides are particularly noteworthy, including good baked beans, great mac and cheese, and Syracuse salt potatoes, a nod to Dinosaur’s upstate New York hometown.

700 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027

Visit Website

Planks of meat on a seeded bun with grass on the ground below it. — Brisket sandwich at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.

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Harlem Shake

Done up like a rockin’ ‘50s diner with lots of chrome, twirling stools, and a turquoise color scheme, Harlem Shake specializes in heavily seared smash burgers, along with dressed fries, chicken sandwiches, and hot dogs. Soft serve ice cream is a secondary focus, with shakes topped with whipped cream and root beer floats. For parents, there are beers and pitchers of mimosas.

Open in Google Maps

100 W 124th St, New York, NY 10027

Visit Website

Three plates on a black tray. — Harlem classic burger, fries, and Snoop Dog, with cheese and chili.

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Good Enough To Eat

This Upper West Side staple has been feeding families since 1981, with an emphasis on salads, sandwiches, chili and the like, and with special attention paid to breakfasts ranging from Austin-style migas to eggs Florentine. There’s a build-a-burger option that runs to dozens of choices, and an opportunity to order thick shakes alongside. No mystery why so many families with small children dine here. Dinner features a bargain prix-fixe menu of four courses

Open in Google Maps

520 Columbus Ave, New York, NY 10024

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A nighttime view of a restaurant with the front open and a few diners sitting at tables. — Good Enough to Eat on the Upper West Side.

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12 Perfect Pancakes in New York City

Jackson Diner

Now 42 years-old, this mainstay of Jackson Heights began as a diner transformed with an Indian menu, but now occupies a sprawling dining room down the block. The food is as good as ever, in a mainly Punjabi vein, which means lots of rice biryanis, vegetable masala, and tangy curries of chicken and lamb. For kids who prefer mild fare, there are plenty of mellow flatbreads and tandoori chickens, and smoky kebabs.

Open in Google Maps

37-47 74th Street, Queens, NY 11372

Visit Website

Interior of Jackson Diner with dozens of diners in the brownish premises — The dining room is large and commodious.

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Cowgirl

This Western-themed honky-tonk has been delighting parents and kids alike for decades with its Southern and Southwestern food, and its exhibit of ranch and cowgirl memorabilia. There’s even a small toy store implanted in the front of the restaurant, and good strong drinks for the parents. Begin with the famous black-eyed-pea dip, and then progress to a Frito pie, chicken-fried steak, or the excellent barbecued ribs. Lots of vegetarian stuff, too.

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519 Hudson St, New York, NY 10014

Visit Website

A breaded cutlet smothered in gravy. — Chicken fried steak at Cowgirl Hall of Fame.

Also featured in:

John's of Bleecker St.

What kid doesn’t love pizza? Or for that matter, what adult? This venerable coal-oven pizzeria, filled with wooden booths and murals of Naples, has been entertaining families for a century. The pies cook in just a minute or two and are whisked to the table. While you wait, there’s a rudimentary salad dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar. The pizza crusts are thin, the tomato sauce plain, and toppings not overly profuse. This place offers some of the best New York-style pies in the city.

Open in Google Maps

278 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014

Visit Website

A dining room with murals on opposite walls and a round pizza on every table — or two. — The interior of John’s is rollicking and picturesque.

Also featured in:

Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream

With its vast range of flavors, Morgenstern’s provides picky kids with more choices than they know what to do with, including entire rosters of vanillas and chocolates, and flavors featuring candy and nuts implanted in the ice cream. As of late there are also great smash burgers and fries, so that it’s possible to eat your entire family meal here at mainly outdoor tables.

Open in Google Maps

88 W Houston St, New York, NY 10012

Visit Website

A white room with glass ice cream cases. — The gleaming white interior of Morgenstern’s and list of flavors.

Nom Wah Tea Parlor

The full-fledged dim sum experience at football field-sized spots like Sunset Park’s Bamboo Garden or Chinatown’s Golden Unicorn is delightfully frenetic. But for the same excellent dishes in a relatively serene environment, there’s always Nom Wah Tea Parlor. At Chinatown’s oldest restaurant, dim sum is ordered from a menu, and the 1920s decor is a delight. Don’t miss the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves, pork buns, rice noodle rolls, and shrimp-and-chive dumplings.

13 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013

Visit Website

A chef hustles in the foreground as a knot of customers wait in the background on a darkened Doyers Alley. — Nom Wah lies on picturesque Doyers Street.

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Juliana's

This successor to next-door Grimaldi’s (still open, but not as good as it once was) keeps up the faith where coal-fired ovens are concerned, baking the pies to within an inch of their lives in a couple of minutes. Pizza is something both kids and their parents can agree on, the Juliana’s are real gourmet pies, the equal of any in Brooklyn, the pizza capital of the world. Fennel sausage and onion pies are a favorite.

Open in Google Maps

19 Old Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Visit Website

A round pie splashed with tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella in swatches, with additional skin on swatches of eggplant. — The eggplant pie is another good choice.

Also featured in:

Rolo’s

Four Gramercy Tavern vets converged in Ridgewood in early 2021 to found Rolo’s, a restaurant propelled by its wood-burning oven. Chose from ricotta cavatelli with sage and brown butter, roast beets with gouda and orange vinaigrette, arctic char with sauce gribiche, and a hamburger that is already legendary. The corner pub atmosphere is family-friendly.

Open in Google Maps

853 Onderdonk Ave, Queens, NY 11385

Visit Website

Also featured in:

Junior's Restaurant & Bakery

This Brooklyn landmark — convenient to the Manhattan Bridge, BQE, and a slew of subways — has been around since 1950. It started life as a Jewish deli, but over the years, it extended its menu to better reflect Brooklyn’s population. Besides matzo ball soup, latkes, and a range of reubens (one with turkey), it also offers barbecued pork ribs, Philly cheesesteaks, fried calamari, avocado toasts — and all-day breakfasts. Pro tip: Save room for the cheesecake.

Open in Google Maps

386 Flatbush Ave Ext, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Visit Website

A wedge-shaped building garishly let, with a small group of people in the pointy vestibule. — Junior’s, open from 7 a.m. in the morning till late into the night.

Cafe Spaghetti

Down by the old container port in what is now delicately called the Columbia Waterfront District, Cafe Spaghetti appeared this past summer with great fanfare. The menu offered Italian-American dishes only slightly updated, with plenty of pastas and a wine list that leans natural. More important is the giant fenced backyard with its shaded tables and an ornamental scooter that kids love to climb on.

126 Union St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

Visit Website

Three pasta dishes blanketed in red and white sauces are arranged on a plate. — Who doesn’t love old-fashioned pasta?

Also featured in:

Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain

There’s tons for kids to ogle when they enter Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain, a longtime favorite carved from a former pharmacy that dates to a century ago, featuring milkshakes, sundaes, sandwiches, pastries, and homemade sodas. A display of tin wind-up toys makes this child-friendly place feel like museum, and watching the soda jerks gyrate while making milkshakes and floats is an education in itself.

513 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

Visit Website

A hot dog flops out of the bun on both ends, plus a foamy root beer float. — A root beer float, with the root beer made while you watch, plus a fully dressed footlong makes a nice kids’ meal.

Also featured in:

Patti Ann's

From the folks who gave us Olmsted, Patti Ann’s is a playful Midwestern-style restaurant named after the owner Greg Baxtrom’s mom. Lots of kid-pleasers on the menu, including pigs in blankets, baked pastas, shrimp cocktail, and a blooming onion. The main courses offer twists on diner classics, like a Salisbury steak made from duck, and a chicken-fried bone-in pork chop smothered in mushroom gravy. Plenty of fresh breads and baked goods on the menu, too.

Open in Google Maps

570 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238

Visit Website

Toys and more.

Bamboo Garden

Head to this spacious Sunset Park spot, which got a full facelift in 2017, for a festive Chinese meal. Dim sum is reliably fun-filled and gregarious, with lots of surrounding action and no need to worry about kids being noisy or long waits for food. Expect a plethora of dumplings, taro cakes, and slippery, shrimp-studded har gow. Bamboo Garden also turns out massive soup dumplings that require a straw to eat. During the evenings, the menu emphasizes pricier seafood.

Open in Google Maps

4703 6409 8th Avenue, 4703, Brooklyn, NY 11220

Visit Website

Bamboo Garden

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Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

700 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027

This sprawling barbecue with plenty of parking in the vicinity serves some of the city’s better smoked meats, spanning a pan-regional selection of styles. Since its founding in 2004, the menu has only gotten longer, adding sliders, banh mi, bowls, po’ boys, cheesesteak sandwiches, grilled salmon, and many other lures for kids and adults. Sides are particularly noteworthy, including good baked beans, great mac and cheese, and Syracuse salt potatoes, a nod to Dinosaur’s upstate New York hometown.

700 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027

Visit Website

Planks of meat on a seeded bun with grass on the ground below it. — Brisket sandwich at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.

Harlem Shake

100 W 124th St, New York, NY 10027

Done up like a rockin’ ‘50s diner with lots of chrome, twirling stools, and a turquoise color scheme, Harlem Shake specializes in heavily seared smash burgers, along with dressed fries, chicken sandwiches, and hot dogs. Soft serve ice cream is a secondary focus, with shakes topped with whipped cream and root beer floats. For parents, there are beers and pitchers of mimosas.

Open in Google Maps

100 W 124th St, New York, NY 10027

Visit Website

Three plates on a black tray. — Harlem classic burger, fries, and Snoop Dog, with cheese and chili.

Good Enough To Eat

520 Columbus Ave, New York, NY 10024

This Upper West Side staple has been feeding families since 1981, with an emphasis on salads, sandwiches, chili and the like, and with special attention paid to breakfasts ranging from Austin-style migas to eggs Florentine. There’s a build-a-burger option that runs to dozens of choices, and an opportunity to order thick shakes alongside. No mystery why so many families with small children dine here. Dinner features a bargain prix-fixe menu of four courses

Open in Google Maps

520 Columbus Ave, New York, NY 10024

Visit Website

A nighttime view of a restaurant with the front open and a few diners sitting at tables. — Good Enough to Eat on the Upper West Side.

Jackson Diner

37-47 74th Street, Queens, NY 11372

Now 42 years-old, this mainstay of Jackson Heights began as a diner transformed with an Indian menu, but now occupies a sprawling dining room down the block. The food is as good as ever, in a mainly Punjabi vein, which means lots of rice biryanis, vegetable masala, and tangy curries of chicken and lamb. For kids who prefer mild fare, there are plenty of mellow flatbreads and tandoori chickens, and smoky kebabs.

Open in Google Maps

37-47 74th Street, Queens, NY 11372

Visit Website

Interior of Jackson Diner with dozens of diners in the brownish premises — The dining room is large and commodious.

Cowgirl

519 Hudson St, New York, NY 10014

This Western-themed honky-tonk has been delighting parents and kids alike for decades with its Southern and Southwestern food, and its exhibit of ranch and cowgirl memorabilia. There’s even a small toy store implanted in the front of the restaurant, and good strong drinks for the parents. Begin with the famous black-eyed-pea dip, and then progress to a Frito pie, chicken-fried steak, or the excellent barbecued ribs. Lots of vegetarian stuff, too.

Open in Google Maps

519 Hudson St, New York, NY 10014

Visit Website

A breaded cutlet smothered in gravy. — Chicken fried steak at Cowgirl Hall of Fame.

John's of Bleecker St.

278 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014

What kid doesn’t love pizza? Or for that matter, what adult? This venerable coal-oven pizzeria, filled with wooden booths and murals of Naples, has been entertaining families for a century. The pies cook in just a minute or two and are whisked to the table. While you wait, there’s a rudimentary salad dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar. The pizza crusts are thin, the tomato sauce plain, and toppings not overly profuse. This place offers some of the best New York-style pies in the city.

Open in Google Maps

278 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014

Visit Website

A dining room with murals on opposite walls and a round pizza on every table — or two. — The interior of John’s is rollicking and picturesque.

Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream

88 W Houston St, New York, NY 10012

With its vast range of flavors, Morgenstern’s provides picky kids with more choices than they know what to do with, including entire rosters of vanillas and chocolates, and flavors featuring candy and nuts implanted in the ice cream. As of late there are also great smash burgers and fries, so that it’s possible to eat your entire family meal here at mainly outdoor tables.

Open in Google Maps

88 W Houston St, New York, NY 10012

Visit Website

A white room with glass ice cream cases. — The gleaming white interior of Morgenstern’s and list of flavors.

Nom Wah Tea Parlor

13 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013

The full-fledged dim sum experience at football field-sized spots like Sunset Park’s Bamboo Garden or Chinatown’s Golden Unicorn is delightfully frenetic. But for the same excellent dishes in a relatively serene environment, there’s always Nom Wah Tea Parlor. At Chinatown’s oldest restaurant, dim sum is ordered from a menu, and the 1920s decor is a delight. Don’t miss the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves, pork buns, rice noodle rolls, and shrimp-and-chive dumplings.

13 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013

Visit Website

A chef hustles in the foreground as a knot of customers wait in the background on a darkened Doyers Alley. — Nom Wah lies on picturesque Doyers Street.

Juliana's

19 Old Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

This successor to next-door Grimaldi’s (still open, but not as good as it once was) keeps up the faith where coal-fired ovens are concerned, baking the pies to within an inch of their lives in a couple of minutes. Pizza is something both kids and their parents can agree on, the Juliana’s are real gourmet pies, the equal of any in Brooklyn, the pizza capital of the world. Fennel sausage and onion pies are a favorite.

Open in Google Maps

19 Old Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Visit Website

A round pie splashed with tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella in swatches, with additional skin on swatches of eggplant. — The eggplant pie is another good choice.

Rolo’s

853 Onderdonk Ave, Queens, NY 11385

Four Gramercy Tavern vets converged in Ridgewood in early 2021 to found Rolo’s, a restaurant propelled by its wood-burning oven. Chose from ricotta cavatelli with sage and brown butter, roast beets with gouda and orange vinaigrette, arctic char with sauce gribiche, and a hamburger that is already legendary. The corner pub atmosphere is family-friendly.

Open in Google Maps

853 Onderdonk Ave, Queens, NY 11385

Visit Website

Junior's Restaurant & Bakery

386 Flatbush Ave Ext, Brooklyn, NY 11201

This Brooklyn landmark — convenient to the Manhattan Bridge, BQE, and a slew of subways — has been around since 1950. It started life as a Jewish deli, but over the years, it extended its menu to better reflect Brooklyn’s population. Besides matzo ball soup, latkes, and a range of reubens (one with turkey), it also offers barbecued pork ribs, Philly cheesesteaks, fried calamari, avocado toasts — and all-day breakfasts. Pro tip: Save room for the cheesecake.

Open in Google Maps

386 Flatbush Ave Ext, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Visit Website

A wedge-shaped building garishly let, with a small group of people in the pointy vestibule. — Junior’s, open from 7 a.m. in the morning till late into the night.

Cafe Spaghetti

126 Union St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

Down by the old container port in what is now delicately called the Columbia Waterfront District, Cafe Spaghetti appeared this past summer with great fanfare. The menu offered Italian-American dishes only slightly updated, with plenty of pastas and a wine list that leans natural. More important is the giant fenced backyard with its shaded tables and an ornamental scooter that kids love to climb on.

126 Union St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

Visit Website

Three pasta dishes blanketed in red and white sauces are arranged on a plate. — Who doesn’t love old-fashioned pasta?

Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain

513 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

There’s tons for kids to ogle when they enter Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain, a longtime favorite carved from a former pharmacy that dates to a century ago, featuring milkshakes, sundaes, sandwiches, pastries, and homemade sodas. A display of tin wind-up toys makes this child-friendly place feel like museum, and watching the soda jerks gyrate while making milkshakes and floats is an education in itself.

513 Henry St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

Visit Website

A hot dog flops out of the bun on both ends, plus a foamy root beer float. — A root beer float, with the root beer made while you watch, plus a fully dressed footlong makes a nice kids’ meal.

Patti Ann's

570 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238

From the folks who gave us Olmsted, Patti Ann’s is a playful Midwestern-style restaurant named after the owner Greg Baxtrom’s mom. Lots of kid-pleasers on the menu, including pigs in blankets, baked pastas, shrimp cocktail, and a blooming onion. The main courses offer twists on diner classics, like a Salisbury steak made from duck, and a chicken-fried bone-in pork chop smothered in mushroom gravy. Plenty of fresh breads and baked goods on the menu, too.

Open in Google Maps

570 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238

Visit Website

Toys and more.

Bamboo Garden

4703 6409 8th Avenue, 4703, Brooklyn, NY 11220

Head to this spacious Sunset Park spot, which got a full facelift in 2017, for a festive Chinese meal. Dim sum is reliably fun-filled and gregarious, with lots of surrounding action and no need to worry about kids being noisy or long waits for food. Expect a plethora of dumplings, taro cakes, and slippery, shrimp-studded har gow. Bamboo Garden also turns out massive soup dumplings that require a straw to eat. During the evenings, the menu emphasizes pricier seafood.

Open in Google Maps

4703 6409 8th Avenue, 4703, Brooklyn, NY 11220

Visit Website

Bamboo Garden

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