1 July 2013

Restaurants with early meals for toddlers?

| anon_e_mouse
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Can anyone recommend any restaurants that serve super-early meals for eating out with young children in Canberra?

(5:30pm onwards)?

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Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd4:43 pm 02 Jul 13

KT67 said :

Rollersk8r said :

We did Pizza Gusto in Braddon the other week on the dot of 5:30 and it was great. There’s only a few tables and there’s basically nothing in terms of facilities (no toilets, no high chairs) – but the pizza is excellent and comes out very fast. Buy a bottle of wine next door, eat the pizza straight out of the box – and everyone’s happy!

+1 we have been taking our nearly two year old here since it opened. Biggest trouble is trying to get a hungry child to wait for a just out of the oven pizza to cool enough to eat it.

Haha my girls have just realised they love pizza and are the same. We need to take the topping off for them for a couple minutes to Coll then put it back on(wich they then pull off and eat separately lol)

Rollersk8r said :

We did Pizza Gusto in Braddon the other week on the dot of 5:30 and it was great. There’s only a few tables and there’s basically nothing in terms of facilities (no toilets, no high chairs) – but the pizza is excellent and comes out very fast. Buy a bottle of wine next door, eat the pizza straight out of the box – and everyone’s happy!

+1 we have been taking our nearly two year old here since it opened. Biggest trouble is trying to get a hungry child to wait for a just out of the oven pizza to cool enough to eat it.

Watson said :

I didn’t know that Copa replaced Zeff’s! I haven’t lived in that area for the past 6 months…

You must’ve been away the week Copa’s nightmare became Canberra’s nightmare.

Around the Belconnen area there is

– Bella Vista (by Lake Ginninderra): Italian, *very* family friendly, opens at 5-30 and serve good kids meals quickly (and have staff who dote on kids).
– Wok n Sizzle (Kippax) – crappy name, but a good family friendly Asian joint that opens at 5-30
– Can Tho (Belconnen – near the mall) is always solid
– the usual clubs are pretty good and serve bistro stuff

Sigh. I never read the OP’s question to the hive as: “Please give me advice on dinner times for toddlers and assess my parenting”.

Some Asian places actually open at 5pm. Mildly flavoured hokien noodles might go down ok. And prawn toast. If they will eat noodles, the Dickson Noodlehouse doesn’t close at all between lunch and dinner to my knowledge (I’ve gotten take-away there at 3pm and 4pm).

I’m pretty sure Sammy’s in Civic opens fairly early too. And the bonus there is that you can sit out side under the heater. I don’t know about you, but I always prefer eating outside with little kids.

I didn’t know that Copa replaced Zeff’s! I haven’t lived in that area for the past 6 months…

screaming banshee6:43 am 02 Jul 13

thatsnotme said :

screaming banshee said :

Having eaten out with the kids since day dot I question why it needs to be so early? Are you British?

What time do you put your kids to bed? The OP mentioned Toddlers, and my toddlers were / are in bed by 7 – 7.30pm at the latest. That means their dinner time is early. Seems perfectly reasonable for the OP to want to keep dinner time for the kids similar to what they’re used to.

In bed at 7.30, so a 6pm sitting normally accommodates this but if you go out for dinner and they are awake a little later so what?

Keeping the kids occupied and engaged is the trick to keeping them under control, but for shite sake don’t stick them in a pram with an ipad. If the meal is going to be a little later than give them a slightly larger or later arvo snack.

For what it’s worth italian kitchen in Braddon was great with kids. For any restaurant make sure the kids meals come out with the entrees.

screaming banshee said :

Having eaten out with the kids since day dot I question why it needs to be so early? Are you British?

What time do you put your kids to bed? The OP mentioned Toddlers, and my toddlers were / are in bed by 7 – 7.30pm at the latest. That means their dinner time is early. Seems perfectly reasonable for the OP to want to keep dinner time for the kids similar to what they’re used to.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd9:38 pm 01 Jul 13

screaming banshee said :

Having eaten out with the kids since day dot I question why it needs to be so early? Are you British?

What does British have to do with eating times? Not sure what you mean.

We eat around 1700-1730 every day. Me and kids are defo hungry by then.

My kids can wait until like 1830 at the most but then start ragen.

screaming banshee7:10 pm 01 Jul 13

Having eaten out with the kids since day dot I question why it needs to be so early? Are you British?

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd6:31 pm 01 Jul 13

Grilld is great for lunch. Not sure if you want to go there for dinner?

Indian affair is the most accommodating place for kids I have ever been to. My girls love it and my plan is for them to work there as teenagers so I can reap those benefits. 🙂

Agree on Asian, although my girls don’t like Asian food. Even spring rolls(weird kids).

Yarralumla Turkish. Same as the Brandon pizza place peeps have said. Get some bread, dips, mixed meat in a box, drinks from the iga and go down the lake.

Dellissio in Curtin opens at 530 and has many kids options.

BelcoMan said :

Grill’d is definitely worth a go. Good family dining but a step up from the big 5

It would want to be: 20 bucks for a burger, chips and a drink.

Grill’d is definitely worth a go. Good family dining but a step up from the big 5

Madam Cholet2:37 pm 01 Jul 13

Depends whether you are North or South. I would agree with the asian option – especially if they are on the outside of the shopping centres as they are in Woden or Tuggers. The great thing about these places is that you only order what the adults could eat (but obviously not spicy) and ask fro an extra bowl for the children. Kids love noodles and rice and stuff they can pick up like spring rolls or wontons etc. The asian places are really child friendly from my experience and at that time, most of the shoppers are on their way out.

The new burger places (can’t recall the name, but one at Woden near the open air carpark and also now in Manuka, no not McDonalds!!) does kids meals – still huge but comes with juice popper and colouring pens etc.

Specific places – all I can think of is La Piazza at Erindale, but the service is usually woeful. They do early meals with 50% off or something to that effect.

Watson said :

Most Asian restaurants open at 5.30. And some of the cheaper Italian places too. Pasta is probably easier to sell to a toddler than Asian. We used to regularly go to Zefirelli’s in Dickson when my daughter was that age. Be warned though that their kids’ meals are humongous (so are their adult serves) and can probably feed 4 toddlers. It’s pretty cheap though. And they have pretty good gelato.

Zeffs in Dickson closed, reopened as a Brazilian joint – and started off rather badly… Look up Copa threads.

Most Asian restaurants open at 5.30. And some of the cheaper Italian places too. Pasta is probably easier to sell to a toddler than Asian. We used to regularly go to Zefirelli’s in Dickson when my daughter was that age. Be warned though that their kids’ meals are humongous (so are their adult serves) and can probably feed 4 toddlers. It’s pretty cheap though. And they have pretty good gelato.

Rollersk8r said :

We did Pizza Gusto in Braddon the other week on the dot of 5:30 and it was great. There’s only a few tables and there’s basically nothing in terms of facilities (no toilets, no high chairs) – but the pizza is excellent and comes out very fast. Buy a bottle of wine next door, eat the pizza straight out of the box – and everyone’s happy!

They do have a toilet out the back if you ask nicely. Bring glasses too for the wine.

For early toddlers, watch out for salt content in restaurant meals if they are eating the same stuff as the adults …

Kerryhemsley1:16 pm 01 Jul 13

Agree with Gusto as a good option.

Wagamama serve that early, have highchairs and colouring crayons, and kids meals are free with adult meals.

We did Pizza Gusto in Braddon the other week on the dot of 5:30 and it was great. There’s only a few tables and there’s basically nothing in terms of facilities (no toilets, no high chairs) – but the pizza is excellent and comes out very fast. Buy a bottle of wine next door, eat the pizza straight out of the box – and everyone’s happy!

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