Recommended Family-Friendly Restaurants

Going out to dinner to Memphis Family-Friendly Restaurants with your kids should be fun. The key is to find Memphis Family-Friendly Restaurants that have food you all like and an interesting atmosphere (to hold their attention). It helps to bring something to do while you wait for the food since kids are used to sitting down to the table and having food immediately available.

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From Suzanne:

I like to throw paper and crayons or pencils in my purse so we can all draw (not every restaurant has kid menus and crayons). When my kids were younger I had special “restaurant toys” I’d bring along. It helps to have something special they don’t see everyday. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? We try to leave the electronic toys for the end of the meal if we use them at all (in case their food comes out quickly and they are finished really early).

From Sally:

I let my kids help with things like getting drinks, looking at the menu, getting silverware if needed. I usually ask if they need to visit the restroom either right after we order at the counter, or right after we order at a sit-down place. This keeps them from asking RIGHT AFTER we get our meal.

We also teach them to smile, look the server in the eye, speak loudly, and order their own drinks. We’ve been training them to say please and thank you to the server and to not be playing on the phone while ordering.

I actually bring an adult coloring book for myself, as well as kids’ coloring books. We like colored pencils better than crayons since we leave our “out to eat bag” in the car all the time – and crayons melt! We keep a pencil sharpener in the bag as well. We used to have a cheap pencil sharpener that didn’t catch the shavings, but I felt so bad leaving a mess for the server to clean (even more so than usual) that we keep this nice one in our bag all the time.

This chair is my absolute favorite for restaurants. I like it better than a highchair or booster. You can even clip it to the table inside a booth, and the kiddo really feels like they are eating with the adults.

My favorite toys that are small to keep in our restaurant bag are Tegu blocks and Traffic Jam game (both have their own carry case). I know a lot of moms swear by Magnatiles (I linked to an off-brand below because it had a carry-case) and I also love Kanoodles (but they are definitely a choking hazard for babies, and can easily have pieces lost, so supervise while working on this).

We usually don’t straight-up let our kids watch a show at the table unless we are traveling and Mom & Dad want a long, extended, drink-a-bottle-of-wine-with-our-kids-at-the-table dinner. Our favorite apps for kids at the dinner table are

1. Disney Appisodes – you have to pay $5 each for these but they are your kids’ favorite Disney Junior shows interactive. The kids have assignments to progress through the show. [You can maybe get one show free, have to pay for the rest.]
2. Heads Up Kids – you can get I think 5 decks for free on this app but we have paid for additional decks. We will frequently play this with the kids. I think this app is so incredibly educational. We usually choose to display the word underneath the picture and I think it helps with reading skills and sight words. You can also customize your own decks with peoples’ faces and names. We have had so many people in restaurants and in lines at rides ask us about this app. Kids can get a little bit rowdy playing this app so I don’t recommend it for more formal restaurants. I don’t necessarily think that kids are any rowdier playing this app than young adults can be at a bar though. So I don’t think it’s inappropriate to be playing at a louder restaurant. There is an option at the end to save the video which I love. Another thing I love about this app is that it is great for all ages. Very little kids are good at guessing if a big kid wants to be the describer. As a parent, if you want to describe you can give clues like color, size, or “We saw this animal at the zoo today!” Bigger kids can practice their school skills describing something. And if you have tweens or kids that you just want to interact with you could even consider downloading the harder version.
   
3. All of the Endless Apps – so wonderful for tracing letters (the correct way!), sight words, and phonetic sounds. Free and paid options.
4. All of the Peekaboo Apps for toddlers – great for ages 2 and under. Free and paid options.
5. Fruit Ninja – pretty much only fun.
6. Card games or chess games – Our kids haven’t gotten into this yet but I think it’s pretty educational and could see this as a great analytical option for older kids. [Another option would be REAL playing cards – if that doesn’t offend you at dinner.]
7. Chicktionary – unscramble letters to make words – I think Apple no longer supports this but Android does.

Here are some area Memphis Family-Friendly Restaurants the moms recommend:

Loflin Yard
Downtown – EMM Review 2017

Pizza Rev
East Memphis – EMM Review 2017

Hopdoddy
East Memphis & Overton Square – EMM Review 2018

Central BBQ
East Memphis, Downtown, several other places – EMM East Memphis Review 2018

Kitchen at Shelby Farms
East Memphis – almost Cordova area – EMM Review 2018

Tokyo Grill
Two locations: Park Ave & Kirby Road
my boys love it

Ciao Bella
East Memphis

• Ciao Bella is always good.
• Ditto Ciao Bella

Trolley Stop Market
Midtown
Great kid-friendly (and healthy) options for kids–and good beverages for parents! And LOCAL!

Three Angels Diner
Midtown

• Great kid-friendly (and healthy) options for kids–and good beverages for parents! And LOCAL!
• amazing, local and in a class all their own.

Pete and Sams
East Memphis
great menu and no one notices if your kids are crazy.

Houston’s
East Memphis
Slightly “fancy” atmosphere but loud and interesting enough to keep the kids occupied

Swanky’s Taco Shop
East Memphis, Germantown, Southhaven
Great food, fun atmosphere, nice patio when the weather is good

Las Delicias
East Memphis

• Great food and definitely kid friendly!
• amazing, local and in a class all their own.

Memphis Pizza Cafe
Overton Square, East Memphis, Collierville, Germantown, Southhaven

• amazing, local and in a class all their own.
• can’t get any more local than that. lol! Our fav is in Mid-town on Madison.

Majestic Grille
Downtown

• downtown is good, low key and kid friendly at least it is for brunch-I am sure would be for dinner.
• great patio – watch the trolley go by!

Huey’sSeveral locations
Any restaurant that encourages you to stick toothpicks to the ceiling is “family friendly”

Bosco’s
Midtown

• my review
• pizza bar is always entertaining for my 5 year old
• great beer for the adults!

Kooky CanuckDowntown

Russo’s PizzaGermantown

Dino’s GrillMidtown

Flying Fish
Downtown

• EMM Review
• Flying Fish Downtown–huge hit with the kiddos and great food. Across the street from Peabody on 2nd St.
• Flying Fish is another much more casual option downtown.
• Ditto on Flying Fish

A-tan
East Memphis

Osaka
Collierville, Cordova, Olive Branch
My boys always love Osaka or any other hibachi Japanese restaurant.

Texas De Brazil
Downtown

• Our son is 5 and does well there. He likes watching the guys walk around with the meat and loves eating it too.
• My kids love Texas de Brazil – and they have a really good kids rate!

Red Koi
East Memphis
Great hibachi and sushi.

Dyer’s Cafe
Collierville

P.F. Chang’s
East Memphis