Dining out with kids can often mean platters of chicken fingers and bowls of buttered spaghetti. But in New York City, the most dynamic and delicious place on the planet to eat, mealtime is a culinary playground, an opportunity for your kids to immerse themselves in a world of dumplings, sushi, steaks, bibimbap and much more. All you need is a map to navigate the landscape and find the best the City has to offer.
That’s where we come in. We’ve put together a list of kid-friendly (and parent-approved) restaurants—a Brooklyn brewery with pizza that kids will go crazy for, a killer Cantonese spot in Chinatown, Mexican street food with a dash of fun in the Bronx—that are first and foremost just plain great places to eat. Read on for venues that will take care of your kids, let you feel like grown-ups and give everyone a real taste of NYC’s dining scene.
Al Badawi
151 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn (also located on Upper East Side, Manhattan)
Cuisine: Palestinian, Middle Eastern
If you’re leaving Brooklyn Bridge Park or coming back on the ferry from Governors Island, head to Al Badawi, a festive spot perfect for high-energy kids (read: you can make noise and no one will care). Up front there’s a bread oven, and kids can watch bakers toss rounds of dough, baked until hot and puffy for the restaurant’s signature mezze platter—an assortment of dips like hummus, baba ghanoush, tabbouleh and labneh. The menu is full of flatbreads (think Middle Eastern pizzas), layered rice dishes (chicken, lamb or beef loaded with carrots, peas and herbs), shawarma, falafel and assorted kebabs, all in individual or family-style portions. It’s BYOB, so beforehand pop in to Heights Chateau down the block and bring a bottle or two.
Best for: A family-style feast
Courtesy, Boon Dee Moo Ka Ta
Boon Dee Moo Ka Ta
168-11 Union Turnpike, Fresh Meadows, Queens
Cuisine: Thai
For a meal that’s also an experience, there’s Boon Dee Moo Ka Ta, a Queens favorite for all-you-can-eat Thai barbecue and hot pots. The interactivity starts at the buffet. Pick your protein from choices like marinated shrimp, pork, beef and squid; then get your add-ons (noodles, vegetables, eggs) and a few apps to snack on (crab rangoon, gyoza, shrimp rolls), plus sauces that run from sweet to spicy. Back at your table, fire up the grill, which is surrounded by a moat of soup where you’ll poach your noodles and veggies while you cook your protein. It’s a lot of food and a lot of fun, and you’ve got 90 minutes to fill up. Kids 4–7 years old are charged at a reduced rate, and those under 4 eat for free.
Best for: Young cooks who want to help make the meal
Colima Taqueria
608 E. 187th St., Belmont, The Bronx
Cuisine: Mexican
This family-owned neighborhood restaurant makes outrageously delicious Mexican street food. Overstuffed burritos are finished on the griddle so they’re served hot and toasty, with gobs of melting cheese. Colima also does terrific tacos—birria, al pastor, carne asada—but it’s known for its quesatacos, the hot and crispy, skillet-fried, cheesy overstuffed tacos. Kids will get a kick out of seasonal specials such as the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos–dusted elotes and esquites, which have appeared on the menu. Meanwhile, adults can enjoy micheladas with Tajín-lined rims and frozen margaritas with paletas as complements. Freshly fried churros are a must for dessert.
Best for: Unexpected and fun concoctions
Dee’s
107-23 Metropolitan Ave., Forest Hills, Queens
Cuisine: Eclectic
It was 1993 when Forest Hills native Dee Arabian opened his wood-fired pizza place on Metropolitan Avenue, a little spot for hand-tossed pies and good company. Thirty years in he’s still welcoming his neighbors, many of whom grew up coming to Dee’s every week as kids and now bring their own brood. Over the decades Arabian has expanded the restaurant and menu, adding barbecue wings, iron-skillet meatballs, mac and cheese fritters (!) and a roster including pastas, salads and steak. This place is the embodiment of family friendly; there’s honestly nothing the kitchen won’t do for a kid.
For fans of: Feeling like a regular
Courtesy, Great N.Y. Noodletown
Great N.Y. Noodletown
28 Bowery, Chinatown, Manhattan
Cuisine: Chinese
Great N.Y. Noodletown is legendary. It’s been an NYC institution for over 40 years, known for tasty Cantonese food. That said, there is no vibe here, unless fluorescent lighting and a soundtrack of happy folks slurping noodles is your idea of atmosphere. But you’re not here for posh modern decor, so come in, get cash at the ATM in the foyer (no credit cards are accepted) and take a seat at a banquet-size round table. The menu is nearly encyclopedic, but a few things shine through. You’ll want the soy sauce chicken with ginger garlic sauce, the sautéed pea shoots, a big bowl of wonton soup (with or without noodles) and any of the salt-baked seafood dishes. If you’re with a big group of adventurous eaters, add the squid with flowering chives and seafood pan-fried noodles. You’ll all be cleaning your plates soon enough.
For fans of: The best Chinese food around
Gus’s Chop House
215 Union St., Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
Cuisine: Steakhouse
Don’t be dissuaded by the swanky decor and low lighting at Gus’s; this steakhouse is super family friendly. Chef Chris McDade has a serious pedigree—he opened nearby Popina and worked at Danny Meyer’s now closed Maialino—but he’s also the dad of a young son who shares the restaurant’s name. He’s close with his community of Carroll Gardens regulars, many of whom have at least one stroller. Choose from beautiful cuts of meat (porterhouse, hanger and rib eye), and add vegetable-forward sides like cabbage with black garlic tahini and a dusting of peanut dukkah and Comte-creamed spinach. The giant juicy burger (and occasional specials like a house-made sausage roll with grainy mustard) should please the younger set, or you can ask for an off-menu grilled cheese. And if the kids don’t like the salted maple pie, that means more for you.
Best for: Steak lovers who happen to have children
Insa. Photo: Craig Lacourt
Insa
328 Douglass St., Gowanus, Brooklyn
Cuisine: Korean
If your kids are off book on Mean Girls, sing K-pop in their sleep or have an armful of Swiftie bracelets, they’re gonna love the karaoke at Korean restaurant Insa—and all will love chef and partner Sohui Kim’s authentic menu of Korean favorites. Insa has a few choices for dining depending on whether you’re up for everyone sitting together at one of the big tables in the massive main room (it’s roughly the size of an airport hangar) or would prefer an intimate karaoke studio where the kids can sing and eat all at once. In addition to fantastic banchan (snacks that are a meal on their own), chef Kim and her team do glorious mains: DIY barbecue, fried pork cutlets and double-fried broccoli with sweet garlic soy sauce.
Best for: Shareable Korean dishes with a side of karaoke
J’s on the Bay
1189 Bay St., Rosebank, Staten Island
Cuisine: American, Continental
Chef-owner Joe Salimeni has been at the helm of neighborhood diner J’s on the Bay since 2014, turning it into a family standby with upscale flair. The menu is approachable, with burgers, pizzas, pastas and steaks for dinner and eggs and hotcakes for brunch. On a sunny day the outdoor patio at J’s in the Yard is a dream for families. On Wednesday kids nights (5–8pm), you may find Disney and other characters in the house. It’s an entertaining end to a trip to the nearby Alice Austen House or Fort Wadsworth and an easy bus ride from the terminal for the free and fun Staten Island Ferry.
Best for: Winding down after seeing the sights of Staten Island
Kaiten Zushi
276 Fifth Ave., Nomad, Manhattan
Cuisine: Japanese
Kaiten Zushi gives kids one of the best ways to eat sushi in the City—by grabbing it off a zippy conveyor belt. The fun starts with placing orders on a tabletop tablet: there are nigiri, hand rolls and maki, as well as hot items like tempura and karaage. Drinks such as wine, beer, sake and assorted Japanese soft drinks come to your table via a cheerful little robot. Then sit back, set your phone to video and listen for the whir of the conveyor belt, stopping with a sweet ding when your food selections arrive. Grab, eat and repeat.
Best for: Sushi fans who want TikTok content
Mario's. Photo: Phil Kline
Mario's
2342 Arthur Ave., Belmont, The Bronx
Cuisine: Italian
Arthur Avenue has long been synonymous with old-school Italian American eateries offering hand-rolled pasta, dark espresso and freshly filled cannoli. It’s an ideal destination for dinner after a day at the Bronx Zoo or New York Botanical Garden. Mario’s stands out for a couple of reasons: it’s one of the oldest restaurants in the neighborhood (more than 100 years) and it actually takes reservations, which many nearby restaurants do not. So book ahead and soon your white-linen-topped table will be covered with antipasti (burrata and prosciutto, fried calamari, spiedini), big bowls of pasta in around a dozen preparations and every kind of francese, marsala and parmigiana you can imagine. Mangia!
Best for: A touch of the old country
Courtesy, Oda House
Oda House
406 E. 73rd St., Upper East Side, Manhattan (also located in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn)
Cuisine: Georgian
Your kids may not know what a khachapuri is when they come to Oda House, a Georgian favorite on the Upper East Side (and convenient enough to Central Park and the Museum Mile). That’s OK. Just tell them it’s like a calzone and then watch them scarf it down. The Adjaruli version—made from freshly risen pizza dough shaped into an oval, stuffed with cheese and topped with an egg—is a showstopper and one of the restaurant’s signatures. Add a platter of grilled kebabs (mtsvadi) and the chili-like dish called lobio, made from pinto beans cooked in a clay pot and served with cornbread (mchadi). For dessert, have a slice of Maya’s apple cake, layered with Bavarian cream and glazed with chocolate; it’s named for chef Maia Acquaviva, who gave up a career as a surgeon to follow her passion to cook.
Best for: A taste of something different
Courtesy, Bad Cholesterol Bakery
Talea Cobble Hill (+ Bad Cholesterol)
61 Bergen St., Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
Cuisine: Elevated bar snacks, Pizza
This female-founded craft brewery in picturesque Cobble Hill (the original is over in Williamsburg and there are new ones in the West Village and Bryant Park) was seemingly fashioned with families in mind—airy and stroller friendly, with oversize picnic tables. At the horseshoe-shaped bar, more than a dozen taps dispense a rotating cast of Italian-style lagers, tangy sours and hoppy IPAs. In addition its menu of cheese boards, mezze and pretzels, Talea offers sourdough pizza, courtesy of partner Bad Cholesterol. Choose a classic margarita, a higher-heat version with Calabrian chili and soppressata, or a crowd-pleasing pie topped with peppery béchamel and three cheeses. If the weather’s nice, enjoy it all on the sidewalk, and be sure to check out the list of weekly events in the loft space, which are often well suited for families.
Best for: Kids who want pizza when parents want a pint
