Good family friendly restaurants?

[Rjcsjc62]

To echo what has already been said, for my family it's Montana's.

The food is good, ignore food snobs who say it isn't.
Good Draught beer selection for you.
You can draw on the tables which provides entertainment while waiting for your food.
If its somebody's birthday they can wear giant moose antlers and sing to you, kids love that.

[calgarygeologist]

Nicastro's on Center Street and 28 Ave is pretty solid.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Blue Star Diner is a favorite for our family.

Pretty good food. Easily shareable meals. Pretty cheap.

[JiriHrdina]

Swiss Chalet.
Not kidding. Reasonably price, the food is OK and they make things really easy if you have young kids.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

Blue Star Diner is a favorite for our family.

Pretty good food. Easily shareable meals. Pretty cheap.

Came into recommend blue star. No kids menu but lots of kid friendly shareable plates like the tacos.

My problem with the crap chains like BPs is that people eating there prevents good restaurants from getting out to the burbs.

$2 more per person than Ihop you can eat breakfast at the Nash. Blue star is the same price as BPs. Notable is the same price as Earls.

I wish people would quit spending money on bad suburban restaurants so they could be replaced with good ones

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by peter12

Are you serious? Places like Boston Pizza and Montana's are exorbitantly priced for the microwaved garbage they serve you.

A) I hardly eat in restaurants. B) The places I go to are better than BPs, and a lot cheaper.

http://www.yelp.ca/biz/fast-lane-pizza-calgary

http://www.yelp.ca/biz/santorini-gre...ly+restaurants

http://www.yelp.ca/biz/palermo-famil...ly+restaurants

There. Three much better places for less money.

Why didn't you just post this to start?

[peter12]

Because MMF... Because.

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by troutman

A place where your rugrats may not annoy the other guests as much.

fyp

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by peter12

Are you serious? Places like Boston Pizza and Montana's are exorbitantly priced for the microwaved garbage they serve you.

A) I hardly eat in restaurants. B) The places I go to are better than BPs, and a lot cheaper.

http://www.yelp.ca/biz/fast-lane-pizza-calgary

http://www.yelp.ca/biz/santorini-gre...ly+restaurants

http://www.yelp.ca/biz/palermo-famil...ly+restaurants

There. Three much better places for less money.

I am guessing that you don't have kids.

I just looked at the menu for santorini. I saw a lot of things there for $25 or more. Other than a larger pizza most of the menu at BP is under $17.

And the food at montana's is pretty good and there is a wide variety of stuff.

And I have yet to meet many 7 yr old who get pumped for Greek food.

[jeep991]

Originally Posted by GGG

I wish people would quit spending money on bad suburban restaurants so they could be replaced with good ones

Going to Blue Star or the Nash is fine if you live near them but if you don't, who want's to drag a couple of hungry kids < 10 halfway across the city to eat? Maybe on a special occasion but if my wife and I are taking the kids out, its because we are not in the mood to cook and want someplace close to feed the kids. That's where BP's or Montana's comes in. They put up restaurants in suburban neighborhoods. There are 4 BP's within 15 minutes from where I live. I'm not saying BP's is great food, but the kids like it, its close, and the food for me is ok.

And yes, Swiss Chalet is a good family restaurant too. Seen kids go mental there without anyone batting an eyelash.

[JD]

Originally Posted by socktape

Dover Pizza, because kids can't go to Atlas anymore.

Haha now THAT'S a throwback. It's been, what, 15 years since Atlas closed off the restaurant side? I was raised on Atlas delivery and occasional trips to their restaurant. As an adult, I didn't mind at all that they enlarged the bar!

That is, until I wanted to take my daughter there.

I also don't get the BP's snobbery. It's simple and convenient. You can get a cold beer and watch the game while the kids colour and eat food they recognize. When you're dealing with a family, a top-notch culinary experience is not always the priority.

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by GGG

Came into recommend blue star. No kids menu but lots of kid friendly shareable plates like the tacos.

My problem with the crap chains like BPs is that people eating there prevents good restaurants from getting out to the burbs.

$2 more per person than Ihop you can eat breakfast at the Nash. Blue star is the same price as BPs. Notable is the same price as Earls.

I wish people would quit spending money on bad suburban restaurants so they could be replaced with good ones

I see your point, but the problem is that good restaurants are not chains and won't just open up a new location just because there is no BP, Montana's or Keg around.

The truly good restaurants in Calgary don't even compete with those places.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by peter12

Are you serious? Places like Boston Pizza and Montana's are exorbitantly priced for the microwaved garbage they serve you.

In no way am I saying that these places are gourmet restaurants. I am curious how you think food is made though. Do you think pizzas are microwaved? As someone who spent 8 years in restaurants, front and back of house, there is very little food that is microwaved.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

I am guessing that you don't have kids.

I just looked at the menu for santorini. I saw a lot of things there for $25 or more. Other than a larger pizza most of the menu at BP is under $17.

And the food at montana's is pretty good and there is a wide variety of stuff.

And I have yet to meet many 7 yr old who get pumped for Greek food.

I just searched "top family restaurants" in Yelp Calgary.

[Ace]

The Chili's in the NE is some kind of good. The food doesn't come out tasting like boil in a bag, and the atmosphere is definitely kid friendly. We get the table side Guacamole and the kids can start eating chips right away.

Now I can't make a suggestion like that without warning that if you're in Banff, the Chili's there is the absolute worst food a restaurant can serve, and even if you read all the bad reviews and say to yourself, I like Chili's these tourists don't know what their talking about; take it from this guy, every word is true. Stay Away

[Table 5]

I like taking my family to Chotchkie's. The staff is really friendly (sometimes a little too much) and they always have such zany uniforms.

[Locke]

Dont hesitate to try out Chief Chiniki's rest-stop. Its brand new. Guaranteed no smoky flavour!

[troutman]

My boys are very consistent in ordering only poutine and penne alfredo. Most "family" places offer both.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by Ace

The Chili's in the NE is some kind of good. The food doesn't come out tasting like boil in a bag, and the atmosphere is definitely kid friendly. We get the table side Guacamole and the kids can start eating chips right away.

Now I can't make a suggestions like that without warning that if you're in Banff the Chili's there is the absolute worst food a restaurant can serve, and even if you read all the bad reviews and say to yourself, I like Chili's these tourists don't know what their talking about; take it from this guy every word is true. Stay Away

I worked at the Chili's on Barlow as a server and bartender for 2.5 years. Before the roads all changed from the airport, it used to be the first restaurant on the right side of the road when you left YYC. Cactus Club was on the left, but if was a little tricky to get to, whereas you could just pull into Chili's. Americans loved this, as they got to have an American restaurant as soon as they entered Canada. I know it's weird, but I served so many Americans because of this. They loved the iced tea, because it is brewed/unsweetened iced tea, instead of the Canadian version.

The food at Chili's is decent. I recommend the chicken crispers and ribs. I sold a ton of fajitas, and people loved them. The quesadillas and burgers were good for lunch, and a few salads looked okay. Stay away from the country fried steak. Every single thing about it is disgusting. Don't order the house wine. It comes from a 16L bag in a box. Many restaurants use this wine as cooking wine. All other wines are 50 cents (might be $1 now) more and come from a bottle.

Fun fact: I dropped the very first plate of food I went to carry out to the table. It made it about 2 feet from the expo and down it went. It was a great first impression.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I like taking my family to Chotchkie's. The staff is really friendly (sometimes a little too much) and they always have such zany uniforms.

I prefer Shenanigans. Staff is fun loving and mediocre at their jobs. Don't seem to care much, and my steak tasted a little weird after I sent it back (I think it was the parmesan).

One note: Don't accidentally enter the kitchen when looking for the bathroom. You may end up face-to-balls with the batwing, the brains, or, god help us, the goat.