Dining with Kids in Concord

We have a big family, and all meals are complicated affairs. 

Until last January, being the frugal folks we are, we rarely went out to eat as a family. Going out to eat was too expensive and too complicated. Plus, it is very difficult to find any restaurant that can easily accommodate a group larger than, say, five. It is amazing how tiny those booths and tables are.

And I do not like going out to dinner and having to wave to my friends or family members across the room, and smile and nod, and then, afterwards, on the way out, ask, "So, how was dinner?" It's awkward.  

Anyway, after living so frugally for so long, we decided that we should try to break out of our dull routine. We did not want our kids to grow up and say something like “Our parents were so BORing. We never did anything like go out to eat or anything else fun because there were just too many of us.” No, to prevent such a future, we set out to prove that dining out with a family of eight is easy, fun, rewarding, and something we can do any time. Just like regular families.  Plus, Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest -- a perfect day for a nice dinner out and a break from cooking and cleaning. Kind of like Mom's Day Off. So we set out to find the cheapest, friendliest, most accommodating restaurants in Concord.  We also instituted a voting policy so that every week a different kid got to choose which restaurant we’d favor with our presence. And the good news for you is that I can now bring our findings to you, my fellow resident of Concord.  

Here are the restaurants we tried, along with some price samples for the group (some of us are smaller and might not eat so much!): ($38 to $48); ; ($34); ($21); ; ; ($56 -- without ordering for the three youngest kids); ($31); ; ; ($15 to $25); ; .

Noticeably absent Concord restaurants are: , which is not open on Sundays, so did not make it into our fancy study; , which is also closed on Sunday; , because its buffet just seemed too complicated and too much like home with all that plate carrying for small children, so we didn’t even try; -- fantastic place, but I just don't see bringing six kids there.   

So here goes…. By far, the best restaurant all around was (drum roll please ...) ... . 

What other restaurant could it have been, really, when you live in Concord, New Hampshire, and you have a restaurant with a name like “Friendly’s”? Friendly’s just plain does friendly all around. Not once did we get a look of shocked horror when we arrived. No, we got nothing but smiles (They even let us rummage through their garbage once – but that’s a story for another day).  

Now Friendly's is not all happiness and sunshine for you large or frugal families out there. Just this last year, Friendly's disappointingly reduced the kids' meal age to age 12. Previously any kid up to 14 could order from the kids’ meal menu.  This was a definite plus, because with a large group of kids, you could actually have each kid order what she likes, including a drink with a fun straw and dessert, and the parents know the price up front. And there's no embarrassing deal with figuring out who's eligible for the menu and who has to get the adult menu and who gets the crayons and who doesn't. At Friendly's, everyone gets the crayons! Friendly’s servers, being so friendly, did tell us that our teens could still order from the kids’ menu, but I never feel good about that when the menu clearly states “12 and under.” But those kids have to grow up some time, so why not age 12, right?

Also the Main Street Friendly’s is very small, and there is no obvious eight-person table. But, Friendly’s is both friendly AND accommodating. The servers always made sure to get us a table together, using that special window-divider-removal method that they use. At least as of the date of the post, all eight of us can still fit in one of those booths. Okay, so the fit is tight, but we are definitely bonding when we are at Friendly’s (And Friendly’s, if you are out there, please give our kids hand wipes. My husband does not consider Friendly’s HIS favorite, because our kids leave covered with sticky stuff – mustard, ketchup, whipped cream, and ice cream, of course).  

Pizzeria Uno did not do well in our study. The people who seated us did not seem excited to see us, and finally seated us off on one dark side of the restaurant. The table was large and did actually accommodate us all well -- so that was a plus. But we found Pizzeria Uno to be expensive. Drinks for kids were some crazy amount and were additional to the kids’ meal, and our final bill, we thought, was astronomical, when we considered the lower quality and smaller portions of the kids’ meals. Uno’s cost by far the most of any restaurant we tried all year.  Plus Uno’s had an electronic device which let you place beverage and dessert orders right from the table. This seemed like a bad idea for a family with kids. Who knew when Junior was going to order a chocolate cake and a root beer float? Then, it turned out that the electronic devices were not only secret ordering devices, but also gaming machines, so within minutes of arrival, each kid had located her own gaming device and was happily playing games - alone - at the table. The kids were pleased, and I suppose we should have been pleased with the relative silence, but there was pretty much zero family bonding during this time. So Uno’s got a definite “no” vote for high price and divisive electronic devices. The kids might have felt differently, but this blog is really about us, the adults, right? So, we say “no” to Uno’s with kids.  

Hermano’s also was not a favorite. The restaurant has a kids eat free policy on Sunday, and it has lots of coloring books and crayons, which is nice, but even so, the people there just did not seem happy to see us. I like Hermano’s, but I did not like it as well with kids. Maybe we just had too many kids along. One or two might have worked out better.  

Pizza Hut, though I’ve liked it during the week (or the kids have), when I’ve brought the kids on my own, just didn’t work for the whole family. It did not feel relaxing and it wasn’t big enough to accommodate us. It also just doesn’t feel clean in there – it has that dark 1970s feel to it. Kids liked it; adults did not.  Also, that expensive kids’ drinks menu always gets us there. If you go, be sure to have the kids order water if you want to stay frugal.

Sal’s was one of our favorites – plenty of room; inexpensive; clean and friendly; and there's plenty of room. Sal's even has a room off to the side for groups. If you’re looking for pizza in Concord with a group of any size – it’s the best place.  Next to Friendly’s, Sal’s came in second with our kids.  

Dos Amigos Burritos is my personal favorite. The people there are always friendly. Like Sal’s, it’s a pick-up-your-food-at-the-counter place and a bus-your-own-tray place. I loved the fish tacos, and the kids liked their food, including the rice and beans option, which we took for the younger kids. The kids’ menu is outstanding, and it’s affordable, especially on Sundays, when kids eat free (when ordering from the kids’ menu, of course).

The 99 was good - I don't remember much except that all the kids liked it a lot.  My son kept calling it the 6-6 place afterwards, though, so it was a bit confusing.  He's still learning his numbers. But otherwise, we had an enjoyable time as a group there. We just had to sit across from each other in two booths, but that was okay.  

 Subway – good. Not my favorite, but my husband likes it (he gets a vote too!), and it works for take-out. We did not eat in Subways – just grabbed sandwiches and did drinks and supplemental vegetables and chips at home. Not as good, in my book, when you still have to set and clean up your table at home.  

Boloco – some love it (husband and teens); others really don’t like it at all. Like at Subway, we grabbed the sandwiches and gathered other supplementals at home.  Although well-loved by the older people in our family, we still can’t get our younger kids to embrace the Boloco sandwich – even the kid sandwiches aren’t well-liked. So we would usually make them PB&J at home.  

Burger King was our favorite of the fast food places in Concord. It has the best seating possibilities for a large group whose members actually want to sit together. Of course the teens are happy to split off (preferably to an opposite corner), but this is all about family bonding, so we can’t have that. Burger King in Concord has a large circular booth in which we could all comfortably sit together.  Once we went and another group swiped all the high chairs and was holding on to all of them, but I attributed that seating difficulty to poor form on the part of the customer, not on the part of Burger King. Burger King was clean, efficient, and had great seating options. McDonald’s had more difficult seating arrangements for the big group, with those tiny tables and chairs that noone can quite figure out how to get into, and the giant TV screens, while enjoyable for the kids, divided the attention of the family so that little family bonding occurred. Wendy’s was fine, but it just didn't do it for us.  

So there you have it. I hope this helps next time you want to take out the whole family! And incidentally, after all that eating out, we've decided to dine at home again for now. It turns out dining out is expensive AND complicated. But it was fun while it lasted.