Very fine dining recommendations in DC with young kids?

January 16, 2008 5:40 AM

Our kids are 1 and 4. It's my folks' 40th anniversary as well as the one year old's birthday and my folks are treating, so this means going somewhere really nice, expensive, and five star. But where in DC?

We eat out regularly at restaurants with them, and nicer ones sometimes, so the kids are pretty acclimated to eating out. The one thing we haven't really done is dinner at a very fine establishment.

These are easy enough to find in DC (1789 or Citronelle for example), but what about ones that will be accepting of young children? What about ones that even have a kids menu?

We would do some things that would keep the children under a reasonable level of behavior, like early reservations, but ultimately those that are okay with young children in the first place are most important.

Naturally, I can start calling restaurants and asking directly, but I thought someone out there in the land of the Green might have a recommendation.

posted by poppo to food & drink (12 comments total)

I took my 9-year-old picky eater to Zaytinya, and had a good experience. I think it'd work with younger kids, too.
posted by MrMoonPie at 6:08 AM on January 16, 2008

I don't have any kid-friendly suggestions, but it's probably worth keeping in mind that this is Restaurant Week in D.C., so any restaurants on this list may be both difficult to find reservations for and extremely crowded. (This includes Zaytinya.)
posted by Flamingo at 6:14 AM on January 16, 2008

The Washington Post food critic is having a chat later this morning. Ask him. The chatters there may be more local and helpful.
posted by Mr Bunnsy at 6:25 AM on January 16, 2008

I don't have any kid-friendly suggestions, but it's probably worth keeping in mind that this is Restaurant Week

It's not this week, but thanks
posted by poppo at 8:07 AM on January 16, 2008

Blue Duck Tavern. Call ahead about the kids, they'll help.
posted by jouster at 8:12 AM on January 16, 2008

The Washington Post food critic is having a chat later this morning. Ask him. The chatters there may be more local and helpful

That was a good idea, but I probably submitted too late. I can try that again next week. Thanks.
posted by poppo at 9:27 AM on January 16, 2008

Ask in the comments section of the most recent posting on the Post's parenting page. Off-topic questions seem to be fairly common and get answered my many of the regulars.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 9:31 AM on January 16, 2008

You might take a look at the DC Foodies blog. I don't think that you can search by price or "stars," but it's been around since 2003 and might be a good place to do some digging. I'd start by looking at the categories in the archives.
The site owner has a young kid, so you might be able to contact him by email to ask if he thinks a place he's reviewed is child-friendly.
posted by k8lin at 10:44 AM on January 16, 2008

To add to/revise my last comment: many of the reviews on DC Foodies have baby-friendly ratings, which might be helpful to you. A few of the more recent reviews have child-friendly ratings as well.
posted by k8lin at 10:50 AM on January 16, 2008

You might consider starting a thread on the topic at Egullet. I've always found plenty of helpful suggestions coming out of that board.
posted by peacheater at 12:40 PM on January 16, 2008

My family had two kids that age (not to mention 7 others who were older) when we all went to Morton's on connecticut ave. I'm not entirely sure of the price, but we had the private room so the kids could be nuts and not disturb the other diners.

The service was fantastic, and the food was delicious.
posted by frecklefaerie at 1:18 PM on January 16, 2008

For future reference: Vidalia was welcoming to our young children at an early reservation and made them a butter & cheese macaroni not on the menu. Even when our kids acted up a little at the end, the maitre'd could see us discussing the situation, came over and told us not to worry about it. Highly recommended.
posted by poppo at 10:21 AM on February 6, 2008