I always try to be positive, I really do. And every week I try to find a fantastic family-friendly (say that three times fast) restaurant to highlight on Seacoast Kids Calendar. But sometimes dishing out kudos to a deserving restaurant isn’t as easy as one would think—and sometimes saying something nice, anything nice, is downright impossible. So instead of trying out five different restaurants a week to sniff out the one “gem”, I have hatched a new plan…and I hope you’re all on board.
Each week, my pint-sized secret shoppers and I are going to visit a restaurant per a pre-determined schedule (see below). We’ll rate our experience based on a 5-point scale of the following criteria:
- Distraction Offerings (Is there something cool to watch? Do they at least have crayons?)
- Atmosphere (Is the décor interesting to look at? Can my child have a small outburst without being ostracized by other patrons?)
- Food (Do they offer a kids’ menu? Does the menu include healthy options? Did my kids eat it??)
- Affordability (Are there any family-night or kid-meal-deal specials? Will a night out with the family break our bank?)
- Service (How does the waitstaff handle it when we ask for two separate (but exact same sized, please dear Lord) plates? Can we get in-and-out easily?)
And here’s the kicker. We’re going to share our experience with you– good, bad or indifferent. We hope it is a great experience because every family knows what a treat it is to have a night out where no one needs to cook, no one needs to clean and everyone can just sit around a table with good food, great conversation and maybe a brownie sundae with lots of spoons, just sayin’.
We will publicize our six-week schedule so you know what’s coming. If you have recommendations for us, please send them to geturfunon@seacoastkidscalendar.org. We love finding new restaurants that do a great job catering to families and making the entire experience a special one.
Restaurant Review Schedule:
Week of 2/15: Not Your Average Joe’s (Newburyport, MA)
Week of 2/22: Loco Coco’s Tacos (Kittery, ME)
Week of 3/1: Kelly’s Row (Dover, NH)
Week of 3/8: Underground Pizza Pub (Portsmouth, NH)
Week of 3/15: Robert’s Maine Grill (Kittery, ME)
Week of 3/22: Mainiax Café (York, ME)
Love this idea! Really looking forward to reading the reviews!