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It would be better all around if restaurants simply offered 'half-portions' of their regular meals, or at least for select menu items, so that children and people who merely wanted a smaller meal can be accommodated.
I don't go to many upscale fine dining places, but the at the regular joints I do go to, they're all getting more and more options for sides, which I think helps. So you can get a sandwich or a burger, but instead of the giant greasy lump of fries, you can get roasted vegetables or zucchini noodle salad or whatever. I still eat half and take the rest home, but at least there are better options (at least for restaurant food.)
After binge watching a couple of seasons of My 600 Lb. Life I started wondering if I could order kids' meals. Now that I hear they're sub-par (thanks for the heads-up) I guess leftovers would be the better option.
Depends on the restaurants. My favorite kids meal is Texas Roadhouse grilled chicken with a side salad. I ask them to be brought at the same time and I put the chicken on the salad. My second favorite is a local bar with handmade cheeseburgers. The kids size cheeseburger is the same quality as the adult one, except half the size (probably 1/4 lb.) and comes with fries. Perfect size for me.
I look at kids menus in restaurants, and it's no wonder that kids today are such picky eaters. It seems it's always a burger, chicken fingers, pizza, or grilled cheese, each with french fries. Not an actual vegetable in sight, unless it's fried.
Kids menus should offer smaller portions of the same items that are on the regular menu. Generations of kids grew up eating the exact same things their parents ate. When did we coddle them into becoming a chicken finger generation?
I can't remember the last time I was in a restaurant that had a children's menu. They aren't very common here, I don't think.
Where are you from?
I went on a date Saturday night, where the meals are $60-$100 per person and they offered a kids meals. I did not see a kid there at the time, but my kids have been to the restaurant previously.
Most, I would say 99%, do have them. I find around here a lot of the nicer restaurants do not put them online and do not include them on the regular menu. It is usually a separate menu handed to diners with children.
To answer the OP's question, I have never ordered off of the kid's menu. If I am going out after dinner and don't want leftovers I order appetizers. I find kids menus although they are getting much better are still for the most part crap food. I do let my five year old order from it but my ten year old (a huge food snob) almost never does.
Appetizers are usually mozzarella sticks, potato skins, loaded nachos, crab dips, etc. How are these better?
A couple of the nicer restaurants we've gone to don't have paper menus for kids, but if you ask the server, they will list several options. But mostly it's a separate, printed paper although true that in some cases, it's not that readily accessible on line even when the regular menu is. Personally, I think that's done to discourage people from bringing kids - I always check online before bringing my son, and will often use the standard of whether or not they have a kids menu if I'm on the fence about whether it's appropriate to bring him (meaning that it's appropriate for kids to be there, not about whether they have a kids menu in terms of the food).
I do agree with whoever said that offering half portions would be the best option, for kids, seniors and anyone else who just doesn't want a full serving but doesn't want to waste a lot of money and food. I know that the actual cost of food is only a part of the cost of running a restaurant but they could still charge a little more than 50% of a full serving and get it to work in terms of the numbers, I would bet.
Appetizers are usually mozzarella sticks, potato skins, loaded nachos, crab dips, etc. How are these better?
Actually maybe it's location but I almost never see any of those things on the appetizer menu anymore. Last time my ten year old ordered off the appetizer menu for his dinner it was pork belly tacos on corn tortillas. I wanted to try but he inhaled them before I could ask!
I went on a date Saturday night, where the meals are $60-$100 per person and they offered a kids meals. I did not see a kid there at the time, but my kids have been to the restaurant previously.
I'm from NYC but currently live in Cambridge, MA. I spent many years in the restaurant industry in both.
When you say the meals are $100 per person, do you mean that's the average food check or is that the cost of a tasting menu? Three figures for three courses is a pretty high price point, even for a place like New York.
Of course, if you mean that's the all-in price (tax, tip and alcohol) then that's different.
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