I hate to be a debbie downer, but with the rise in covid cases, I’d play it safe and order take out.

Our most successful dining adventure on vacation with our toddler was when we discovered the rathskellar in our Vermont resort hotel. The tables were low, all very cozy, so he could stand up at the table, or lean back against the cushions, and get his wiggles out while still staying within 2’ of his plate lol.

Agree about other dining companions, -- we only take him to "appropriate" places, which was why I was hoping you guys might know of some (I googled family friendly restaurants in Atlanta with little luck).

He was actually great at the Disney restaurants when we were there last month for his first birthday. We had both lunches and dinners out every day for 3 days -- he stays at our table but ducks under our chairs, climbs around our feet, etc. He's not a bad/disruptive toddler, just a toddler.

We do feel comfortable going to a restaurant with masks and appropriate social distancing, have done so often so are really hoping to go out somewhere. Most of the restaurants here have done a great job with following cleanliness procedures and I'm assuming it will be the same in Atlanta (unless there's reason to believe otherwise?)

A place like you found would be perfect, bpath!

It might be out of your price range but it's casual, upscale and the food's fantastic, White Oak Kitchen

TacoMac is always an option. Super casual local chain, not pricy, stuff that kids like (wings, etc.). One of my favorites before I moved out of the South in 2014 was Pure Taqueria. Big roll-up doors and covered patio dining. I would go to the one in Inman Park but there are other locations now.

Do you mean inside the perimeter (Atlanta) or outside the perimeter (suburbs/greater Atlanta)?

Lala we are staying at a hotel that is walking distance from Coca Cola. We'd like to remain relatively close to that area but are willing to drive out a bit to go to the perfect place. My husband is not a huge fan of driving in city traffic (although we will have a rental car) so the closer the better.

Thanks bumble and jakabedy I've sent both suggestions to my inlaws to see if either looks good to them. They both look amazing to me!

He will just love Atlanta traffic ! Haha!!

The last time we were in Atlanta, we ate dinner at Watershed and loved it. It might be beyond the price range you are looking for though. I thought Austin traffic was bad until I drove in Atlanta.

Bummer! I had the perfect answer - Buckhead Diner. I even had food recommendations, starting with homemade chips sprinkled with blue cheese while still hot. However, when I went to the website to get a link, it said that the Buckhead Diner is closed until COVID restrictions are lifted. Considering the quality of the Buckhead Diner, you might try one of the other restaurants in the group.

There is a traditional drive-in not too far from where you are staying, The Varsity.

Last time I was in Atlanta (4 years ago), DD and I had lunch at Fred’s Meat and Bread in the Krog Street Market. The garlic fries were out of this world. I can’t link to Fred’s or the Krog Street Market. Something appears to be wrong with their websites. However you can find info about them on FB. I have no idea what the hours are.

Georgia Tech plays Notre Dame at 3:30pm on Saturday at Georgia Tech. I'm not sure where you are staying but I'd keep that in mind when planning where and when to eat.

OMG. That will just make the already awful Atlanta traffic awful-er. If you can go to dinner during the game, do it.

To be honest, I only opened this thread looking for pictures. I've nothing to suggest (except a pic or two of your little cutie.)

I haven't been to Atlanta for years, but remember Cafe Sunflower in Buckhead with fondness. It's a vegetarian restaurant, as I was traveling for work with vegetarian colleagues.

https://www.cafesunflower.com/

Cafe Sunflower is very good. They also have one in Sandy Springs near the Perimeter Mall. There are so many great restaurants in Atlanta, you almost can’t go wrong.

Beagles, when you use a gps search to look at restaurants’ distance from downtown Atlanta keep in mind the estimates don’t reflect traffic on the day and time you’d be going. I’m in Atlanta once a week and have found that those living there consistently underestimate travel times. It may be the difference between their knowing the way already, which always makes things seem faster, I don’t know. There is much less traffic now since so many people are working from home and generally not going out as much, but in some cases (on some routes at some times) a trip can take half again as long as you planned.

Thanks! I've sent all these to my inlaws and they picked White Oak Kitchen for dinner and we're looking at several of these other suggestions for lunch.

I am hiding the post about traffic and the football game from my husband until we are already on the plane and it is too late to turn back ;)

jojo I'll post a different picture thread soon w/ Halloween pics.

The Varsity is very close to the Tech campus. Saturday may not be a good day to visit. I used to date a guy from Atlanta who went to Tech. He would order in some sort of patois. I never understood it, but I always got what I wanted. I later discovered that normal people don’t have to do that, but if you can find someone who knows the lingo, it is amusing.

If they are limiting the number of people who can come to the game I think it'll be fine. I was in Clemson Saturday an hour before the game and there was hardly any traffic at all

We are going to dinner at 5 at White Oak so hopefully it will be good

They had the best fried chicken I've ever had.

Covid19 isn't related to cleanliness of kitchen/restaurant; rather, how much talking is going on when people take their masks off.

Because "spit happens". Thousands of speech droplets per second --- which can become airborne.

Covid19 isn't related to cleanliness of kitchen/restaurant; rather, how much talking is going on when people take their masks off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Exactly. All of this "deep cleaning" is just hygiene theater.

As someone who was a server when I was in graduate school, toddlers moving around under chairs, tables, etc. are a hazard. Please try to keep him on a chair or lap. If you can't, then taking turns walking him around is your best alternative. Hot foods being spilled on a child or someone else or a trip and fall over him would be a nightmare for the restaurant worker as well as the toddler, not to mention that people usually blame the server whenever anything goes wrong.

"Exactly. All of this "deep cleaning" is just hygiene theater."

It makes you feel like you're doing something. Obviously, washing your hands frequently is not a bad thing. However, there's no evidence that any respiratory infectious disease, let alone Sars-Cov-2 is actually transmitted from hand to mouth/nose/eye --- unlike novovirus, for instance.

There is overwhelming evidence that it is talking, talking, talking that is the main mode of Sars-Cov-2 transmission.

We stay in that area of Atlanta for Cheersport every year. Try to walk as much as you can to stuff...driving and parking will drive your dh to distraction! Not sure if it is open, but the Aquarium is wonderful! Your ds will go nuts. 😊 Honestly...in all our years of competing at CS, we have yet to find an amazing restaurant in that area, but we are usually hobbled by having to find a place to accommodate a large table of girls and moms, lol. Oh! And the huge Ferris wheel!! Atlanta Eye, or whatever they call it. Ds would love that too. And Centennial Park is a fun place to run & play...I think there is a playground there as well. You can walk to all this. Bring your stroller. Oh...Pitty Pat’s Porch is a super well known, Atlanta institution restaurant...very Southern food. It’s been there forever, and it’s close to where you are. Very Atlanta experience!

PRO TIP: See if the restaurant will let you call in your group's order in advance.

If the menu is online, everyone can take their time figuring out what to order.

When you arrive, your meal is whisked onto the table when you get there. No waiting for a table, no uncomfortable hungry baby causing a fuss. Everybody eats and chats. Then, if people at your table want to linger, you can designate an adult to take the baby out and around (tag teaming works too) and everybody is OK with it because they've been fed.

If you can't do this, then ask the restaurant to get something on the table for the baby as soon as possible. Ours loved steamed broccoli florets! Olives were also a favorite.

The wait staff and kitchen are usually VERY accommodating for either option if you explain you have a baby in the party.

First lunch.

He really is pretty good . We will make sure he isn’t in the way of any servers. We take him out a lot and usually are complimented on him rather than anyone getting upset so hopefully we are doing things right. I mainly just wanted to make sure we didn’t take him to a place where any baby behavior would be frowned on

The Varsity is doing great social distancing. We expect most places will.

We are headed to the aquarium this afternoon :) glad to hear it is good

What a cutie pie. Glad the Varsity worked out for you. Did you hear anyone ordering using the lingo? https://thevarsity.com/food/lingo

bbstx it was really empty and they had us all spaced out due to social distancing so I didn't hear anyone. But we saw the lingo on the boxes. I had a naked dog :)

Tomorrow we are going on our food tour and then Saturday is White Oak Kitchen which I really look forward to. We may try the taco place for lunch tomorrow but since our food tour is at 4 PM I don't know if we will want to have such a big lunch or will just grab something light.

Oh and nini he did LOVE the aquarium, oh my gosh! We're going to stop at centinnial park tomorrow, our hotel is right there, we're going to let him go on the play ground which we saw today.

I'm so glad you went to the aquarium, oh how I love that place!

White Oak Kitchen was awesome! We all got the fried chicken and everyone loved it. We also got a butcher board and beignets and two deserts (we wanted to get 4 of them, but they were out of 2 of the 4). Thank you so much for the recommendation!

We also loved Taco Mac... Well, four of us did. One of us had higher priorities:

He got tired out from chasing fish!

Since you're in the area, last year we stayed at The Omni ATL at CNN (by park), and had a delicious lunch downstairs at McCormick and Schmick's.

I am too late but hope you got a burger at The Varsity if they are open. I took my children to restaurants from a young age. We chose appropriate places ( like an Italian place , not a chain, that gave the kids pizza dough to play with), took quiet books and toys. We had a plan to take them outside if they got loud or restless. We would not scold them but tell them we needed to step outside because others were trying to have a nice dinner. I feel like even as a toddler they can start learning. As they got a bit older temper tantrum type behavior that continued outside meant we went home. I at many cold meals and took home a few but by about 3 they all had impeccable manners and were able to start going to “nicer” places.

Kids need to do to learn, IMO. At 2 they might not be able to express why they are melting down or just can’t sit still. Leaving because they could not was not broached as a punishment but as “ there are others that want a meal where they can talk with their friends. We will go home so they can do that”

We were thanked but other patrons at times for taking them out for a few moments.

My kids are grown and last week I was at a locally owned business who did some work for my youngest, pretty specialized and expensive custom stuff, and the owner asked how he was and complimented him on being so respectful and knowing how to speak on an equal level but taking the advice of an adult even if he is in his mid 20’s. I give credit in part to speaking to him as a kid on a simple but babyish level and setting expectations to respect others.

I just wrote way too much but I hate seeing a kid running around in a restaurant unchecked and equally if not more a parent screaming at a 2 year old who is acting like a two year old.... take the kid aside for goodness sake.

The fact that you (Beagle) asked means you are a thoughtful Person and parent!

We got a burger and a hot dog at the Varsity, both were great :)

Bastian is not a disruptive sort in the sense that he cries or anything. He's not really a crying sort of baby. He just doesn't love to sit still for long periods of time. At any rate, he was excellent at the restaurants that we went to. He did play peek-a-poo with some nearby tables from his high chair using his napkin, but they were playing back and amused.

I’m so glad you enjoyed your Atlanta visit, especially the aquarium and the Varsity. Both are fun places, and it looks like you all enjoyed them. I don’t even like hot dogs that much, but made an exception for the Varsity with friends. We even posed with the corny paper hats.

Sounds like you nailed it. I love Varsity. And I would love to play peek a boo with Bastian!