Favorite restaurants to go out as a family? (Triangle area)

ECUGirl2004 · November 2010

If you're my Facebook friend, you may have seen that DH found out that he passed his national boards, so he's now a national board certified teacher. It's a really big deal, so we want to go out to celebrate. We have to take DS with us since we don't have a sitter.

Any recommendations? Normally we just go to Chili's because I know their service is fast, and nobody's going to get upset if DS is loud. I'd like to go somewhere different tonight, but it has to be kid friendly. I don't want to ruin anyone's date night by having a crazy toddler at the restaurant (though I don't know that many people actually go out for dates at 5:30 pm anyway).

MrsHughesNC · November 2010

Well, it's not fancy whatsoever, but our favorite place to go as a family, hands down, is Sweet Tomatoes. We know the cashiers, managers, and people who bus your table, we go so much. LOL.

I like it because Holly does well there, and there's a variety of stuff to choose from. It is buffet style though, you might rather have a sit down dinner.

And hey, they've got soft serve ice cream, with sprinkles. That screams "celebration" to me! Smile

Congrats to your DH! That is awesome!

jenhum · November 2010

Red Robin!

Or, if you're not opposed to taking Nate to a bar (wow, that sounds bad, lol!) I LOVE Hi-5 downtown. It's smoke free now, and it's plenty loud and there are tons of tvs. But the food is also delish- and not terribly expensive either.

Big congrats to E!

ECUGirl2004 · November 2010

jenhum:

Red Robin!

Or, if you're not opposed to taking Nate to a bar (wow, that sounds bad, lol!) I LOVE Hi-5 downtown. It's smoke free now, and it's plenty loud and there are tons of tvs. But the food is also delish- and not terribly expensive either.

Big congrats to E!

I was just thinking of Twisted Fork, which fits the "fancy quotient" for a celebratory dinner, but they say they're family friendly too. I've had good experiences at all the Rocky Top restaurants, so maybe we'll see how Nate does there.

Hughes - DH used to have a student whose dad owned the Cap Blvd Sweet Tomatoes franchise and gave him tons of free meal coupons, so we used to eat there all the time. We've never taken Nate there, but I bet he'd love getting to pick out food from a buffet. We will definitely be going somewhere with some good alcoholic beverages, but I'll keep ST on my list for regular dinners out.

MelBee12 · November 2010

We do Chili's a lot too. Tonight we are actually going to Outback to celebrate our 5 year dating anniversary and taking DS with us. We just use their call ahead seating so we don't have that much of a wait (or none at all) and we go really early (like 5ish). We also have taken DS to the Olive Garden and it's been good as well. As long as it's a casual-ish restaurant, normally the noise of everyone else talking drowns out any of DS's noises he might make. As far as a toddler goes though, I obviously haven't had that experience but I'm assuming it's much different.

uncjules · November 2010

I'm not sure that you're close to it, but Tyler's Taproom (Apex and Durham) are good options. The food is tasty, they have great beer options and it's family friendly.

Congrats to your husband!

alchris · November 2010

A HUGE CONGRATS TO HIM!

I know Triangle restaurants but not so much from a kid standpoint -- sorry! But I did want to pass along my congratulations!

LW2410 · November 2010

I know that you've already gone to dinner so I can't help with the restaurant recommendation but I wanted to give a big "Congrats!" to your husband. I know that getting National Certification is a lot of work!