New York City has thousands of restaurants, and there’s no way we’ve tried them all, but these are the places we would happily visit again with our kids. Some of them we’ve visited multiple times in a year and even multiple times in one New York City trip. Some serve iconic New York foods, while others stand out because of a memorable location, lively atmosphere, or menu that works well for a family with different tastes.
I organized our favorite New York City restaurants by neighborhood so you can easily add them to a family itinerary. Menus and prices change, so check each restaurant’s website before visiting.
DUMBO, Brooklyn Family-Friendly Restaurants
Juliana’s Pizza
19 Old Fulton Street, Brooklyn
You cannot visit New York City without eating New York-style pizza, and Juliana’s Pizza is one of our favorite places to do it. Located beneath the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO, Juliana’s serves thin, coal-fired pizzas with crisp crusts and simple, high-quality toppings.
The classic Margherita is one of the restaurant’s signature pizzas, but kids who prefer familiar flavors can stick with a plain mozzarella pie or add pepperoni. Because the pizzas are made for sharing, this is a great option for a family.
The location adds to the experience. Juliana’s is close to Brooklyn Bridge Park, Jane’s Carousel, the waterfront, and the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian path. The restaurant can become busy, so prepare for a wait during popular dining times, and it’s completely worth it!
Stuffed Ice Cream
6805 Bay Parkway, Brooklyn
Stuffed Ice Cream takes two favorite desserts and combines them into one over-the-top New York City treat. The shop is best known for the Cruff, a warm, toasted glazed doughnut stuffed with ice cream and toppings.
Families can select one of the signature Cruffs or build their own combination. The colorful ice cream flavors and playful creations are especially appealing to kids, but traditional scoops are available for anyone who does not want the full doughnut-and-ice-cream experience. Another fun option is the ice cream bouquet, which arranges multiple scoops in a flower-like presentation that is perfect for sharing.
Stuffed Ice Cream has a bright, casual dessert-shop atmosphere, and many of its creations are almost as much fun to photograph as they are to eat. Flavor names such as Unicorn Poop, Cookie Road, Mint Monster, and Thai Kwon Dough add to the silliness. This is not a quick little scoop of vanilla, so arrive ready for a rich, messy, memorable dessert.
Financial District and World Trade Center
Eataly NYC Downtown
101 Liberty Street, inside 4 World Trade Center
Eataly NYC Downtown is part restaurant, part Italian market, and part food adventure. It is especially useful for families because it’s okay if not everyone is craving the same thing.
Eataly is known for fresh pasta, Neapolitan-style pizza, Italian meats and cheeses, pastries, espresso, and gelato. Children can usually find something familiar among the pizza, pasta, sandwiches, focaccia, and sweets. This is also a good place to assemble a less formal meal when your family needs a break from sit-down restaurant service.
The market atmosphere makes Eataly more entertaining than a traditional restaurant. Kids can watch food being prepared, examine shelves filled with Italian treats, and select a dessert after lunch. Its location near the 9/11 Memorial, Oculus, and One World Observatory makes it an easy addition to a day in Lower Manhattan.
Lower East Side
El Churro
175 East Houston Street
El Churro is an especially exciting New York City find for families managing food allergies or dietary restrictions. The shop’s churros are gluten-free and vegan, but you would never know it from their crisp exterior and warm, soft center.
The classic cinnamon-sugar churros are the main attraction. Families can add dipping sauces such as dulce de leche, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, marshmallow fluff, Dunkaroos, or lemon cheesecake. The menu also features churros served with ice cream, S’murros, twisted churros, extra-long one-foot churros, and large boxes designed for sharing.
Kids will love choosing their own dip and watching the churros arrive fresh and hot. The shop is small and casual, so it works best as a dessert stop rather than a full sit-down meal. Its Lower East Side location also makes it easy to add a sweet treat to a day of exploring one of Manhattan’s most interesting neighborhoods.
Tribeca
Bubby’s
120 Hudson Street
Bubby’s is a classic Tribeca restaurant known for American comfort food, weekend brunch, homemade pies, and especially its pancakes. The restaurant offers both James Beard-style pancakes and sourdough pancakes, making breakfast the main attraction.
Bubby’s has one of the clearest family-friendly menus on this list. The children’s menu includes pancakes, macaroni and cheese, a junior burger with fries, chicken strips, grilled cheese, and fruit salad. Kids can customize their pancakes with additions such as chocolate chips, strawberries, bananas, whipped cream, or Nutella.
The atmosphere is warm, busy, and casual. It feels like a neighborhood restaurant even though it has become a New York breakfast destination. Weekend waits can be lengthy, so a reservation or an early breakfast is a smart choice.
Midtown and Bryant Park
Heritage Grand Bakery
8 West 40th Street
Located across from Bryant Park, Heritage Grand Bakery is an excellent place for breakfast before beginning a day of sightseeing. The bakery specializes in breads and pastries made with ancient grains that are sustainably grown, transported by sailboat, and milled on-site.
The freshly baked croissants, breads, pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and coffee are the highlights. Kids can select something simple from the bakery case instead of committing to a large restaurant breakfast. It also works well when everyone wakes up hungry at a different time, or your family wants to purchase breakfast to eat in Bryant Park.
The bakery itself is beautiful, but the location is the real bonus. Pick up breakfast and carry it across the street to the park, where families can find tables, seasonal activities, and room to take a break from Midtown’s sidewalks.
Parker & Quinn
64 West 39th Street, inside the Refinery Hotel
Parker & Quinn is an elevated American restaurant near Bryant Park that still feels comfortable enough for a family meal. Its menu includes fresh pasta, steaks, burgers, salads, and seasonal dishes, with breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner available at different times. They also have gluten-friendly options on the menu.
The burgers and beef dishes are among its specialties, but pasta, breakfast classics, and brunch favorites provide approachable options for kids. This is a good choice when the adults want a meal that feels more polished without taking the family somewhere overly formal.
Dark wood, vintage details, leather seating, and old New York-inspired décor give the dining room plenty of character. Parker & Quinn is also conveniently located for a meal before or after visiting Bryant Park, the New York Public Library, Times Square, or a Broadway show.
Times Square and the Theater District
Ellen’s Stardust Diner
1650 Broadway
At Ellen’s Stardust Diner, the entertainment is just as important as the meal. The restaurant is famous for its singing waitstaff, many of whom are aspiring Broadway performers. Servers sing throughout the dining room, turning an ordinary lunch or dinner into a miniature musical theater performance.
The menu features diner favorites, burgers, sandwiches, breakfast dishes, and milkshakes. The children’s menu includes cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets and fries, hot dogs and fries, and macaroni and cheese.
Ellen’s is colorful, loud, crowded, and unapologetically theatrical, and that energy is exactly why families love it. It is especially fun before or after a Broadway show, but children who are sensitive to noise may find the constant singing overwhelming. The restaurant typically has a line, and families should plan extra time rather than trying to squeeze it into a tight pre-show schedule.
Junior’s Restaurant and Cheesecake
1515 Broadway at West 45th Street
Junior’s has served its famous New York cheesecake since 1950. The original restaurant is in Brooklyn, but the Times Square location makes it easy for families to experience Junior’s while visiting Broadway and Midtown.
The Original New York Plain Cheesecake is the signature order, although the enormous selection includes strawberry, chocolate mousse, red velvet, and other elaborate variations. Junior’s also serves a full menu of sandwiches, burgers, soups, salads, breakfast dishes, and classic comfort food.
Kids will find plenty of recognizable options, but dessert is the reason to visit. Cheesecake slices are large enough to share, which makes it possible to sample a few flavors without ordering one for every person. The brightly lit, bustling dining room feels like a classic New York restaurant placed directly in the middle of Times Square’s excitement.
Brooklyn Diner
155 West 43rd Street
Despite its name, Brooklyn Diner has a location right in Times Square. The restaurant serves oversized versions of familiar New York diner food, including burgers, matzo ball soup, chicken soup, noodle kugel, hot dogs, spaghetti and meatballs, and all-day breakfast.
It is particularly known for its giant 15-bite all-beef hot dog, burgers, chicken soup, and rich diner-style comfort food. Kids can choose from pancakes, eggs, burgers, hot dogs, pasta, fries, milkshakes, and other familiar favorites.
The restaurant has a nostalgic New York atmosphere with booths, polished diner details, and an energetic Midtown crowd. It is more expensive than a neighborhood diner, but the central location and broad menu make it convenient when a family needs a dependable meal near Broadway.
Lincoln Square and Columbus Circle
Rosa Mexicano at the Empire Hotel
61 Columbus Avenue
Rosa Mexicano is located at the Empire Hotel across from Lincoln Center. The restaurant is best known for its tableside guacamole, which is prepared fresh in front of guests and can be customized based on how spicy the family wants it.
The menu includes tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, rice, beans, and other Mexican favorites. Quesadillas, tacos, guacamole, and chips are approachable choices for children, while adults can explore more complex dishes and the restaurant’s well-known margarita menu.
The dining room is colorful, stylish, and lively without feeling unwelcoming to families. Watching the guacamole being made adds a little entertainment to the meal. This location is especially convenient for families staying at the Empire Hotel or visiting Lincoln Center, Central Park, Columbus Circle, or the Upper West Side.
Central Park
Ballfields Cafe
1 Heckscher Field, near the Heckscher Ballfields at approximately 65th Street inside Central Park
Ballfields Cafe is a casual outdoor stop that makes sense during a day of exploring Central Park. You don’t need to leave the park, find a restaurant, and persuade tired kids to sit through a long meal.
The menu focuses on ballpark-style food, including cheeseburgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, sandwiches, salads, and seasonal specials. Chicken fingers, fries, burgers, and hot dogs make this one of the easiest places on the list for selective (picky) eaters.
The setting is fantastic; families can eat near the ballfields and then continue to Heckscher Playground, the Central Park Carousel, Sheep Meadow, or another nearby destination. This is a seasonal, weather-dependent restaurant, so confirm that it is open before building your plans around it.
Roosevelt Island
Granny Annie’s Bar & Kitchen
425 Main Street, Roosevelt Island
Granny Annie’s Bar & Kitchen is an Irish bar and neighborhood restaurant serving a mixture of Irish-inspired dishes and American favorites. Its menu includes French onion soup, potato and leek soup, Irish curry cheese fries, burgers, sandwiches, quesadillas, and traditional pub-style meals.
Irish curry cheese fries are one of the more distinctive menu choices, but kids may gravitate toward quesadillas, burgers, fries, chicken dishes, or other recognizable pub food. The relaxed setting makes it manageable for a casual family lunch or dinner.
Granny Annie’s has a friendly neighborhood atmosphere that feels removed from Midtown’s crowds. It also occasionally hosts trivia and live music. The restaurant is within walking distance of the Roosevelt Island Tram, subway station, and ferry landing, so the journey can become part of the outing. Riding the tram and eating on Roosevelt Island is an especially fun way to give kids a different view of New York City.
Choosing a New York City Restaurant with Kids
The “best” restaurant in New York depends on where your family will already be when hunger strikes. Reservations are helpful when available, but it is equally important to leave flexibility in your schedule. New York restaurants can have long waits, and meals often take longer than expected. With kids, location and timing can matter just as much as the food.
