City Cafe

After taking our children to the BSO Tiny Tots program of Babar on Friday, we decided to head on over to City Café for lunch.  I was sans Mr. B since I didn’t think the Meyerhoff and a 15 month old would mesh, especially since it was during his nap.  

There were two options for us at the Café – the Café itself which had a coffee bar and sandwiches, or the Restaurant. We opted for the latter and headed on over to the hostess station for a kid friendly seat. They took us upstairs, which was a good call. Four 3/4 year olds and a 2 year old can cause enough of a ruckus that I would have felt uncomfortable in the main dining area. The booth we got was against one of the walls and looked perfect. What I didn’t realize until I was midway through the meal and my friend, Janelle, commented on it was that the wall was only a half wall overlooking the restaurant. To be completely honest, it would have taken quite a feat for one of the kids to fall over but as a parent I couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the meal because I kept imagining one of them toppling over so was pretty white knuckled every time one of them moved around on the bench.  Which was a lot. I’m sure I’m not the only parent whose imagination is such that it always goes there, right? Right? That aside, it was really nice to have the small upstairs area to ourselves for the majority of the meal. And added bonus distraction was that one of the other walls was a railing with Plexiglas panels so the kids had a ball standing by them and looking down at the tables below.

Unfortunately this place did not have a kid menu, which always drives me crazy because I hate spending adult size money a pint sized person who will usually not eat a large meal. That alone will dock the Kid Friendliness score down. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t NEED for the kids’ menu to be standard chicken nugget type fare, but I also don’t NEED my almost 4 year old child to eat an adult sized portion and don’t want to have to pay for that.

Because of her love for the grilled cheese, we opted for that. It comes with a side and a bowl of soup. L’s not a big soup fan so they did end up taking a couple dollars off the meal since I got it without.  It was a standard run of the mill grilled cheese and nice and crispy shoe string fries, that L was kind enough to share with her friends. I can’t really complain about that, since, in most cases, a grilled cheese is a grilled cheese is a grilled cheese. One day I want to try the winning place reviewed on the (cool) progeny blog by Mary Alice, but this didn’t exceed any expectations. 

I got the French Dip and sweet potato fries and they were delicious! The meat wasn’t very fatty, the caramelized onions lent a nice sweetness to balance out the melted Swiss and the jus was delish. The sweet potato fries were certainly better than the Alexia ones in my freezer (which I also like) and it was a very satisfying meal, even if I chose not to finish it all. Though I did come pretty close because it was tasty.

The report on the bathrooms is that there was no changing table and because I didn’t have Mr. B with me, I can’t report on the high chairs.

The server was very accommodating to our party and didn’t seem at all scared or annoyed. I ordered L’s sandwich long before anyone else ordered because she can either take forever to eat, not eat at all, or start eating right away and scarf everything down and I had no idea what kind of day it was. For the record, it was the last one, but as noted she was kind enough to share.

I thought the prices for an adult sandwich were average, but I thought that charging $3.50 each for a soda and for a lidded cup of diluted lemonade was kind of ridiculous. If places can serve a soda for $1.50, I don’t understand why somewhere else thinks it’s ok to charge $2 more. 

Overall, I would go there again with my husband and/or friends but I don’t think I’d hit the restaurant side again with my kids.

Kid Friendliness:  2/5

Service: 4/5

Prices: 3/5

Taste: 3/5

Reading back over this blog makes me realize that I’m actually pretty cheap. Interesting.

Quick note on my reviews

Because I have a very active preschooler and a baby who prefers to be held above all else, I tend to do my best to avoid going to the bathroom at a restaurant while dining with the kids. Someone asked me about how the bathrooms were at some of the places I visited and I realize that is a gross oversight on my reviews of kid-friendliness. I will try to rectify that in the future and at least take a glance into the bathrooms!

I was informed that Cafe Hon, at least, does NOT have a changing table in the bathroom.

Sorry!!

Sticky Rice

As noted previously, my daughter loves sushi. Today, after a playdate with her best friend Mr. President, we all headed over to Sticky Rice in Fell’s Point. Now, I happen to be a big fan of this place, even if it costs a little more than other sushi restaurants I frequent, and I know some people are over it but I'm happy to keep coming back for the time being.

Looking at the restaurant, one wouldn’t necessarily think of it as a kid friendly establishment. The main room contains a bar and today they were playing some awesome classic rock. However, there are two main draws for me here. 

One is the sweet potato tots. 

Sweet Mary, these things are delicious and I am in no way a big tater tot fan (though I did out myself as a sweet potato addict a couple posts ago). I actually make fun of my husband for his love of something called a Tater Tot Casserole. To me, tater tots were always part of the ‘bad’ lunch day at school. But these sweet potato tots have won me over and when I win the lottery, I will have a constant fresh supply in my house, delivered by little hipsters vying for my attention.  My daughter, who somehow takes after her father with his disdain for sweet potatoes, will actually eat them too, so big bonus there. I know how to keep my kids fed on healthy foods!

The other draw is what I call (and maybe other people do too?) the Jesus Room. 

It’s a tiny little alcove of a room with light up pictures of Jesus and Mary and a TV. It makes me feel less guilty when my kids are having a loud day and if I have to resort to the TV so that we can finish our dinners in peace, it’s an option. Though honestly, the art and the sushi are enough of a distraction that I haven’t had to use it yet. But believe me, an L and Mr. President day will always be an extra loud day and, even in the Jesus Room, I was getting a little nervous and tempted to ask them to turn on Sprout or Nick Jr. !

The waiter was attentive and didn’t seem annoyed by our children despite being an indie hipster type guy, so yay. Side note: I know the owner is a father himself and actually has gone out of his way in the past to accommodate families. We immediately ordered a bucket of sweet potato tots for the table and then took a minute to look over the menu.  I settled on a South Roll, which was sweet potato tempura and got L a California Roll. What I failed to realize was that I had a huge bucket of sweet potato tots in front of me and I just ordered sweet potato sushi. Oh well, I just ended up  trading a couple of my pieces for L and felt less like a glutton. Except she wouldn’t eat the South Roll and wanted more sushi, so I ended up getting a second California Roll for us to split. I actually think the California Roll might have been tastier than my sweet sweet potato, so I’m glad we got a second roll. I brought B some baby food packs and he ate some sweet potato tots and everyone was happy. Except Mr. President who wanted pizza.  Sadly, there isn’t  a kids menu per se, but they do have plenty of tasty noodle and rice dishes that I’ve had in the past that many kids would enjoy if they don’t eat sushi.  L has enjoyed a delicious soba noodle dish in the past, and she is not what I would call an adventurous eater (except for the aforementioned sushi). 

The restaurant wasn't crowded, food was fantastic, service was fast, the kids enjoyed playing with the beaded curtain and getting to roam around the little alcove, the babies didn’t throw all their food on the ground, and it was a pretty swell time all around. Mr. President’s mom and I even got to have some adult conversation so I consider that fact alone to be the sign of a great lunch! My advice is go early in the day and not when it’s a crowded bar scene and try to get the Jesus Room. 

Kid Friendliness: 3.5/5 (because it's really best to only bring kids during certain times)

Service: 4/5

Prices: 3/5

Taste: 4/5