# Kid-friendly restaurants in San Francisco Written 2026-09-25 by Play Day. Twenty San Francisco restaurants that work with kids, by occasion: dim sum, brunch, weeknight pasta, dinner by the beach. High chairs, kids' menus and bookings side by side. The kid-friendly restaurants in San Francisco worth your evening are mostly neighbourhood places that have been feeding families for decades: Emmy's Spaghetti Shack and Goat Hill Pizza for a weeknight, Yank Sing and Dragon Beaux for dim sum, Zazie and Foreign Cinema for brunch, Park Chalet when the children need a lawn. None of them is a chain play-place, and the food is good enough that the adults at the table will not feel they gave something up. The food lists already exist, and they are written for people who eat out without a high chair. This one puts the questions parents actually ask next to each other: is there a high chair, a kids' menu, a changing table, can you book, how loud can it get, and will a stroller fit. Where the answer is no, or where nobody could say, the table says so. It is sorted by occasion rather than neighbourhood, because you choose a restaurant with a job in mind. Tuesday after daycare is not the same problem as a grandmother's birthday. ## How we picked These are places we would send a friend with a four-year-old. The facts in the table come from each restaurant's own site and menus, its booking page and its Play Day listing; a blank means we could not confirm it, not that the answer is no. We left out places that are famous but hard work with small children: long tasting menus, rooms too tight for a stroller, and anywhere the only reason to go was a view. A few entries are here for ease rather than cooking, and they say so. ## Easy weeknight dinners Early, loud enough that nobody minds yours, and food that a child and an adult will both finish. ### [Emmy's Spaghetti Shack](https://ourplayday.com/places/emmys-spaghetti-shack-94110) Neighbourhood: Bernal Heights Spaghetti and meatballs is the order, and the plates are big enough that one adult portion will quietly feed a small child as well. The room does the entertaining: rainbow disco lights, strange chandeliers, a wall of framed Dolly Parton photographs and pinball machines at the back. It has run a kids-eat-free night for years. The trick is timing. Early in the evening it is full of families; after about eight the music goes up and the crowd turns into adults and late eaters, which is not your scene with a three-year-old. Sit down at half past five and you will have the best of it. Tip: Street parking only, on the Mission Street edge of Bernal. - High chairs: Yes - Kids' menu: Yes - For the kids: Arcade games, Crayons - Noise: Loud is fine - Reservations: Yes ### [Fiorella (Clement St)](https://ourplayday.com/places/fiorella-94121) Neighbourhood: Outer Richmond Wood-fired pizza and handmade pasta in a room that is roomy by Richmond standards. Children get buttered noodles or a plain pizza and a set of crayons; the adults get the seasonal pastas, which are the reason to come. There are four Fiorellas now, and the Clement Street original is the family one. It has a kids-eat-free night midweek, it takes bookings online, and Lincoln Park and the Legion of Honor are a short walk away if someone needs to run first. Tip: Clement is dinner only. For lunch after the beach, the Inner Sunset branch on 9th Avenue is the one open at lunch. - Kids' menu: Yes - For the kids: Crayons - Reservations: Yes ### [Goat Hill Pizza](https://ourplayday.com/places/goat-hill-94107) Neighbourhood: Potrero Hill Sourdough-crust pizza at the top of Potrero Hill since 1975, started by five friends in what had been a burnt-out barbecue place. It is where the neighbourhood holds school fundraisers and kids' birthdays, so nobody blinks at a table of six-year-olds. Monday is the night. It is all-you-can-eat, the pizza comes round to the table, and children under six eat free, which may be the single most useful fact on this page. It is busy for exactly that reason. The view of downtown from the pavement is good. The walk up with a stroller is steep. Tip: The West Portal branch has a slice counter, handy after the library there or Stern Grove. - Kids' menu: Yes ### [Flour + Water Pizzeria](https://ourplayday.com/places/flour-water-pizzeria-94133) Neighbourhood: North Beach The pasta restaurant's pizzeria took over the old Rose Pistola space on Columbus, a big room of leather booths and large tables. The best seats for a toddler are at the bar facing the glassed-in dough room, where the dough is spun in full view, and toddlers tend to go quiet watching it. Children order the mozzarella sticks and a pizza, and pudding is soft serve with sprinkles. It has been packed since it opened in 2023 and it is loud on a weekend, so book on Resy or turn up as the doors open. Washington Square's lawn is a block away for afterwards. - For the kids: Crayons - Reservations: Yes ### [Burma Superstar](https://ourplayday.com/places/burma-super-star-restaurant-94118) Neighbourhood: Inner Richmond On Clement since 1992, and the answer for a table that wants adventurous food alongside a child who eats rice and bread. The tea leaf salad, tossed at the table, is the adults' order. Children do well on the coconut rice, the platha with curry to dip it in, and mango. The wait is the catch: at peak it can run to an hour, which is a long time at five years old. Go early on a weeknight. If you do have to wait, Clement Street's bakeries and bookshops are the place to spend it. - Reservations: Yes ### [Mel's Drive-In (Geary)](https://ourplayday.com/places/mel-s-drive-in-94118) Neighbourhood: Inner Richmond A 1950s diner with working jukeboxes at the booths, and the children get to pick the song. The shakes are thick and old-fashioned; the Penguin adds marshmallow and chocolate syrup, if that is the kind of evening it is. To be plain about it, this is diner food and not a destination. It is on the list because it is easy. It opens for breakfast and runs late, so it covers the awkward four o'clock meal nobody else serves, and the room is full of families who are also a little loud. - High chairs: Yes - Noise: Lively ## Dim sum The meal children order by pointing. Both of these are lunch; go at opening with small ones. ### [Yank Sing](https://ourplayday.com/places/yank-sing-94105) Neighbourhood: SoMa The Rincon Center room closed in September 2026, so if an older list sends you to Spear Street, ignore it. Yank Sing carries on at 49 Stevenson Street, where it has been since 1974. This is the polished version of dim sum, and priced like it. The carts are the whole appeal for a child: more than a hundred dishes rotate past and they point at what they want. BBQ pork buns, siu mai, chow fun and custard tarts are the usual haul. Stevenson is lunch only and closed on Mondays. It is a smaller, tighter room than Rincon was, so fold the stroller if you can, and book on OpenTable for a weekend. - Noise: Lively - Reservations: Yes - Wheelchair access: Yes ### [Dragon Beaux](https://ourplayday.com/places/dragon-beaux-94121) Neighbourhood: Outer Richmond From the family behind Koi Palace, and the grander dim sum in the Richmond: purple booths, gold pillars, a big back room. Here you order from a menu rather than the carts, and colour does the work instead. Rainbow soup dumplings, golden lava buns that ooze egg yolk, charcoal sponge rolls. Dim sum is lunch. At dinner it turns into hot pot, which suits school-age children better than toddlers within reach of a boiling pot. At peak dim sum times only groups of seven or more can book, so a family of four should arrive at opening and beat the queue. - Noise: Lively - Reservations: Yes - Wheelchair access: Yes ## Weekend brunch ### [Zazie](https://ourplayday.com/places/zazie-94117) Neighbourhood: Cole Valley A French bistro that has been doing brunch in Cole Valley since 1992. Gingerbread pancakes for the child, smoked salmon benedict for you. Brunch is first come, first served, always, and an hour's wait on a weekend is normal. Get there as it opens or go on a weekday. Ask for the heated back patio: the back is where the high chairs and strollers fit, and dogs are welcome too, which some children will count as the highlight. The N Judah stop in Cole Valley is two blocks away, and the Kezar end of Golden Gate Park is close enough to walk off the pancakes. - High chairs: Yes - Kids' menu: Yes - For the kids: Crayons, Outdoor space - Noise: Moderate - Reservations: Yes ### [Foreign Cinema](https://ourplayday.com/places/foreign-cinema-94110) Neighbourhood: Mission At night this is a date restaurant with films projected on the courtyard wall. At weekend brunch the same courtyard is heated, covered and full of daylight, and that is the family meal. The children's menu is a proper three courses: fruit or yogurt, then eggs or French toast, then ice cream, with colouring pages and crayons alongside. Adults get the Persian omelette or the fried chicken, and there is an oyster bar. It takes bookings, which few brunch places here do. It is not cheap. This is the brunch for visiting grandparents or a birthday, and it works well for both. Tip: Children who want to see the film need the dinner seating, which is not a kid scene. - Kids' menu: Yes - For the kids: Crayons - Reservations: Yes ## Order at the counter No waiting for a server, no waiting for the bill. The fastest way to feed a hungry child well. ### [Gott's Roadside (Ferry Building)](https://ourplayday.com/places/gott-s-roadside-tray-gourmet-94111) Neighbourhood: Embarcadero The Napa burger stand at the north end of the Ferry Building, with a big open patio on the bay where children watch the ferries come and go. Kids' meals are a plain burger or cheeseburger, a hot dog or fried chicken, with small fries and a drink, and milkshakes all round. The aisles inside are wide enough for a stroller. On a Saturday the farmers market turns the patio into a scrum by noon, so arrive early or come on a weekday. It pairs well with the ferry to Sausalito or Alameda. The wind off the water is colder than it looks; bring a layer. - High chairs: Yes - Kids' menu: Yes - For the kids: Outdoor space - Reservations: No - Wheelchair access: Yes ### [La Taqueria](https://ourplayday.com/places/la-taqueria-94110) Neighbourhood: Mission The Mission burrito landmark, here since 1973, and the one with no rice in the burritos, which is the argument everyone has. Order the carnitas burrito dorado, griddled until the outside crisps. Children eat a cheese quesadilla or a side of beans. The queue out the door moves faster than it looks. You order at the counter and take a table in a plain room with hard seats, which is fine for twenty minutes and not much longer. It is cash only, with an ATM inside. Tip: Garfield Square's pool and playground are a short walk away, as is 24th Street BART. ### [Il Parco](https://ourplayday.com/places/il-parco-94129) Neighbourhood: Presidio A counter café in the Presidio Transit Center, right beside Presidio Tunnel Tops and its Outpost play area, which has the best view of any playground in the city. The point of Il Parco is that the children can play the whole time you eat. Focaccia-style pizza, paninis and soup at lunch; pastries and coffee in the morning. The tables look at the Golden Gate Bridge, and in summer the fog comes in over it by the afternoon, so go earlier and bring jackets. Weekends at Tunnel Tops are crowded. The free PresidiGo shuttle and Muni both stop at the door, which beats paying to park. - For the kids: Outdoor space - Noise: Moderate - Reservations: No ## Room to run by the ocean The west side of the city, where the fog is and the space is. Dress for the first to get the second. ### [Park Chalet](https://ourplayday.com/places/park-chalet-94121) Neighbourhood: Golden Gate Park On the ground floor at the back of the old Beach Chalet, where Golden Gate Park meets Ocean Beach. Glass walls open onto a lawn with Adirondack chairs, and on a weekend afternoon the lawn fills with children running while their parents drink the house beer. That is the arrangement, and it is a good one. The food is pub food. The kids' menu covers tenders, grilled cheese, fish and chips and mac and cheese. There is a fireplace inside for foggy days. Look at the WPA murals in the Beach Chalet upstairs on the way in, and put the Dutch Windmill or the bison paddock on either side of lunch. - Kids' menu: Yes - For the kids: Outdoor space - Noise: Lively - Reservations: Yes - Wheelchair access: Yes ### [Hook Fish Co.](https://ourplayday.com/places/hook-fish-company-94122) Neighbourhood: Outer Sunset A seafood shack on Irving at 47th, two blocks from Ocean Beach: SoCal fish tacos, poke, crab cakes and a ceviche that changes daily. Children eat the plain fish tacos and the fries. There is no indoor dining. You eat outside on a wooden parklet, in the foggiest part of San Francisco, so it is fleeces even in August. What you get in return is a small playground to keep them busy and a bookshop across the street with a train table. Pair it with a walk on the beach and it is a very good Saturday. - For the kids: Outdoor space, Play area - Noise: Moderate ## Ice cream and bakery stops ### [Bi-Rite Creamery](https://ourplayday.com/places/bi-rite-creamery-94110) Neighbourhood: Mission On 18th Street a block from Dolores Park, which is where you eat it, next to the playground. There is nowhere to sit inside; the park is the seating. Salted caramel is the famous flavour, with around two dozen more that rotate and soft serve made from Jersey cows' milk. The ingredients are serious, Straus dairy and Guittard chocolate among them, though a four-year-old will judge it on the sprinkles. On a sunny weekend the line wraps round the block. On a weekday afternoon it barely exists. ### [Golden Gate Bakery](https://ourplayday.com/places/golden-gate-bakery-inc-94133) Neighbourhood: Chinatown The egg custard tarts on Grant Avenue: a flaky shell and a warm, wobbly middle, gone in two bites, which is the right size for a child. The bakery is as famous for its opening as for its tarts. It takes floating days off early in the week and has been known to shut for weeks at a stretch, and the only reliable sign that it is open is a line outside. That line can run half an hour. It is cash only and takeaway only. Buy a box and carry it two blocks to the playground in Portsmouth Square. ## Birthdays and special occasions When the adults want a real dinner and the children still need to be happy. ### [Waterbar](https://ourplayday.com/places/waterbar-94105) Neighbourhood: Embarcadero A seafood restaurant on the Embarcadero right under the Bay Bridge, with floor-to-ceiling cylindrical aquariums of Pacific fish in the middle of the dining room. Ask for a table near the tanks. The kids' menu is short and sensible: cheese ravioli, a quesadilla, chicken tenders, three-shrimp cocktail for the adventurous, and a sundae. The adults get oysters and a proper fish dinner. It is expensive for grown-ups, and the room gets smarter as the evening goes on, so book early. At dusk the lights on the Bay Bridge come on outside the window, which is a good way to end a birthday. - Kids' menu: Yes - For the kids: Crayons - Reservations: Yes ### [Original Joe's (North Beach)](https://ourplayday.com/places/original-joe-s-94133) Neighbourhood: North Beach Italian-American since the 1930s, across from Washington Square: red leather booths, waiters in jackets, and a sense of occasion that never tips into stiff. The booths are roomy and the staff bring high chairs. There is no kids' menu, and you will not miss it. Portions are enormous, so a child shares the spaghetti and meatballs or the hamburger on sourdough. Joe's Special, a scramble of ground beef, spinach, onion and egg, is the house dish. It takes bookings. Let them run on the Washington Square lawn first. - High chairs: Yes ### [Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar](https://ourplayday.com/places/tonga-room-hurricane-bar-94108) Neighbourhood: Nob Hill A tiki bar in the basement of the Fairmont, built around an old swimming pool, with a band that plays from a boat in the lagoon. Every so often an indoor storm rolls over the pool, with rain, thunder and lightning. That is the whole reason to bring a child, and it is reason enough. Children get mocktails in tiki mugs. The food is pupu platters, pork belly bites and sliders, and nobody comes for it. It is all ages early in the evening and adults only late, and a cover charge starts when the band does, so arrive as it opens and have the storms without the cover. Take the California Street cable car up Nob Hill to get there. It makes an outing of it. - Reservations: Yes ## Kids eat free Three places on this page have a kids-eat-free night: Goat Hill Pizza on Mondays, for children under six at its all-you-can-eat dinner, plus Fiorella on Clement and Emmy's Spaghetti Shack, each on a weeknight. Offers like these come and go over the years; the food is worth it either way. ## Bring a layer Half the best tables for children in this city are outdoors, and San Francisco outdoors is colder than visitors expect. Hook Fish Co. has no indoor seating at all, and the patios at Gott's and Il Parco catch the wind off the water. A fleece for everyone, even in summer, and especially in summer. ## Questions ### Where do kids eat free in San Francisco? Goat Hill Pizza on Potrero Hill is the best known: on Monday nights it serves all-you-can-eat pizza and children under six eat free. Fiorella on Clement Street and Emmy's Spaghetti Shack on Mission Street also have a kids-eat-free weeknight. Offers like these come and go, but all three are worth the trip on any night. ### What is the best dim sum in San Francisco with kids? Yank Sing on Stevenson Street, for the carts: children point at what they want as they pass. It is lunch only and books on OpenTable; its Rincon Center room closed in September 2026. Dragon Beaux in the Outer Richmond orders from a menu and wins on colourful dumplings, but at peak times only groups of seven or more can book, so arrive at opening. ### Which San Francisco brunch spots take kids and reservations? Foreign Cinema in the Mission takes reservations and has a three-course children's brunch served with crayons. Zazie in Cole Valley does not take brunch bookings, so go when it opens; its heated back patio has room for high chairs and strollers. ### Can kids go to the Tonga Room? Yes. The Tonga Room at the Fairmont is open to all ages early in the evening and becomes adults only late at night. A cover charge applies once the band starts playing, so families do best arriving as it opens, when the indoor rainstorms are already running. ### Where can kids run around while we eat in San Francisco? Park Chalet has a lawn by Ocean Beach that fills with children on weekend afternoons. Il Parco sits beside the Presidio Tunnel Tops play area, Hook Fish Co. in the Outer Sunset has a small playground, and Gott's at the Ferry Building has an open patio on the bay. Page: https://ourplayday.com/guides/san-francisco/kid-friendly-restaurants