Seattle's Top Spots for Dining With Tots

Looks like something besides the food here blows....

As any parent can tell you, dining out with the wee ones in tow can sometimes be more effort than it's worth. Spots designed with kids in mind (think mouse logo and animatronics) offer nearly inedible cuisine, served as an overpriced afterthought in an atmosphere so chaotic that normal digestion is out of the question. But the local haunts below keep it kid-friendly without sacrificing quality or ambience. So leave the giant bag of distractions you'd normally pack at home--these joints (organized into four convenient categories) have you covered:

Pizza : Kids love pizza. Grownups love beer. These spots marry the two beautifully.

Proletariat Pizza (9622 16th Ave. S.W., White Center)
All the games, fun and kid distraction you could ask for with pizza so delicious it will keep you coming back.

All Purpose Pizza (2901 S/ Jackson St/)
Spendy but worth it seems to be the consensus at this South Seattle parlor, which features big-screen televisions plus a mini-kitchen, where your chef in the making gets to literally play with their food. As one Voracious-reading mom put it: "Kids get a piece of dough and their own kitchen to play in, while parents get pints of Maiden in the Shade." Sold, ma'am!

Flying Squirrel Pizza Co/Sunset Tavern (5433 Ballard Ave. N.W.)
This club so cleverly converts to kid-friendly in the evening (5-9 p.m.), you'd think you were in Austin, Tears. Monthly Monday family movie nights and reasonably priced 'za make this a Ballard parent fave.