Child or toddler friendly restaurants & shops

Hey Moms, Dads and Party People:

Looks like the sister is actually coming this year with the kid. An almost mini me. I am excited. Hopefully we'll spend most of our time outdoors but Im coming up with the indoor rainy day options.

I've got the recs for Baby Friendly Shops in Munich which points out places with changing tables. I've also got the very helpful kiddie travel threads.

But does anyone have additional recommendations for Toddler (3.5) friendly restaurants and shops in Munich, preferrably the city centre. I'm thinking of stroller friendly places with kiddie menus or at least kiddie tolerant. I'm hoping the parentals on the board will know the kind of place I mean.

Oh and any recs to toy stores or stuff like that where kids are encouraged to visit would be great too.

Thanks peeps

Since there are no Chuck E Cheese's here, its MickyD's with the play areas. That is actually about it. Many beer gardens have playgrounds, but that is out when it is raining.
ToysRUs is in Euroindustrie Park, but 3.5yo will want you to buy everything. You can't leave without buying at least something. TB is child friendly, but you knew that already.
3.5yo don't really "toddle" anymore. At that age, they go full steam. Good Luck.

this could be a short thread. just hope it doesnt rain. munichs city centre is as child friendly as any other. which means you'll be dealing with bad stares scolding remarks lots of tuts and shaking of heads and the usual wal of non-understanding. you will also discover that those old dear's who usualy tell you off for doing something wrong like crossing the road on red, will turn into the most heplful friends and allies in your stroller pushing times. if you want my advice when its raining go to the swimming baths, avoid Marienplatz and take sunday lunch outside of munich where a restaurant may have "kinderbetreuung".

My son is 3 yrs old, and there are a couple of rainy day options. The Haufbraukeller in Haidhausen http://hofbraeukeller.de/ has free babysitting and a big kid play area which is great for a nice dinner. althought it is great to leave a nice tip to the nice sitters watching over the children. You can even reserve a table near the childcare area, and the menu is very reasonably priced.

Another good option for a rainy day is CocoLoco in Grunwald which is a great indoor play area for children http://www.cocoloco-gruenwald.de/.

The Westbad has a little kiddie pool and a big water slide and is very kid friendly.

The Hertie dept store has a play area (big ship) so the kids can run around while you have lunch.

The malls at Olympiakaufzentrum or Riem can provide an indoor shopping option during rainy weather.

The deutches museum has a great kids area in the basement and will enable the kids to burn some steam and keep very entertained. The Museum of Man & Nature at the Schloss Nympenburg is also great because there are a lot of hands on exhibits so the kids can touch all they want.

There is also a drop off childcare play area at Marienplatz (although I've never used it) http://www.muenchnerkindlgruppe.de/Html/main.html for children over 18months, if you want to do a little shopping or have lunch sans kids.

Yasmine

Hey guys thanks for the replies. Yasmine those are some great suggestions.

If you go to the Deutsches Museum for the play area downstairs make sure to bring a spare set of clothes.
For brunch/breakfast try the Bobolovsky (Ursulastrasse), they do not have a play corner but offer a good breakfast/brunch with a staff that is child-friendly and the smokers arrive only after app. 11am.

Treznevski is also good early mornings for breakfast (especially on the weekend). They open at 8am and families with little kids seemed to be the only ones in there on a Sunday before 10am.

wow cool.
I never thought there was so mach to do with the little ones on rainy days.
We should get together and try it all out.
My son is a 3.5 y.

So here's an update. I'm adding the things they've tried so perhaps it'll be useful to others in the future:

The Big Hits So Far Are:
1. The Deutsche Museum
2. The Englischer Garten Playgrounds. We went to the Chinese Turm after work one evening, the kids there seemed to be older, not too many toddlers that is, and the play seemed a bit rough. The better one seemed to be at the Hirschau BierGarten. Its enclosed, has a couple of areas, i.e. a climbing area, swings, sand for digging etc. The enclosed playground near the surfers got high marks from the mini but lost points for not having any bier and eats nearby.
3. The Tretter Shoe Shoppe - Supposedly has a big slide in it, the kid was happy as a clam while mom went shopping.
4. The Obletter (?)Toy Store near Karlsplatz

Going to check out some of the other places mentioned above and will keep a running list if anything else pops up.

Oh in terms of restaurants, we lucked out with Ayingers on Platzl, which is a very nice Bavarian restaurant. We had a very nice early lunch at 11.00am on Saturday morning. I dont think they're used to kids there but the place was empty so they *barely* blinked an eye when the kid was "cooking" salt and pepper in the ashtray. They have a standard kids menu (fish sticks, chips etc) but they also made half orders of the regular menu items so they got to try some nice bavarian dishes. I'd recommend to go early though, as the place was filling up fast with old peeps when we left an hour or so later.

Hard Rock Cafe is also very kid-friendly. I've been there before for lunch with at least 5 moms with kids under 2 (with 5 strollers/pushchairs, too), and they have been great. At least in winter, they'll turn down the music at lunchtime and sometimes give you a little private room off to the side.

There's a diaper changing table in the women's bathroom; don't know about the men's.

Ratskeller. They've got a whole bunch of kid's play stuff -- coloring books and crayons and things, and the place is huge so shouldn't be a problem with space -- and it's beautiful with painted ceilings and arches etc. And non-smoking zones too (which the Hard Rock also has).

when we were at Chinese Tower on Sunday, a lot of tots had their faces painted. Is there someone that does that all the time, or was it likely a party/special?

I have to give a shout out to Paradiso, across from the Englischer Garten for kid friendly service. Review here.

Also followed a good tip from Gen on the Ratskeller am Marienplatz, the mini loved the painted ceilings and walls. We also timed our visit to see the Glockenspiel. The adults were amused by the UroPower cards in the restrooms.

PS: Don't know about the non-smoking environment though, the table next to us lit up and the waiter didnt stop them.

great thread - maybe move to the family section though? And any more updates folks? :-)