Does it Live Up to the Hype?
Family-Friendly Restaurants
By Ciri Haugh
With summer in full swing, kids and families of all shapes and sizes seem to be taking over the movie theaters, malls and restaurants all around the country. Since there is still at least a month of summer left, I was charged with reviewing three popular “family-friendly” restaurants to see if they lived up to the hype. Considering the number of restaurants out there, this article could have ended up like a Zagat guide, but we narrowed down the choices to Pancho’s Mexican Buffet, CiCi’s Pizza and Fuddruckers. I judged each on price, food quality, service, atmosphere, cleanliness, family friendliness and single-person friendliness. Additionally, my editor felt that I, a twenty-something female in Dallas, could not get a good feel for the restaurant unless I ate by myself…for somewhere around an hour and a half. Don’t tell him that I only stayed an hour at each place. Parents who look at you like a potential pedophile, just because you’re a single person in a “family” restaurant, can make you feel pretty awkward.
CiCi’s Pizza
If you are unfamiliar with the restaurant, CiCi’s Pizza is well-known for its $5 pizza buffet. Most kids love buffets because they get to pick out what they want to eat – and can eat as much as they want. CiCi’s scores top marks for its buffet, and it should, considering this is one of the biggest appeals, as it had a good assortment of pizza flavors, pastas, salads and desserts at all times. The restaurant also did a great job keeping hot and fresh pizzas available to its patrons. As a family-friendly establishment, it is an all-around decent option with reasonable prices (somewhere around $7 or $8 for buffet and drink) with a small arcade to entertain the kids after they woof down their pizza.
Personally, I thought the regular pizza flavors were fine, but I couldn’t help thinking that I could get a better-tasting, cheaper-priced pizza from the frozen food section of my local grocery store. The novelty flavors were not desirable. While they may be a fun option for the kids, all I could think was “gross.” Out of all the novelty pizzas I tried – buffalo chicken, spinach alfredo, mac & cheese and chicken mushroom alfredo – the chicken mushroom alfredo was by far the worst, leaving me with a weird feeling in my stomach until the next day. I was especially disappointed with the desserts. Having been a CiCi’s customer since elementary school, I remember the dessert pizza being one of the best parts of the whole experience. The apple dessert pizza was hard, obviously having been left out most of the evening.
Finally, in order to properly review CiCi’s, I went into the arcade and played a round of Ms. Pac-Man. As soon as I put my quarters in the machine, I realized that another adult had entered into the area to causally “keep an eye” on me around his children. It didn’t help that as I walked out, other parents were giving me similar evil eyes and suspicious glares. Moral of the story: don’t go into the CiCi’s arcade if you are over the age of 18, unless you are pretty secure with yourself.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Pancho’s Mexican Buffet
The name says it all. One key thing that distinguishes Pancho’s from other buffets is that patrons get the attention of their server by raising a little flag on a stick at the table. Considering that the buffet alone cost $7 plus tax, tip and beverage, it is a little bit more of an investment than CiCi’s. The sheer buffet factor alone makes this restaurant a good choice to please the kids. There was also a small collection of arcade games and sticker machines.
Although Pancho’s might please the kids, the food just did not seem worth the money. I’m not generally a picky food person, especially since I can sustain myself for weeks at a time on Ramen and Michelina’s frozen dinners. If you’ve ever tried a Patio TV dinner, you’ve pretty much eaten Pancho’s food. Not only was the hot food cold, but everything tasted like it either came from a can or a frozen dinner. After sampling the food, I had to race home to lie down because it was doing such a number on my stomach. On top of the food, the restaurant was pretty empty – making the atmosphere fairly depressing. Not even the piñatas hanging from the stained glass lamp fixtures or the “mi casa es su casa” sign could change the tone that night. I felt bad for my server and ended up leaving her a couple extra bucks on top of my original tip, realizing that she probably wouldn’t have a big night.
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Fuddruckers
The 50s-themed burger joint where you can “get your burger how you like it” offers its customers a lot of variety and flair. On a Sunday afternoon, this restaurant was packed with families and groups. Different from a TGI Friday’s or Red Robin, Fuddruckers has its guests order at the counter and pick up their food at a window. For families, it seemed like a good mix of buffet style, since kids could top their burgers with whatever they desired, and traditional restaurant. The whole establishment was fairly clean, especially considering the number of people there that day, and was reasonably priced. My half-pound bacon cheeseburger combo, with tax and tip, added up to around $10.
Overall, the food was pretty good, mainly because it came out fresh and hot. They also had a fairly decent arcade area where the children would visit after finishing their meals. I had a pretty satisfying experience there but would not recommend it for those who don’t like kids (because they were EVERYWHERE). Many of the kids at Fuddruckers that day were darting through the restaurants aisles to get to the soda machines or play in the arcade. Again, if that’s not appealing to you, Fuddruckers is clearly not your restaurant. This was probably the only restaurant out of the three that actually lived up to the hype.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
If you are making an effort to go have family time, you are probably going to suffer through subpar restaurants at some point. Based on my own time at each of these establishments, and many others throughout the years, I would suggest trying to compromise and end up somewhere comparable to a Fuddruckers. Or you could always just eat in and save your money for the movies. I hear Wall-E is getting pretty great reviews.
E-mail the author: Ciri Haugh
