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12 Fun Indianapolis Restaurants for Kids

Nicole Sipe
Nicole Sipe

When dining with kids, the restaurant you choose makes all the difference. If the environment isn’t fun and welcoming to children, your restaurant experience can turn sour before your beverages even arrive at your table. Lucky for us, the greater Indianapolis area has a lot to offer when it comes to kid-friendly restaurants. And good news: We know where to look, so we found some great kid-friendly and fun Indianapolis restaurants for you!

Related Article: Where to Have Brunch with Kids in Indianapolis

Some of these restaurants wouldn’t be considered “kid restaurants” in the strictest term. However, all of these restaurants are fun and welcoming to kids, and offer something for families looking for a relaxing, entertaining dining experience.

Here is our list of 12 fun Indianapolis restaurants for kids:

1. Baby’s

2147 N. Talbott St., Indianapolis

You’ll find kid-approved smash burgers, fried chicken and milkshakes on the menu, but the best part of Baby’s (from a kid’s perspective) is the awesome kids play area on the patio. They also offer magnet tiles for little ones to play with while you’re waiting for your food!

Related Article: The 10 Best Burgers in Indy

Fun Indianapolis Restaurants for kids, Baby's
Photo by Baby’s

2. 101 Beer Kitchen

Carmel: 1200 S Rangeline Rd Suite 100, Carmel; Fishers: 9708 District N Dr Suite 910, Fishers

Founded in Ohio by husband-and-wife duo Thad and Jessica Kittrell, 101 Beer Kitchen reflects the owner’s goal to create a place they could enjoy with their four kids. Together, they created a multi-location franchise that’s welcoming, fresh, and exciting. 

The kids’ menu is creative and interactive—with checkboxes to personalize their own meal. Each kids’ entrée comes with two sides, a dessert and a drink and offers several options to choose fromThe food comes on a divided tray, similar to the ones at a school cafeteria. Luckily for kids (and parents), the food on the tray tastes much, much better.

101 Beer Kitchen has two locations in Central Indiana – in Fishers (at the Yard) and In Carmel (at the Proscenium). 

3. Field Brewing

303 E Main Street, Westfield

Sometimes, parents just need a great restaurant with great food and drinks, where their children can play close by. That’s Field Brewing in a nutshell. This Westfield brewery has an amazing garden and outdoor patio seating, with an area where visitors can play bocce ball, giant Jenga, and just hang out on the artificial turf. 

Related Article: Cheers! 6 Family-Friendly Breweries in Indianapolis

Fun Indianapolis Restaurants, Field Brewing
Photo by Field Brewing

4. Ford’s Garage 

13193 Levinson Lane, Noblesville

Car lovers will get a kick out of Ford’s Garage, a restaurant that is decked out with Ford car parts and memorabilia. There are even real cars inside the restaurant! After your meal, walk outside of the restaurant and make a right, and you’ll see an outdoor play area for kids, which is part of the Hamilton Town Center outdoor shopping mall.

Fun Indianapolis Restaurants,
Photo by Katie U. / Yelp

5. Fork + Ale House

350 Veterans Way, Carmel

Fork + Ale House serves all the kid favorites: chicken tenders, burgers, and white mac and cheese. But it really shines because it’s situated right in the center of Carmel’s Midtown Plaza. During nice weather, choose to sit on Fork + Ale House’s patio, and you’ll be near the outdoor ping pong tables, pool tables and giant LED TV screen. Parents can enjoy their meal while the kids play!

Fun Indianapolis Restaurants, Fork + Ale House
Photo by Fork + Ale House

6. Half Liter BBQ & Beer Hall

5301 Winthrop Ave., Indianapolis

Half Liter BBQ & Beer Hall is a great place to bring your half-pints. Not only does this Broad Ripple restaurant serve up some of the best barbecue in Indianapolis, but there is a large outdoor seating area that is open, casual, and family-friendly. You can even play a game of cornhole while you’re waiting for your food! And don’t forget to get dessert after your meal, as Half Liter serves two kid favorite: Dippin’ Dots and Rice Krispie Treats! 

Fun Indianapolis Restaurants, Half LiterPhoto by Half Liter

7. The Old Spaghetti Factory

Downtown Indy: 210 S. Meridian Street, Indianapolis; Carmel: 918 S. Rangeline Road, Carmel

Pasta is one of those foods that most kids enjoy, and kids will find what they want at The Old Spaghetti Factory. And bonus: All menu items on the kid’s menu come with a dessert at the end of the meal, either vanilla ice cream or spumoni. For extra fun, request to be seated in the trolley car, which is a fun fixture in all OSF locations!

Kid friendly restaurants Indianapolis, Old Spaghetti Factory
Photo by Old Spaghetti Factory

Related Article: Fun & Unique Food Trucks in Indy

8. Pizza King Station

7045 Bluff Road, Indianapolis and 8100 E. US Hwy. 36, Avon

For your little train enthusiasts, this is the fun restaurant in Indianapolis to visit. Two Pizza King locations are decked out in all-things train, and also has a model train that delivers your beverages! Pizza and trains — could there be a better kid-friendly combination?

Pizza King Indianapolis9. Punch Bowl Social

120 S. Meridian Street, Indianapolis

This one is kind of cheating. Punch Bowl Social is a restaurant, sure (and they serve pretty darn good food, too.) But it’s it’s a restaurant with bowling alleys, ping pong tables, skee ball and other arcade games, karaoke, board games and lots more entertainment for the family. This is one restaurant where kids will definitely have fun — so much fun that it might be hard to pull them away from the games to get them to eat! 

Kid friendly restaurants Indianapolis
Photo by Erikka T. / Yelp

10. Traders Point Creamery

9101 Moore Road, Zionsville

Traders Point Creamery is a working dairy farm that offers local ingredients at their farm-to-table restaurant. From April through October, visitors can take a self-guided tour of the farm property, and visit with some of the Traders Point Creamery cows, chickens and other animals that call the Zionsville farm their home. And for dessert, kids will especially love that there’s a Dairy Bar on site, where you can order freshly made ice cream, milkshakes, sundaes and floats, which you can enjoy inside the restaurant or outdoors on the big patio. 

Ice Cream From Kid Friendly Restaurant Traders Point Creamery
Photo by Traders Point Creamery

11. Big Hoffa’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que and Freezery

800 E Main St, Westfield

Tangy, sweet flavors shine at Big Hoffa’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que and Freezery, and so does the atmosphere. The 16,000 square-foot restaurant in Westfield gives off an airy, fun, pirate-themed vibe for tasty barbecue and ice cream under one roof. There’s low-key comfort in the tavern-style wooden tables, flickering antique-style lights, juxtaposed against vibrant paper lanterns and Caribbean-hued murals detailed with ocean waves, skeletons and pirate ships.

But the real star of the menu includes their eight towering Insane Shakes. These sharable 20-ounce cups of ice cream include toppings like cotton candy, Ding-Dongs, Twinkies and sprinkles.

Big Hoffa’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que and Freezery
Big Hoffa’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que and Freezery

12. C.R. Heroes Family Pub

10570 E. 96th Street, Fishers

C.R. Heroes is a friendly restaurant that has been serving loyal Geist neighbors since June 2002. The dining room is adorned with hero-themed décor, including Wonder Woman, Superman and even Rosie the Riveter. Directly off the dining room is a small game room with six games: claw games, skill games and arcade games. The menu is kid-friendly, with smiley fries, hot pretzels, hand-breaded chicken tenders, pizza pretzels, mini corn dogs, mandarin oranges and broccoli.

C.R. Heroes Family Pub
C.R. Heroes Family Pub

 

Nicole Sipe
Nicole Sipe
Nicole Sipe is the editor of Indy's Child and Southwest Ohio Parent magazines. She has a BA in Journalism from California State University Northridge, and has been involved in the print and digital publishing world for most of her life. Born and raised in Southern California, Nicole traded the city and sun for corn and creeks, and now lives in central Indiana with her husband, two sons and Collie. Her latest book for children, “All About Me! Art Journal” was published in 2022 by Walter Foster Jr. In her spare time, she likes traveling with her family, enjoying good food and drink, volunteering at her children’s schools and around her community, and practicing yoga.

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