In search of places where kids can be kids and parents can still have a good time. Cheers!
Rating 4/5
To continue our trip in Oak Ridge, we decided to drop by Big Ed's for a proper dinner...PIZZA.
This place is an Oak Ridge staple, it's been around so long that I had heard about it numerous times and have only lived in the area for about 3 years!
When we walked in I noticed pretty quickly that we were outnumbered....BY CHILDREN. Kid's being welcome is an absolute understatement. There are more high chairs than can be counted and kids yelling and laughing at almost every table. The adults who were dining sans tiny humans were mostly making faces and laughing at the kids at other tables!
The menu is super limited, you order pizza. No kids menu, but who really needs a kids menu for pizza?
The staff are super friendly and accommodating and don't seem at all bothered with the kid chaos. They do not have any kids activities, not even crayons, but our waitress was so sweet, she gave my son two pens and some note paper out of her own apron.
Regardless, my overly dramatic threenager has gotten so spoiled by our BeersWithKids travels that he expects activities and was not impressed....I of course channeled my mom strength and threatened that if he could't be grateful for what he had that we would not be going to restaurants anymore...my husband gently (while laughing in my face) reminded me that I shouldn't make threats I would not be following through on. WHATEVER.
As far as bathrooms. The Men's and Women's bathrooms are at the bottom of some sketchy stairs and are dungeon like and slightly terrifying. Seriously, they are straight out of your worst college dive bar nightmares. HOWEVER, there is a lovely family restroom before you go down the stairs with changing table. Choose that bathroom.
Overall, this is a family oriented pizza place that serves beer. The pizza is good, the staff are friendly. Go here if everyone is hungry and grown ups need liquid fuel. Do not go here if your kids are in need of running laps and doing cartwheels.
One additional deep thought....while we were eating, we noticed several Trump hats, a rainbow shirt, people of different races and ages and Queen blasting through the speakers. Maybe people actually are capable of just getting along?? Always nice to see!
The clouds parted, the sky turned blue and THE SUN CAME OUT…finally. This has seriously been the rainiest year ever. I feel like I moved to Seattle. It was an amazing 75 degrees!!! SO I dusted off the kids shorts and sandals from last season (which were a lot bit snug) and we headed out on an adventure to Oak Ridge.
I’ve had several people lately tell me that I needed to check out a specific beer garden in Oak Ridge, but no one could seem to remember the name. But on a 3 hour Apple store visit…yes THREE HOURS…I think I’m on the payroll now…I was emphatically told by the nicest girl, that I had to go to Crafters Brew Market & Social in Oak RIdge. So we went.
Upon arrival, this place seemed pretty cool. Tons of state flags, super creepy mannequins everywhere, fire pit, tables everywhere, music playing.
But then I quickly noticed the biggest problem with this place...a large, wide open swimming pool with fountains and NO FENCE.
I mean this thing definitely provided some ambiance, but for a mom of little bitty kids, I knew immediately that I would not be able to take my eyes off of my kids for even a second while we were here. Major bummer on sunny BeersWithKids day. So we found a table as far away from this death trap as possible.
Crafters Brew has tons of awesome beers on tap of all varieties. I could tell by the giant boxes of out of use taps that they probably rotate their selections frequently. So this made for happy parents. Also, the beer line cleaning date was a super happy surprise. (I once had a friend that worked in beer sales and I learned all about just how DISGUSTING those lines get.)
As far as kids activities, there was a plethora of old board games by the bar for use. Unfortunately for us, the only game that may 3 year old could really handle was Connect-4 and it was broken. Other than that, there were dart boards and some bagged up yard games. All would be great for older kids, but not mine.
There are no high chairs (but you don't need them if you have the litte red chair!) and no changing tables. But dogs seemed super welcome.
For food, they have an associated restaurant across the parking lot.
The lady who works there is super sweet and calls you "sweetie" in the way that just makes you feel loved and not condescending...
The menu is standard bar food and pizza. We got a giant pretzel that was a kid pleaser.
We stayed for one beer then had to leave because the progeny were getting restless and I absolutely could not let them run around with that death trap of a pool.
All in all I feel like this place is super cool for grown up kids (i.e. parents without their kids) or for school aged kids. There are tons of activities for kids that don't require supervision for survival. If you're kids younger or prone to making stupid spontaneous decisions about unsupervised bodies of water, then maybe make another choice.
Rating 3/5
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