Tag: pizza

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Ode to Triangle Crayons

I’m sure all of those people out there that aren’t parents are rolling their eyes and probably not going to read much further, but for those of you that are, read on.

You all probably know the misery of the round crayon.  I mean, who on earth thought it was a good idea to create a children’s product that is to be used on flat surfaces AND ROLLS. 

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Why is rolling so bad?  I want you to go take something round, anything round, set it on a table then watch it roll off and pick it up over and over and over and over.  Now continue this for about an hour or so, and eat dinner during the process.  Oh, and mediate a few toddler fights, run to the bathroom at least once, and dodge any flying food, all while guarding your beer with your life so that it doesn’t get toppled by tiny hands.

Now, I introduce the triangle crayon. 

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I did not know this was a thing until recently, and for those of you who still don’t know this is a thing, THIS IS A THING!  We have run into these at only a handful of restaurants in all our travels and I don’t know why???  Is it more expensive to make a crayon that is shaped like a triangle instead of a circle??  Is the crayon business so overpowered by one company that no one dares takes on their original design?!  I DON’T KNOW.  Should I start a company that only manufactures non rolling triangle shaped crayons??  Maybe one day…All I do know is that when my children are provided with these magical, stay put entertainment devices, they don’t need me nearly as much.  Sure I still have to referee fights, bathroom run, and cut things into pieces that are obviously the wrong shape/size and must be recut 5 times, but I don’t have to continuously get out of my chair and pick up coloring devices repeatedly.

Restaurants, please hear my cry!  These exist!  Find them, stock them, people will come to you just for this reason!  (at least I would)

I must confess…when these are available at a restaurant, I ask for an extra set for the baby (who obviously can’t color) and I keep them in my bag for use at places that have round crayons, or worse, no crayons. This is a whole other topic: things I take from restaurants….don’t judge, they want me to have these things or they wouldn’t put their name on them.

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Hard Knox Pizza Full Review

Where do I even start with this place???  I was introduced to Hard Knox Pizza by a local before I even lived here. Now I return the favor to anyone and everyone who hasn't heard of it.  This is seriously such good pizza!!

 

I know, I know...I'm not doing food reviews here.  So, let's talk about going here with kids.

Hard Knox is in a shopping center that is trying to make itself less strip mall-ish, but is still pretty strip mally.  But that is totally ok with us because that means plenty of easy parking!!

Hard Knox is a smallish restaurant, mostly inside with a few tables out from on the sidewalk.  So, so sad though, I cannot hook the little red chair to these outside tables.  But that's ok because we usually sit inside and they also have tons of high chairs.

As far as kids activities, they provide crayons and super cute coloring sheets....I wish, beyond wish that all restaurants would invest in triangle shaped crayons (that's a post for another day), but that's just me getting flat out picky.

The staff are sweet to kids and the place is generally filled with them and the food is amazing, so everyone is happy.

Several craft beers on tap.  Pitchers available too if you so choose.  Also, Monday night is family night and comes with certain discounts and special additional kid stuff.

But the pizza is the true star of this show.  It's amazing and fresh, and the menu is pretty big.  There's a different special every month and they are generally phenomenal.

Also, shout out to the great salads...

Overall, go here to eat AWESOME pizza and drink good beer in a place where it's totally encouraged to bring your kids.

Side note...great for carryout too!!

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Hard Knox Pizza

Hard Knox Pizza

website

Rating 4.3/5

  • High Chairs - Yes
  • Changing Tables - Women's bathroom
  • Alcohol - Draft & canned craft beer
  • Food - AWESOME pizza, salads
  • Kids Menu - No
  • Activities - Crayons & coloring sheets
  • Staff Kid Friendly - Yes
  • Patrons Kid Friendly - Yes
  • Dog Friendly - Only outside, limited space

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Big Ed’s

website

Rating 4/5

  • High Chairs - Yes, lots
  • Changing Tables - In family restroom only
  • Alcohol - Beer only, limited selection
  • Food - Pizza
  • Kids Menu - No
  • Activities - No
  • Staff Kid Friendly - Yes
  • Patrons Kid Friendly - Extremely
  • Dog Friendly - No

 

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Big Ed’s Full Review

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!

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Crafter’s Brew Market & Social Full Review

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.

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South Coast Pizza Full Review

Even though it is SUPPOSED to be Spring here in the South, it was a pathetic 55 degrees today…sad. So we decided to hit up one of our favorite regular kid friendly pizza joints, South Coast Pizza. (BTW, if y’all haven’t checked out South Knoxville, you’re really missing out.)

South Coast Pizza is in a pretty unassuming building, across from Alliance Brewing Company. Outside there are three picnic style tables for if the weather is nice enough, but we prefer this place when the weather requires indoor accommodations. Inside there are a ton more picnic tables, a couple pull up chairs and two high chairs…ONLY TWO. We always bring our chair that attaches to the actual table for the little one (for those of you who don’t know what this is, I may do an entire post about it because I love it SO MUCH.)

Little Red Chair

This place serves killer pizza and good enough salads and is always a kid food pleaser. As far as entertainment, I’m not sure that this restaurant is meant to be as kid friendly as they are, but they definitely are. There are several old school arcade style video games right by the front door. My 3 year old loves to sit in the car game and pretend he’s driving without it ever even turning on.

There is also a giant fish tank, for child staring and pointing purposes. But most importantly there are VIDEO GAMES!! I’m not talking fancy 3D, million button, mind corrupting systems, I mean old school Nintendo. So simple, so fantastic, so little kid doable.

Again, I feel that all these things may have been intended for adults to relive their childhood, but kids love it. They love it so much that on a random Tuesday night, before 6pm, there were at least 9 children under the age of 5 running around like crazy people while their parents all sat at tables and drank beer. Yes beer, good beer, lots of beer. South Coast offers about 8 draft taps as well as tons of canned craft beers.

Bonus...the people who work here are so sweet, they gave my son a stuffed fish they had on display just because he liked it.

This is totally a place where you can enjoy a good beer, good food, and your kids can be wild.  Just keep it inside.