Family Friendly Ranking of Universal CityWalk's Restaurants
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Universal CityWalk Beijing offers more than 10 dining choices, each targeted to different appetites and wallet sizes. But aside from taste and price, we ask the all-important question: Just how family-friendly are these restaurants? To find out, we took a stroll down CityWalk and explored all the options, ranking them in terms of kid-friendliness along the way.
But what exactly makes a restaurant kid-friendly?
Well, when fellow editor Julie Wolf interviewed foodie emperor Preston Thomas, he said, “The first thing is the friendly and helpful staff. It’s so nice when you have a clean baby chair ready and waiting for you when you arrive. Or someone to offer an extra hand when you are taking off a coat or putting down a bag. The second thing would be an approachable menu. Kids can be picky eaters, so you need to make sure they have something for everyone.” We totally agree.
So we headed into the restaurants at CityWalk armed with three criteria:
Baby chairs
Kids’ menu options
Kid-friendly service and atmosphere
The results?
General remarks: Firstly, after some exploration, we discovered that all of the sit-down restaurants such as Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar, Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, and even Wubei Craft Food & Beer offer a changing table in their restrooms. Do note that these changing tables are only located in the women’s bathrooms, though there is a family restroom outside of the restaurants just behind the Universal Studios Store.
Secondly, all the restaurants within CityWalk have high chairs available, even the Neon Street Hawkers. The quality of high chairs do differ though, from wooden ones with an attached table available at the aforementioned sit-down restaurants to plastic ones at places like Neon Street Hawkers.
And with that out of the way, let’s get down to it!
In this editor’s opinion, here are the top family-friendly restaurants at Universal CityWalk Beijing.
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co and/or Jumbo Seafood Restaurant
These two restaurants are like the East and West versions of the same restaurant – basically offering seafood US-style (specifically Southern), and Asian-style (Southeast Asian/Chinese). Both are kid-friendly in that they offer a kids’ menu in a similar price range, provide coloring pages to keep little hands busy, and staff are very welcoming of little ones.
Toothsome Chocolate Emporium
Probably the most attractive-looking to kids, Toothsome Chocolate Emporium is quite a sight to behold. The facade brings to mind Willy Wonka’s iconic chocolate factory, but don’t expect a chocolate waterfall within its walls. Instead, you’ll find plenty of seating across two floors, and also a candy store! The cherry on the top is their hourly show, which features two performers, dressed as a steampunk-era robot and an inventor, who walk around and interact with customers.
Pro Tip: While it may be tempting to try several flavors of their specialty milkshakes, it is highly unlikely that an individual can finish an entire one by themselves, much less a kid. The Toothsome kids’ menu is also rather lackluster, with next to no vegetables in sight, save for some lettuce on the mini burgers.
Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar
First of all, as its name implies, this is sushi plus burgers. Their menu offering of a “burgushi” (a burger dressed up as a sushi roll) perfectly encapsulates this heavenly union, which I highly recommend you try at least once in your life. Secondly, the restaurant offers a great way to keep your kids occupied while you enjoy your meal – an interactive video game where kids create their own unique fish and watch their creations come to life on the many screens around the restaurant.
Between the mouthwatering food and the fun little game, the kids gave us no trouble for almost two hours. What’s more, according to them, the LEGO gummies in the kids’ meal puts Cowfish on the top of the list.
Pro Tip: Don’t forget to stop by Cutie Cones afterward for an ice-cream-within-an-ice-cream cone. Yes, I mean it.
Check out the video below to see why Cowfish is my pick for the most family-friendly restaurant in Universal CityWalk Beijing!
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Images: Vivienne Tseng-Rush
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