5 Tasty Kid-Friendly Restaurants at Easton Town Center

If you’re spending a day shopping at Easton Town Center take the kids to refuel at one of these 5 family-friendly restaurant options!

A BIG thank you to Easton Town Center for sponsoring this post!

We love spending time at Easton! With the addition of LEGOLAND Discovery Center Columbus, we’re finding ourselves there more and more often! There are plenty of summer events happening at Easton and it is a destination for back to school shopping! With movies, shopping, a splash pad and plenty of activities available, it’s easy to spend an entire day there!

When you’re with the kids and need to find a bite to eat, try out one of these 5 kid-friendly restaurants at Easton Town Center!

1. MELT Bar and Grilled

• Address: 4206 Worth Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43219
• Located in Easton Gateway
• Casual, sit down restaurant, patio seating available
• Website

MELT is a super fun restaurant to eat at while shopping at Easton! The decor itself is enough to keep kids occupied at least until the drinks arrive! Decorated with light up Halloween and Christmas decor, plus murals all over the walls and neon lights, the restaurant is colorful and entertaining! Not to mention the restaurant is filled with TVs – often playing classics. When we were there, they were showing the movie Jurassic Park, which entertained my 4 year old dinosaur lover!

The menu at MELT is huge! The star here is CHEESE! Choose one of their grilled cheese sandwiches (and calling it a “grilled cheese” is certainly an understatement!) or one of the macaroni and cheese dishes to let it shine! MELT is also known for their large selection of craft beers.
What’s great here is that the kid’s menu is so affordable! The kids’ meals are $4 and include drink! And they are not skimpy portions! The options included grilled cheese (of course!), baked mac and cheese, a burger, PB&J, chicken fingers and french bread pizza. Kids get their choice of a side (fries, chips, salad or banana) and a small drink.

While $4 with a drink is pretty much a bargain in the kid’s meal department these days, if you’re lucky enough to be eating on a Tuesday, kids’ meals are $2! My kid said the chicken fingers were “delicious” and they were big fans of the fries! The back of the kid’s menu doubles as a coloring page which kept us busy until the food arrived.

In the warm months, MELT Bar and Grilled also offers a great patio!

Kid Friendly Points: Fun decor, TV’s, affordable kid’s menu, easy parking, great patio.

2. BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse

• Address: 4020 Stelzer Rd., Columbus, OH 43219
• Located in Easton Gateway
• Casual, sit-down restaurant
• Website

Let’s just start by saying the menu at BJ’s is huge! There is truly something for everyone on this menu! This is a great spot for a sit down, yet casual meal. The restaurant is large with just enough noise to drown out the sound of kids being kids.

The kids menu has a lot of options featuring pasta, pizza, grilled chicken, tacos, burgers, broiled shrimp and more. On the back of the menu are quite a few fun activities and games to keep the kids occupied while they wait.

Our waiter brought the kids out some fresh rolls and a fruit bowl with our appetizer. That was a thoughtful touch and my kids loved the rolls!

BJ’s is a safe bet if you’re looking for a menu that offers something for everyone! And don’t miss their famous Pizookies – a freshly baked cookie in a pizza tin served with a scoop of ice cream on top! Yum!

Kid Friendly Points: TVs for entertainment, a great kids menu with activities on the back and Pizookies!

3. Northstar Cafe

• Address: 4015 Townsfair Way,
Columbus, OH 43219
• Located next to Barnes and Noble
• Order at the counter and seat yourself, patio seating available
• Website

The Short North location of Northstar Cafe is where my husband and I filled our the application for our first apartment when we moved to Columbus! We have always loved Northstar and we continued the tradition of eating there each time we found out we were pregnant!

The Easton location is one of my favorites because it is so bright and happy and it has a great patio! We have taken our kids there numerous times over the years and know that it is a favorite of many Columbus families!

When you enter the restaurant you will pick up a menu and then wait in line to order at the counter before seating yourself. There is a kids menu but you will have to ask for it. (Or check out the kids menu online before you go.)

I think about Northstar Cafe in two capacities: Brunch and Everything Else. Brunch is served until 11:00 AM on weekdays and 3:00 PM on the weekends and is my favorite menu.  The ricotta pancakes are to die for and they are my kids’ favorite. If it’s brunch, they’re gonna order the pancakes.

Now let’s talk about Everything Else. The sweet basil burrito is one of my favorites (friend brought it to me in the hospital after Jaden was born) and that’s what I usually get if it’s not Brunch. On our last trip, my kids ordered the grilled cheese and a pepperoni pizza. If your kids can easily agree on pizza, one pizza is plenty enough to feed 2 young kids. We aren’t that lucky so we took home a lot of pizza!

Kid Friendly Points: great patio, magazines are available for passing time while waiting for your food and the cookies are super yummy!

4. Café Zupas

• Address: 4226 Easton Loop W, Columbus, OH 43219
• Located near LL Bean
• Fast casual, order at the counter, patio seating available
• Website

I may have a new favorite fast-casual restaurant at Easton! On our first trip to Café Zupas I was really impressed! There were a lot of simple and healthy choices and the kids meals were just as enticing! You can expect a wide variety of soups, quinoa bowls, salads and sandwiches with a Try 2 Combo option!

One of the highlights was a drink bar with 4 kinds of house-made “Drink Infusions” – uniquely flavored juices, teas and lemonade. The drinks are made with raw, unfiltered clover honey and are not super sweet. If they’re not sweet enough, they offer simple, flavored syrups to sweeten your drink. (Regular soft drinks are also available!)

My boys chose chicken strips and a side of fruit. The kids meals are around $5 and include a drink! Each meal (kids included) came with a chocolate covered strawberry! That was a nice surprise!

Choose Café Zupas if you’re looking for a reasonably priced and quick dining experience. The atmosphere is bright and upbeat and all of the menu items are made fresh daily in the restaurant.

Kid Friendly Points: the kids’ meals are $4.99 and include a drink and a chocolate covered strawberry, laid back environment and healthier drink options.

5. Piada Italian Street Food

• Address: 4025 Easton Station, Columbus, OH 43219
• Located near The Gap
• Fast casual, order at the counter, patio seating available
• Website

Piada is one of my kids’ favorite places to eat at Easton! It’s a go to restaurant at Easton Town Center for our family because everyone likes it! It’s also reasonably priced for a family of four and its fast-casual set up makes it easy to order and sit down quickly.

Kids can choose from Kids Meatballs, Kids Pasta or Chicken Fingers. Kids meals come with organic white or chocolate milk or apple juice. My kids always get pasta – with the chicken on the side, because how dare the ingredients touch each other?!

For adults, Piada has Hand-rolled piadas which are Italian-style street wraps. You can choose from one of their standard menu choices or create your own. Other main dish choices are salads, grain bowls and a variety of street sides like piada sticks, lobster bisque and sweet corn salad.

I always go for a piada (the BLT with crispy chicken) and my husband usually does a tossed pasta bowl. Carbonara Pasta is his favorite.

Kid Friendly Points: the kids’ meals include a drink, laid back environment and not far from the model train at Easton Town Square.

Related: Kids Eat Free or Cheap in Columbus and Central Ohio

Read more: Delicious Restaurants in Downtown Columbus

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