Casual, authentic, kid-friendly Italian restaurant in Dallas?
 

I am planning a last-minute trip to Dallas next weekend (10th-13th) to see a Cowboys game. It will be me, DH, and two kids, 2 and 4. We're staying near the Galleria. On Saturday we're planning to go up Reunion Tower and ride the trolley. Are there any authentic Italian places we could visit for lunch or an early dinner in that area? Any around the Galleria? Any other suggestions for activities with the little ones? We're not interested in the zoo or aquarium since we have good ones here in Tulsa. Thanks.

Momo's Pasta on Knox street is great. It's BYOB. Ferre on McKinney is also good - upscale Italian.

Nearer to Galleria Andiamo's on Beltline, very good food, also Mi Piaci on Montfort for upscale Italian. Sweet Basil on Midway is very good.

Actually I don't know if Ferre and Mi Piaci are in the kid friendly category. But the others are fine.

Dallas has an IMAX movie theatre (not museum based) which is showing The IMAX/3D version of Polar Express this month. We're going to make it a family outing over the holiday visit since the graphics are supposed to be outstanding in this expanded version. Maybe you would also like?

Jocelyn-

I saw your post on the unrelenting Dallas/SA thread, but did not want to become "part of the problem".

There was something about going from the West End to the trolley on McKinney Ave. Where the Trolley turns to go to the backside of the DMA, it is a 4-5 block walk to get near the Tolley track from the West End, walking is tricky because of highway (Woodall Rogers) entrance and exit points; and a 6-lane street (Field). You can take the DART from the West End and get off in Downtown (not sure of the stop), walk a couple of blocks to the backside of the DMA and take the Trolley up McKinney.

Momo's would be good. Afterward, you can cruise Knox St and go to Froggies, a cool kids toy store. Then head to Harry's for frozen custard. Although I like the gelato next to Momo's best (better than Paciugo).

We have gone to Ferre with our kids, we just early (to avoid the see and be seen crowd) and they can make them a plain pasta.

Good info, Pepper.

If I could add a few more bits of info...

If you do walk, the name of the street between the West End and the trolley stop is Ross Avenue. About halfway to the trolley stop, you will pass a very tall building shaped like a twisted chisel. At its base, you will see a very picturesque set of watercourses and fountains. It's too cold now, but in the summer, children often run thru the fountains.

The trolley stop itself is on the corner of Ross and St Paul streets, on the west side of the Dallas Museum of Art.

If you take a DART train, you need the St Paul station. Just disembark the train and walk a couple of blocks north on St Paul, and there you are.

The large building adjacent to the trolley line is a showroom for various wholesalers. If you go to the front side (on Ross), you will see a very beautiful set of garden rooms open to the public... a set of vertical walls, open to the sky, that make a very comfortable enclosure of space. It's one of my favorite spots in downtown Dallas.

The street was not named "St Paul" out of religious piety, or over love for Minnesota.

During national prohibition in the 1930's, the city fathers wanted to protest against the law, and they found a biblical quotation where the Apostle Paul was supposed to have said...

"Drink a little wine for your stomach's sake."

xbt-

Thanks for the street names, I can get around, but usually can't describe it well.

The fountain at (is it stil called) Fountain Place is like a symphony for the deaf. Really nice to watch.

Thanks for all the great information. We haven't seen Polar Express yet, so the IMAX show is now on top of our list! Where is the theater? The fountain sounds great, too. I'll print out this thread so we can hopefully find our way around. DH has been to Dallas a few times, but I'm navigator and I have no clue! We do have GPS in our car, so I'm sure that will help. Thanks again.

http://www.cinemark.com/imax.asp

Jocelyn the above link should provide more info. I took my nieces to watch the movie last week(not at the IMAX) and they were spellbound.

Reporting from the big D!

It was an easy four hour drive from Tulsa. We're at the Hilton Suites adjacent to the Galleria. We got in around dinner time, so we unpacked (good deal I think for a suite at $99/night) and walked over to the Galleria.

The kids' jaws dropped when they saw the huge Christmas tree! They were also entranced by the ice skaters. I thought the Galleria was pretty nice--an interesting replica of the original in Milan--although still a good old American mall.

We ate at a mexican place next to the skating rink which was eh. The kids loved the play place on the upper floor. No high end shopping for us with the kids in tow.

Tomorrow we'll do the IMAX Polar Express, Reunion Tower, and maybe a few other things downtown before we come back to the hotel to swim. Sunday is the Cowboys game and Monday is home.

We've taken countless "trips" with the kids to see family and other odd events, but this is our first real family vacation and everyone's having a ball!

I'll let you know how the rest of the trip goes!

sorry, I'm late, but check www.guidelive.com for realistic DFW restaurant reviews and current activities.
M

Jocelyn_P

This may be a little late but there is a model train display at North Park mall which is a great attraction for kids.

End of Day 2:

We had so many great activities to choose from we didn't even make it to the hotel pool today!

From the little bit I saw of Dallas today, I really like this city. It feels new, modern, and classy. We had absolutely PERFECT weather (sunny and in the 60s). Things we did today:

Saw Polar Express at the IMAX theater. Way cool! Little guy (2) got a little restless but he's coming down with a cold.

Went to the top of Reunion Tower. Pretty anti-climactic for us.

Took the DART trolley to the West End. I really enjoyed walking around this area. It reminded me of San Diego's Gaslamp.

Lunch: we were really hungry so we just stopped at the first restaurant that sounded good, which was the Spaghetti Warehouse. The food was nothing special, but the kids loved eating in the old trolley car.

At the last minute we decided to go to Medieval Times for dinner. If you're not familiar with this, it's a dinner theater with dancing horses, jousting, etc, set in a "castle." We all had a great time. My 2 year old got a little restless towards the end with all the fight scenes, but a little walk around the arena solved that.

Tomorrow is the Cowboy game, then pool time.

We still have lots of activities on our list for next time. Being only 4 hours away, I'm sure that Dallas will be a frequent weekend getaway for us. In March we'll spend a week between San Antonio and Houston, so I'm anxious to compare them all!

Kids love Buca di Beppo. It's a chain and there's one in Dallas.

Our last night in Dallas:

Today we went to the Cowboys game, which was a big mistake. We used to take the little ones to Padres games in San Diego, but this was a completely different experience. We were stuck in traffic for over an hour getting there, had to park about a mile away from the entrance, and the atmosphere in the stadium seemed very inappropriate for young kids. In addition, our seats were right in the middle of the row, so we had to inconvenience a number of people every time we had to get out, and we were in the sun and SWELTERING hot. We left at halftime. Lesson learned! Baseball games may be in our immediate future but no more football for awhile...

The kids had a blast at the pool!

We drove out to Andiamo's, per indie's suggestion, but it's closed on Sundays. :( DH knew about Pappadeaux and I'd never been, so we ended up there. It was fine but WAY too much food.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. Overall we enjoyed our trip!

Glad to hear you had a good time in Dallas, Jocelyn. Thanks for the report.

Jocelyn

Thanks for the report - sorry about Andiamo's - was not aware they closed on Sundays :(

Glad you liked Dallas though.