Can’t think of anything to do on a Saturday night? Are you bored? Then go to a Travelers game. Buy tickets on the grass, bring a quilt or lawn chairs, and enjoy a night of family fun. I love going to baseball games, even my sister, who doesn’t like baseball, enjoys herself at Travelers’ games. Especially, since they have a kid’s inflatable area, were you can buy a wristband for $3 and get unlimited rides. The tickets are really low, but the concessions are high, so be sure to eat before you go. Next time your bored, go to a Traveler’s game.

Where do you go to find good, authentic, NY Style pizza? NYPD. No, not the police department, New York Pizza Delicatessen. You can order cheese pizza by the slice, then add toppings. NYPD also has good toasted ravioli, calzones, and sandwiches. Although, we haven’t tried the cannolis, but they look good.

Although, they don’t have a kids menu, NYPD is kid friendly. They have coloring sheets, and kid cups. Some of our family thinks the food is too rich, but NYPD passes 3-2.

Corky’s is great food for a great price.  Corky’s has 2 Pulaski CO locations, one in Lakewood, one in Little Rock. When you  go to Corky’s be sure to go for lunch, or Sunday night, when it’s the cheapest. You may get a great lunch special from Corky’s weekly around noon. Some of the great items on the lunch menu are BBQ Sandwiches, BBQ Nachos, and a hot BBQ Burger.

When you go on Sunday night you can get a free kids meal with each adult meal purchase. Some of the delicous items on the kid’s menu are BBQ Spagetti, Mac & Cheese, and Chicken Tenders. IF your lookin’ for a great lunch for a great price, head on down to Corky’s.

All of the restaurants I’ve reviewed so far for this blog have been local, but one of our favorite places to eat is part of a chain. I won’t review chain restaurants very often, but this is a really good deal for families, so I’m making an exception.

Carino’s Italian Grill on Cantrell in West Little Rock offers their family-sized meals at the price of an individual portion on Monday nights. This means we can all eat the skilletini or the bowtie festival for $10 or $11 instead of $20 or $22. They also offer salads with the meal for 99 cents each.

If you have teenagers or “tweens” (as we do), you can use this deal to dine at a fairly nice, kid-friendly restaurant without spending a fortune on adult-sized (or big kid-sized) meals for your kids.

Carino’s is family-friendly (highchairs and booster seats are available), and the manager at this location offered to take the kids to the grill to show them how the chef “fires” up the stove-top with a mini pyrotechnic display (he keeps it safe and quick, but the kids love to watch the fire flame up).

The menu is mostly northern Italian-inspired, with a mixture of cream-based sauces (like the bowtie festival) and tomato-based sauces (like the spicy skilletini). The bread is fresh but not spectacular, although I do like the roasted garlic that comes with the olive oil for dipping.

One of our favorite restaurants in Little Rock has a name our kids are not supposed to say. Damgoode Pies on Cantrell (in the Heights) is on par with our favorite pizza of all time (Piccolo Mondo in Memphis, which, sadly, is closed now).

My kids busted out laughing when they saw the sign for Damgoode Pies, and we couldn’t get our 8-year-old to stop saying, “This is some Damgoode pizza.” They also cracked up again when the hostess told us to “Have a Damgoode day” as we were leaving.

Despite all of the bad language issues, it really is a family-friendly restaurant. They had high chairs and booster seats available, and all of the tables around us were full of kids. The restaurant is also kind of loud, which we’ve found is a good thing if your kids are loud (ours are).

The crust of the pizza is flaky rather than yeasty– it kind of reminded me of phyllo dough. The sauce is flavorful and herb-heavy (which I love), and the ingredients are unique (the sausage, which was our favorite, was in very small pieces rather than chunky). We ordered a medium-sized supreme pizza, and a large sausage pizza with red onions. The large sausage was a good deal ($10.99), and the supreme was in the more expensive “specialty” category ($14.99 for a medium, $18.99 for a large).

The pizza was good enough for a return trip to their take-out branch on Rodney Parham, even though the prices were a little high for take-out pizza.

We visited Cañon Grill on a rare day when my older two children were involved in a school activity, so it was just three of us– my husband, my toddler, and myself– for lunch. My toddler was already a little worn out from playing at the park, even though it was an early lunch. He entered the restaurant crying, “I don’t want to eat here” and left saying, “I like this place.” That’s always a good sign.

We sat at a booth after the host first tried to sit us at a table for two with a high chair (my toddler would have none of that). The booth was inset in the wall, old-style, which turned out to be a good thing because my toddler didn’t really bother the other diners.

We instantly made the mistake of ordering cheese dip and salsa without looking at the menu to see that they were EACH almost $5. Whoops. I naturally assumed that salsa was included with the cheese dip– otherwise I wouldn’t have ordered it. It was homemade and fresh, though, and very good. The cheese dip was white cheese and very mild, so my toddler eventually gobbled it up. Both bowls were HUGE, and they let us take our leftovers home.

My husband and I both ordered Mexican food. He had cheese enchiladas, and I had crispy tacos with queso. I think my tacos were better than his enchiladas, although he said the enchiladas were authentically Mexican. My crispy tacos were actually a flour tortilla that they had shaped and fried, so it tasted kind of like a taco salad shell. It was very good and unexpected. It also came with sour cream and white queso.

Ironically, my toddler did not order Mexican food. He wanted spaghetti. Spaghetti with marinara sauce was not on the menu, but spaghetti with butter sauce was. He didn’t want the butter sauce at first, so they brought it on the side. Eventually, he poured it on his noodles and ate most of it.

The restaurant was full but not crowded when we arrived at 11:15, but by the time we left at noon, a line had formed at the door. If we had not ordered both dips, it would have been reasonably priced, and we will probably visit again.

We first visited Loca Luna on New Year’s Eve, but we dined early enough that we avoided any of the “party crowd” for that particular evening. We were unsure of whether the restaurant would be kid-friendly, so I asked the hostess about it while my husband drove around the parking lot (have you ever done that?). She assured me that the kids were welcome, and she even pulled out some toys from behind the hostess desk to prove it.

We were seated in the back, near the bar. I struggle with whether that’s a good or bad thing, but in this case it was good. We were around the corner from the bar, so the kids didn’t observe the liquor or the drinking, but it was still noisy enough that our kids didn’t bother the other diners.

The toys–a box with different activities on each side and another toy with a series of beads–kept our toddler entertained, while our 8-year-old enjoyed the paper tablecloth and crayons. Our waitress was friendly with the children and even let the older ones order for themselves.

My only complaint was that the kids’ menu was very limited and moderately expensive, compared to other restaurants of the same level. Both of the older children ordered noodles with butter sauce, which my 9-year-old described as “very bland” (I’m not sure what he was expecting with butter sauce). My toddler made the best pick, ordering a cheese pizza. Loca Luna specializes in brick-oven pizza, and the kids’ cheese was very good. My 9-year-old tasted it and said he wished he had ordered it.

The adult entrees were outstanding, although my husband and I wished we had coordinated our choices better because we ended up ordering the same thing. We both had the pot roast with garlic mashed potatoes and bread, which was comfort food for a cold evening.

We will visit Loca Luna again, although we may try to visit for lunch, when the entrees are a little less expensive.