8 great restaurants for semi-well-behaved kids in Greater Cincinnati

Editor's note: Greyhound Tavern and Oriental Wok's Northern Kentucky location are both in Fort Mitchell. An earlier version of this story listed an incorrect neighborhood.

In her infant and toddler years, my daughter, Sylvia, wasn't much of a dinner date. Aside from local taprooms – which were overflowing with more kids than an actual playground – restaurants that seemed appropriate for both parents and children were few and far between.

While my wife, Amy, and I tried to take our daughter to a few of our favorite pre-parenting places (a neighborhood Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, a nautically themed spot near my mother's home in Florida), it usually resulted in a temper tantrum and, in at least one or two instances, projectile vomiting.

Sylvia turns 9 this month, which means she’s old enough for us to take her just about anywhere. She also has a few favorites of her own ? places I'm hoping she remembers when she's older, the same way I recall dinners at Friendly's with my father or the fried perch shacks Amy went to with her parents while growing up along Lake Erie.

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Keep in mind that these aren't necessarily “kid-friendly” spots. They don't all offer coloring books or feel overjoyed if your kids start running amok or playing the drums with the utensils. Instead, they are places where the staff treats kids with respect and a degree of affection.

Let me also say that Sylvia's palate is not what I would describe as advanced. While she is an avowed vegetarian, her food intake is limited to pastas, pancakes, grilled cheese and quesadillas. To her, it's more about the restaurant than the food – a sentiment I respect.

Here are the eight local restaurants that check all the right boxes.

VV Italian, Mount Lookout

Since it opened in 2021, VV Italian restaurant in Mount Lookout Square has been one of my daughter's favorites (it’s one of mine, too). It helps that Melissa De Giorgi, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Andrea Stefano, dotes on her like she's an extended family member. If Sylvia follows my career path, I can see her writing heartfelt odes to VV's hot chocolate, which, no matter how hot and sticky it is outside, is always her go-to order. She's also fascinated by the teenagers from nearby high schools and middle schools, who huddle together, Babysitters Club-style, at high-top tables for coffee or desserts.

1026 Delta Ave., Mount Lookout, 513-485-4007, vvitalian.com.

Greyhound Tavern, Fort Mitchell

I’ll never forget Sylvia's introduction to Sunday brunch at Greyhound Tavern. It was her first all-you-can-eat buffet, and when we told her she could take anything she wanted from the buffet table, her eyes lit up like Charlie in that chocolate factory. She came back with a plate overflowing with pastries and cookies and French toast and fruit and, somewhere underneath it all, some scrambled eggs. I can see why the Greyhound is appealing to kids. Its older crowd provides a quiet sense of security, not to mention a lot of doting. It feels like an old country club where your grandparents would take you, but with better food than you might expect.

2500 Dixie Highway, Fort Mitchell, 859-331-3767, www.greyhoundtavern.com.

Mi Cozumel, multiple locations 

I was out of town one night when the power went out in our neighborhood right around suppertime. After the neighbors gathered outside to see what was happening, they decided to skip cooking in the dark and head to what was then a new restaurant called Mi Cozumel, in Oakley Center, instead. It was one of those nights we all remember as kids: the nights our regular routines are broken by a blackout or a storm or minor emergency that sets the stage for something kind of special. With its celebratory atmosphere, over-the-top drinks (there are virgin versions for the kids) and crowd-pleasing Mexican food, Mi Cozumel hits all the right notes. I’ve taken Sylvia there a couple of times since then, and she never fails to tell me all about the night of the blackout. I have a feeling she'll one day tell that story to her kids, too.

Multiple locations, micozumel.com.

Sacred Beast, Over-the-Rhine

In my mind, Sacred Beast has always been more of a mom-and-pop joint than the hip Over-the-Rhine diner many believe it to be. Owners Jeremy and Bridget Lieb's kids, Hannah and Noah, can often be seen helping out in the kitchen or seating people from the hostess stand. It gives Sacred Beast a familiar sense of warmth that is unique to this part of town. All three of us appreciate the enormous, tufted booths (among the best booths in Cincinnati) and the music that plays on a retro reel-to-reel stereo. Sylvia always orders the lemon-ricotta pancakes or an off-the-menu grilled cheese, while Amy sticks to the goetta breakfast and I fluctuate between the Parisian gnocchi and the smoked lox sandwich. Sylvia likes Sacred Beast so much that, on at least one occasion, she decided to eat alone at the bar just so she could chat it up with the bartender, who found the whole thing hilarious and accommodated her by putting an episode of "SpongeBob" on the TV and making sure her orange juice glass stayed full.

Sacred Beast, 1437 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine; 513-213-2864, sacredbeastdiner.com.

The Montgomery Inn Boathouse, East End 

Walk into the Montgomery Inn boathouse and you're likely to see generations of families sitting together in what looks like almost Norman Rockwell states of idyllic bliss. Kids are laughing. Grandpa's having one more cocktail, and Mom and Dad are dipping Saratoga chips in barbecue sauce, thankful for everything the world has bestowed on them. OK, maybe I'm getting carried away here, but you get the picture. Despite Sylvia's vegetarian leanings, she appreciates the Rib King's riverside palace (and their mac and cheese) almost as much as I do. Aside from family gatherings, it seems there's always something going on at the boathouse, whether it's a birthday party, a graduation or a few prom dates getting ready for the big night. Its location also affords us some nice post-dinner walks along the Ohio River.

925 Riverside Drive, East End, 513-721-7427, montgomeryinn.com.

Zip’s, Mount Lookout 

On a recent visit to Zip's, Amy and I asked Sylvia to pretend she was a food writer and describe what she saw. I wish I could remember her exact words because they were pretty insightful. But the gist of it was that the battered millwork indicated it was old and beloved, that laughter among the customers meant it was a place that made people happy, and that the big bay window was a perfect vantage point to look out on the square and watch people walking by with their dogs.

1036 Delta Ave., Mount Lookout, 513-871-9876, zipscafe.com.

Oriental Wok, Hyde Park and Fort Mitchell

I'm not sure if it's Oriental Wok the restaurant or Susanna Wong Burgess ? who, along with her parents and sister, Angela Wong Miller, own Oriental Wok ? that Sylvia loves more. Susanna dotes on Sylvia like a favorite aunt. But our daughter also appreciates the pure spectacle and experience of Oriental Wok itself. The Hyde Park location feels fancy and refined, while its Fort Mitchell spot feels like a Disney vacation. Add some good egg rolls and a good Shirley Temple, and this is easily one of Sylvia's favorites.

Hyde Park location: 2444 Madison Road, 513-871-6888. Fort Mitchell location: 317 Buttermilk Pike, 859-331-3000, orientalwok.com.

Brunch at Eighteen at the Radisson, Covington

What kid doesn't love a revolving restaurant? And while I can't vouch for Eighteen at the Radisson as a Sylvia-friendly dinner option, she loved it when Amy and I took her there for Sunday brunch. Like the Greyhound, Sylvia appreciated the buffet, and I appreciated the prime rib station. But the restaurant also gave us a chance to teach her a bit about the geography of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky – the freight trains running from Queensgate toward the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad bridge, the new construction projects all over Covington, the old city versus the new.

668 W. Fifth St., Covington, 859-491-5300, restaurantcovingtonky.com.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio food writer shares his 9-year-old daughter's favorite restaurants