Kid Friendly Eats: Milwaukee Area

My husband and I are self proclaimed foodies. We love trying new restaurants and foods and make it a point to try something new whenever we travel both near and far. With Winter Break approaching and us having a little bit more free time to explore with our littles, we thought it would be a fun idea to try some new restaurants in the Milwaukee area.

Milwaukee is such a fun destination for families with kids and with Spring Break coming up so soon, many families are starting to plan their agendas for trips. Hopefully our experiences will help to make the dining choices in Milwaukee easy for you! All of these establishments were family friendly- providing quick, kid friendly choices that made it easy to enjoy a meal with our kiddos.

Here's a look at a few of Milwaukee's kid friendly eats:

MACS Macaroni and Cheese Shop

Our family visited the MACS location in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Oak Creek is just south of Milwaukee, so you will need a car while traveling if wanting to visit this location. MACS is a gourmet macaroni and cheese shop that offers something for everyone. We visited this location at around 5:15pm on a Thursday with our two littles who had skipped a nap for the day. As you can imagine, they were ready to eat and not willing to wait. MACS delivered our food to our table piping hot and in record time! Definitely an A+ for speed and food quality here!

As I shared earlier, MACS has something for everyone. My husband and I tried the Chicken Bacon Ranch mac and the Loaded Baked Potato mac. Both were delicious, but the Loaded Baked Potato was the clear favorite for both of us. The potato, bacon, and sour cream was such a fun and DELICIOUS addition to a quality homemade macaroni and cheese.

Our boys both had the Mama's Mac. It was the original mac topped with hot dogs. The kids enjoyed this, picking the hot dogs off the top and eating them before they even got to the mac. Ha! The kids meal came with a drink and a side- we chose fountain drinks (so fun!) and apple slices, but there were plenty of options to choose from if those aren't your kiddo's favorites!

In addition to the delicious meals, the staff at the Oak Creek location that we visited was so kind and did a great job of managing the busy restaurant. This is a MUST if your family loves mac and cheese as much as ours does! If you'd like to take a look at the menu before you go, you can check it out HERE.

Tots on the Street

Tots on the Street is a mother & daughter owned business that produces and sells gourmet tater tots. HOW COOL! I don't know about you, but my kids will eat about anything that includes potatoes (or cheese!). It made perfect sense that we try Tots on the Street.

Tots on the Street has several different flavor tots available at a handful of locations around Milwaukee. What is cool about them is that if your kiddos enjoy the food, you can also purchase their tots to make at home. They would make such a cool souvenir from your trip to Milwaukee!

We were fortunate to be able to try 5 different flavors of tots at home. We tried the sour cream & chive, basil pesto, cheese curd, elote, and original tots. We cooked ours in the air fryer and they came our perfectly crisp. Definitely recommend that if bringing them home to enjoy! Each member of our family had a different favorite, so I can say with 100% certainty that ALL of the flavors were divine! Some of the reviews from our toddlers included, "YUM! I want them ALL!" and "Mom, can we have tots every dinner?". That's a win for us!

In addition to the tots at home, Tots on the Street has a food truck that is out and about in the Milwaukee area regularly. You can see their events page HERE. If you love them, be sure to stop in one of THESE locations before you head out of town to grab a few bags for home!

Ian's Pizza

Ian's Pizza has locations in both Milwaukee and Madison, so if you're visiting Wisconsin, there are lots of options for where to visit. Ian's is a cool concept, offering different kinds of pizza toppings and all by the slice!

We visited Ian's late (around 8:30pm) after visiting Christmas in the Ward in the Third Ward. Our kiddos are typically in bed by 7:15, so this was a STRETCH for us. Luckily, Ian's came through with a fun and QUICK meal that our kiddos could eat in our hotel room before bed. We tried the buffalo chicken pizza (too spicy for the kids), mac and cheese pizza, chicken alfredo pizza, cheesy potato and drunken ravioli pizzas. 100% of our choices were delicious and it was so fun to have so many options. We put all of the slices out in one spot and each grabbed to take a bite when we wanted to. It was a fun way for the kids to feel like they're trying new things and a stress free way for us to eat as a family.

Sorry, no pictures here. Our kids devoured their (and most of our) pizza and breadsticks! If dining with kids, I would recommend any of the pasta pizzas, including the mac and cheese. All of them were hits with our little guys, and we will for sure be visiting again!

3rd Street Market Hall

The 3rd Street Market Hall is not a restaurant, but rather a dining hall. It is connected to the Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Milwaukee, so if you are looking for a place to stay with easy access to restaurants for quick dining, that is it!

The 3rd Street Market Hall has many different options for the family ranging from a bakery to sushi to pizza to burgers. No matter what you or your kids are craving, there is sure to be something there for everyone!

Unfortunately, if you're looking for early dining, this isn't it. They don't open until 9am, so if your kids are up as early as mine, you'll have to grab your donuts elsewhere (I recommend Donut Monster in the Third Ward). However, if you're looking for a quick and easy lunch or dinner, this is the place.

In addition to the numerous restaurants and different cuisines, they have a pour your own beer wall for mom and dad and lots of fun toys for the kids. We spent a decent amount of time playing shuffleboard, cornhole, and stacking blocks. You can check out more HERE.