While in Southern California last weekend for a family event, I got to visit the Little Prince Kids Restaurant in Buena Park with my niece and nephew. Upon first entry, you're made very aware that this is a place for kids, and boy do they love it. It takes a lot of kids and a lot of action to overwhelm me (dancing with and teaching pre-school age kids in large groups is the name of my game, I'm used to a certain amount of chaos and am usually pretty unruffled by kiddie ruckus), but I was overwhelmed and then some by stepping into the Little Prince. After my initial shellshock at the sheer amount of children jumping, skipping, and bopping on different play structures, it struck me that this place is cool. At the Little Prince, kids can come in and play for a fixed rate while the parents can sit at a booth or table and order off the menu. The menu was Korean inspired, but ran the gamut from pizza and pasta to PB&J and the dish that I had and some of the ones I snitched food off of from my family was delicious. I don't think I saw a single kid sitting to eat though, they were all too busy sampling costumes from the dress up section, reading books to each other in the library, or in the case of my niece, sliding down a toddler friendly zip line into a pool of plastic balls. The volume of the restaurant definitely indicates that there are young kids having a good time, but the adults were still able to talk and watch their kids on TV monitors. If you wanted to follow your munchkin into the play area you were welcome to, but there was plenty of staff supervising the play areas and helping kids get on costumes and reach toys.
I got to sneak a peek at the back room that the restaurant uses for parties and it was loaded with fun goodies: colorful party favors, creative games, and bright decorations were just waiting to be torn into, I can only imagine how much fun those party guests had in store.
As our dinner was wrapping up, the Little Prince himself came out to visit with the kids. A costumed staff member came out as the character from the St. Exupery book to take pictures with kids, sing a few songs and do a few rounds of the Hokey Pokey, which really is what it's all about.
Here are some pictures from the Little Prince's website gallery. If you're ever in the Southern California area and are looking for something that your kids will go crazy over (and will also ensure a fantastic nap later on in the day), check out the Little Prince. It's such a great idea and is so refreshing to see a place that embraces kids being in restaurants and lets them enjoy it, and their parents too!
