Restaurants for Birthdays in Chicago, Illinois

Chicago, Illinois, is a tourism center that offers a variety of venues, including world-class landmarks, historic architecture, and attractions like the Garfield Park Conservatory, the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Lincoln Park Conservatory Gardens. Thanks to Chicago’s active and progressive atmosphere, dense population, and high influx of tourism, the city boasts a variety of restaurants perfect for birthday celebrations whether you're looking for great cuisine, great atmosphere or great cocktails.

Charlie Trotter's?

• Serving the Chicago area for over 22 years, Charlie Trotter's Restaurant is a renowned dining destination with an elegant atmosphere and artistic cuisine. Popular among locals for its AAA Five Diamond status, Charlie Trotter's is a forward-looking restaurant that establishes new standards for fine dining worldwide. With its efficient service and exquisite dishes, this restaurant is an ideal destination for a special birthday treat whether it is for a few people or a private dining event for a larger group. Open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner, menu items include the sashimi of yellowfin tuna, grilled blue prawn and the honey glazed duck. A wine menu and full service bar is also available.

  Charlie Trotters?
  816 West Armitage Avenue
  Chicago, IL 60614-4308
  773-248-6228?
  charlietrotters.com

The Gage Restaurant

• The Gage restaurant offers a relaxed environment, vintage decor and serves top quality comfort foods as well as boutique beers, fine wines and whiskeys. The restaurant interior offers leather booth seating, table seating, fireplace, full bar, warm color palate and soft lighting to create a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere. Menu items vary from chips (fries) with curry gravy and roasted bone marrow to warm goat cheese tart to the 16 oz. natural aged American rib-eye steak. Open Monday through Sunday for lunch and dinner, The Gage Restaurant offers private dining for events and birthday parties with personalized service and customizable menu items upon request.

  The Gage Restaurant
  24 South Michigan Avenue
  Chicago, IL 60603-3301
  312-372-4243?
  thegagechicago.com

Alhambra Palace

• The Alhambra Palace Restaurant serves authentic Moroccan and Mediterranean cuisine. The restaurant is multi-leveled and fully decorated floor to ceiling with artifacts from Egypt, Morocco and Lebanon, hand-carved sculptures, festive lighting and eye-catching architecture to create an elegant, romantic and royal feeling decor. The menu offers such traditional items as tabouli, baba ghanoush, kefta, chicken kabob, Moroccan lamb tagine and cumin crusted salmon. The Alhambra Palace offers several private dining rooms suitable for special events such as birthday celebrations. The private dining rooms can accommodate 30 to 500 seated guests. The Alhambra Palace is open daily serving lunch and dinner.

  Alhambra Palace
  ?1240 West Randolph Street
  Chicago, IL 60607
  312-666-9555?
  alhambrapalacerestaurant.com

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Fun Restaurants for Kids in Chicago

The Windy City has its share of restaurants that accommodate the unique tastes of parents and kids alike. From indoor playgrounds and live characters to burgers arriving on the caboose of a toy train, Chicago family eateries offer fun for kids and serenity for adults.

Family Grounds Cafe

• Family Grounds Café opened in 2005 as a place for families with small children to enjoy a sophisticated and fun outing together. While parents indulge in espresso, tea, sandwiches and other café fare, children can play in the café's indoor playground, which includes a Victorian playhouse, mini basketball court and stations for creating arts and crafts projects, all within the confines of a trendy Chicago café. Other menu items at the North Side Chicago restaurant include bagels, pastries, soups and gelato. The innovative eatery has garnered features in publications like "Time Out Chicago" and on the website Daily Candy for its ability to accommodate both parents and children.

  Family Grounds Cafe

  3652 N. Lincoln Ave.

  Chicago, IL 60613

  773-281-0785

  familygroundscafe.com

The Choo-Choo

• The Choo-Choo is an American cuisine eatery in Des Plaines, a suburban community in the greater Chicago area. The diner's history dates back to 1951, when an entrepreneurial couple decided to serve hamburgers on a moving model train to distinguish their restaurant from then-emerging chain burger joint McDonald's. The couple's novelty idea remains as popular today as it was then, especially amongst kids. Today, when Choo-Choo's patrons order any of the restaurant's burgers, hotdogs, sandwiches or other menu items, they arrive on the bed of a colorful model toy train. Meals can be paired with French fries, onion rings, turkey chili or a soup of the day. For dessert, guests can indulge in brownies, ice cream sundaes or Choo-Choo's "train cupcakes," a homemade version of the miniature treat topped with a train whistle.

  The Choo-Choo

  600 Lee St.

  Des Plaines, IL 60016

  847-391-9815

  thechoochoo.com

Rainforest Café

• Rainforest Café has restaurants in several states throughout the country, including a downtown Chicago location in Illinois. The restaurant is designed to mimic the environment of a rain forest, and features waterfalls and indigenous wildlife to help define the ambiance. Rainforest Café's Wild Bunch are a gang of jungle animals that travel around the kid-friendly eatery to make sure everyone has a great time. In addition to entrees like Caribbean coconut shrimp and pepperoni pizza, the café has a kids menu for children under 10. Pizza, pasta and kid-sized portions of shrimp, turkey sliders and grilled cheese are available on the kids menu.

  Rainforest Cafe

  605 N. Clark St.

  Chicago, IL 60654

  312-787-1501

  rainforestcafe.com

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The Best Places to Go With Children in Chicago

Chicago is home to many different exciting and educational venues that allow for children to learn, explore and enjoy. Places such as the Chicago Children’s Museum, Fantasy Kingdom, Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament and the Shedd Aquarium are all entertaining places to take children in Chicago.

Chicago Children's Museum

• The Chicago Children’s Museum features a variety of exhibits for children such as the Dinosaur Expedition, the Treehouse Trails, the Inventing lab and WaterWays. Several programs are available for children of all ages such as early learning for infants and arts learning for toddlers and families. Yearly events are given such as African American Heritage Month events, Mexican Festival programs and shadow puppet shows. Members of the Chicago Children’s Museum are granted free access into the museum. Seniors are offered discounts.

Fantasy Kingdom

• Fantasy Kingdom is an indoor play center for children under the age of 6. The mission of Fantasy Kingdom is to encourage learning through play. Fantasy Kingdom offers dress up costumes, very small-sized buildings and toys for children to play with and use their imagination. Children and adults are required to wear socks during playtime. Birthday party packages are offered in semi and full private party packages. Premier Princess Party packages are available as well. For the Premier Princess Party Package, children can choose their favorite princess character to appear at their party. Princess options include Princess Sleeping Beauty, Mermaid Princess, Arabian Princess and Princess Belle of the Ball.

Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament

• Take kids back in time with a trip to Medieval Times in Chicago. Medieval Times is an 11th century-style dinner and tournament show that features epic battles, knights and romance and jousting tournaments while guests eat royal feasts. The show is inside an 11th century style castle and features contests, games and exciting for children of all ages. Medieval Times offers group rates for birthday parties, corporate events, scout troops and educators.

Shedd Aquarium

• With exhibits such as Waters of the World, Caribbean Reef, Polar Play Zone, Amazon’s Rising, Wild Reef and the Shedd’s Aquatic Show, the Shedd Aquarium can provide an exciting and new experience for children. The Shedd Aquarium features animals such as whales, penguins, lizards, sea jellies, frogfishes, sharks, sea turtles and octopuses and prides itself on being a learning resource and a vital teacher to all.

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Things to Do in Logan Square, Chicago

Logan Square has undergone a dramatic transformation since the turn of the 21st century, revitalizing itself after years of neglect. In fact, the city was named one of 2013’s Ten Hottest Cities by AOL Real Estate. With a unique artistic vibe and easy access via the city’s Blue Line “L” train, the neighborhood offers a wealth of indoor and outdoor activities.

Outdoor Activities

• The Logan Square Farmer’s Market is held every Sunday from late spring until late summer and offers up locally grown produce and meats. Booths also include delicacies from local bakers and restaurants, and the boulevard setting of the market makes for a peaceful Sunday picnic atmosphere. The Comfort Station, just east of the actual Logan Square, holds a free International Film Series in its small park every Wednesday night at dusk through the warmer months.

Nightlife

• Logan Square has a very active nightlife scene. Enjoy free live music and specialty cocktails at the Whistler, which has a small back patio for those who want a quieter evening. Revolution Brewery has become a local staple, known for its own craft beers and large bar and restaurant space on Milwaukee Avenue. The brewery also has a tasting room at its Kedzie Brewery facility. For a true Chicago musical experience, visit Rosa’s Lounge in southwestern Logan Square. Opened in 1982, the bar showcases local blues talent that will transport you to another era of the city.

Landmarks

• The Illinois Centennial Monument is a columnar monument celebrating Illinois’ centennial and was designed by Henry Bacon, designer of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Dominating the neighborhood, it sits in the center of the grassy Logan Square, which is itself part of a National Historic District and the Park Boulevard System, which includes the large, open boulevards of nearby Palmer’s Square. Margie’s Candies, at the corner of Western and Armitage, has been in operation since 1921. The Hairpin Lofts are in a renovated flat-iron building built in 1930 that overlooks the six-corner intersection of Milwaukee, Diversey and Kimball.

The Arts

• In addition to the historic Congress Theater, showcasing live music, and the Logan Theater, which offers second-run movies, Logan Square is also home to a very local arts scene. The Elastic Arts Foundation helps local artists develop and display their creations at its Logan Square facility. Works include art exhibitions, theater pieces, literary readings and film screenings. Galerie F is an open-door gallery space showcasing print and street art, including gig and art posters, promoting the work of local artists. The Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival features live music, visual artists, pop-up galleries and local food vendors on Milwaukee Avenue.

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Ice Skating on Navy Pier in Chicago

During its annual Winter WonderFest celebration in December and January, Navy Pier in Chicago offers an all-ages, indoor ice skating rink. Though skating is only one of many activities you can indulge in at Winter WonderFest, it's one of the only ones that's completely free -- if you plan ahead, that is. Otherwise, you'll need an admission ticket just like you would for activities like riding the Ferris wheel or scaling the Snow Summit climbing wall.

Tips

1. Choose the dates you want to visit the skating rink. The Winter WonderFest takes place in December and January, and though it is typically open five days a week, the hours may vary by day. If you want to beat the crowds, you may have more luck on a weekday than on the weekend.
2. Purchase tickets to the Winter WonderFest online if you don't plan on taking ice skates, or if you want to take in other activities while you're at Navy Pier. Though you don't have to purchase tickets in advance, you receive a discount for doing so -- and while you can skate for free with your own pair of blades, you still need a ticket for the Winter WonderFest's other rides and activities. If you have your own skates and want to participate in other activities, order a regular wristband, which includes everything except rental skates at the rink. If you don't have your own skates, order the all-inclusive premium wristband.
3. Pack light, because you can't take your personal belongings onto the skating rink with you. Unless you have someone in your party who can hold your belongings, you'll have to rent a locker for your shoes or boots. Lockers are limited, though, and the bigger they are, the more expensive they are to rent -- take only what you need to make sure you save money and have a place to keep your things while you're on the ice.
4. Park in the east garage when you arrive at Navy Pier. Of the two parking garages -- east and west -- this one is closer to the Winter WonderFest attractions. If you aren't driving, take the Navy Pier Trolley, which runs during the festival and makes a series of stops between Navy Pier and State Street.

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