Regularly having a meal around the table with your family can be a great way for parents to connect with their children. You can also get the same bonding experience at a family-friendly restaurant without having to cook. Treat the kids to a meal out on the town at one of these amazing local family-friendly places in and around the Plano, Texas, area.

Red Truck Cafe

“Pancakes with strawberries” licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Flickr by Ruth and Dave

If you love a quaint diner with an intimate atmosphere, then you’ll love Red Truck Cafe. This place serves traditional homemade food, including some of your (and your kids’) favorite breakfast meals that you can order all day. Get a delicious pancake, waffle, or French toast combo, and add to it blueberries, chocolate chips, or cinnamon apples. Or, order some holiday cheer all year round in the form of gingerbread pancakes. You can also get omelets, Benedicts, specialty skillets, Tex-Mex breakfast staples like huevos rancheros, and many Southern breakfast dishes, like chicken fried steak or sausage gravy and biscuits.

For lunch and dinner, grab a hearty Cobb salad, homestyle meatloaf, pot roast, or chicken and dumplings, one of their many delicious sandwich choices, steak any way you like it cooked, or a vegetable plate of your favorite plant-based sides. And their kids’ menu features classics like a burger and fries, grilled cheese, and fun rainbow pancakes.

Have a meal at this cozy local diner located at 910 W. Parker Road in Plano. They’re open every day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., except Wednesday when they close at 7 p.m. instead.

Hub Streat

Hub Streat offers outdoor seating at picnic tables for a cozy atmosphere perfect for families and their pooches. Order from the restaurant’s enormous menu full of delicious starters, like fried pickle chips and buffalo cauliflower wings, tacos and quesadillas, pizzas topped with all of your favorite fixin’s, salads full of fresh veggies, burgers and sandwiches, and wings made more than a dozen ways. They also serve a fantastic brunch on the weekends with all of your favorites and some specialty items, too.

Try this unique family-friendly restaurant located at 1212 E. 14th St. in Plano. They’re open Wednesday through Thursday from 4 to 11 p.m., Friday from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 a.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Just remember that the kitchen stops serving food at 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and at 9 p.m. on Sunday.

Rodeo Goat

Are you a burger-loving family? Then Rodeo Goat is about to become your go-to burger joint, if it isn’t already. This place has more than a dozen specialty burgers you can choose from. You can also order one of the two burgers that compete for best-burger glory during the restaurant’s Battle of the Burgers event. But if you have little ones who can’t yet handle the awesomeness of these sandwiches, then you can order the kids a slider and fries or grilled cheese for them instead.

To make your burger, choose a delicious recipe with a variety of toppings, including chorizo and Mexican cheese, maple bacon and mango pico de gallo, crimini mushrooms and caramel glaze, or habanero cheese and jalapenos. Then, decide between patties made with ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, or a housemade vegan blend of black beans, rice, lentils, oats, and barley. You can also get the very popular Impossible patty for any of these burgers, too.

Visit this kid-friendly joint located at 641 Powell Lane in Plano. They’re open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. You can also check out their Dallas location at 1926 Market Center Blvd., which has the same hours, if you ever need a place to stop for grub during a day trip from Plano.

The Yard

When you visit this community restaurant in downtown McKinney, you get to have a great meal seated at an outdoor table and feel like you’re in a friend’s backyard during a block party. That’s because the indoor part of the restaurant is located inside an old historic home originally built in 1855 by the Abbott family. Thanks to this beautiful property, The Yard combines large, open-air space with unique backyard-barbecue grub and games, all of which you get to enjoy in fantastic North Texas weather.

It’s not just the atmosphere that makes this place so great for families, though — the menu provides many options for sharable bites, kid-friendly entrees, a few healthier options, and scrumptious sweets. Start things off with stacked nachos or pulled pork-smothered waffle fries to share. Opt for one of their hearty salads, a juicy burger or hot dog, or a taco platter. Kids can get staples like chicken tenders, grilled cheese, or even a simple chicken quesadilla. And if everyone leaves room for dessert, you can order specialties like cookie ice cream sandwiches and key lime pie.

This restaurant is located at 107 S. Church St. in nearby McKinney. They’re open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Trophy Park Sports Lounge

Come eat and play at Trophy Park Sports Lounge. You can work up an appetite after a few rounds of bowling, foosball, ping pong, putt-putt, and cornhole. Then, treat your whole family to delicious appetizers like empanadas and roasted Brussels sprouts and entrees like surf and turf, brisket sandwiches, or a hot chicken sandwich. Kids 12 and under can order from the “Little League” menu, where they can get chicken tenders, a grilled chicken platter, or gooey grilled cheese. Leave room for desserts like churros and cheesecake before heading away from the table for more games.

Head to nearby Frisco to visit Trophy Park Sports Lounge Monday from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m., Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 12 a.m., and Friday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.So that’s our list of the five best family-friendly restaurants in and around Plano, Texas.

And that concludes our list of some of the best restaurants in Plano, TX. Want to learn more? Check out our list of the best ethnic food restaurants in Plano, TX to expand you and your child’s palette. Did we miss any of your favorite local spots to take your family for a meal? Contact Crème de la Crème of Plano, and let us know. We’ll be sure to add it to our growing list.