Hello - I just posted this on the general forum. Then, I saw that there was a family area. Great... Hope you guys have some suggestions of where we can have a good meal with a toddler.

We are heading to the Marriott next week and I am trying to make some dinner reservations in advance. The issue is that we have an active 1-YR old who will be traveling with us.

Any suggestions on kid-friendly but good places to eat?

- We have reservations at El Gaucho and I have also heard that Passions, Madamme Jeanette's and Tuscany are all nice... but can you bring a baby to those places???

Its easy for me to say, but its Aruba...you can do anything you want. I know it sounds generic, but its true. Most of all the places to eat are casual, shorts and t's. As for kids, I havent seen anywhere that had a problem. Its an ideal place for anyone.

I also saw you are at the marriot? I have always gone to the other pools. The ocean club might be the best, has the lazy river, a kiddie pool. As for the huts, it is not as much as a hassle as before, the beach chairs have awnings on them, and can grab them and you are covered, so I dont remember the hut things price and what not...plus I liked being close to the water so the lounges with the awnings were great. Each different part of the hotel complex have different towels, so thats how they know you arent from there, but noone has ever said anything to me. The only thing they were semi sticklers about was that you needed a bracelet for the lazy river, but that was only when they felt like enforcing it. I love the marriot, Aruba for that fact, and all the people there will accomadate you for whatever needs, my 6th time back 5/18 and looking forward to it.

I just returned from aruba with my 17 month old. I don't know how your child behaves in restuarants generally-but with us its always a challenge. The only places he behaved at dinner was in large outdoor areas with things to look at. We took him to Madame Janette and El Gaucho which were amazing food but our son's behavior was horrible so we did not enjoy it. On the other hand we took him to Moomba and Casa Tua(outdoors) and he was very good. There are a lot of other casual restuarants next to Casa Tua(pizza place) such as Tango and Fishes and More which I wish we had tried with him too. Tuscany is also very fancy-I would not take a baby there.

We also used a babysitter twice to go out alone and have a relaxing dinner after he was asleep.

So it really depends how your child usually behaves.

You will love the Mariott-we stayed at the Ocean Club

We just returned from staying at the Marriott Ocean Club with kids and went out to dinner every night. Our 2.5 year old daughter was with us this time around along with our friends who also have a daughter the same age and a son who is 11 months old. The kids did pretty well in most of the restaurants.

The first night, we just went to Champions at the hotel since everyone was exhausted. They have a kids menu. Next we went to Madame Janettes which was great. They don't have a kids menu, but they will prepare whatever you want them to for the kids. El Gaucho has a kids menu, so that worked out well. Cuba's Cookin was our best night out. They have a kids menu and the girls had a blast because they were dancing to the entertainment there. The woman singer is wonderful and encouraged the girls to sing and dance and next thing we knew, they put them up at the keyboard to play. I would definitely give them a 10 rating for being child friendly. We also went to Chef's Table which did not go so well for us. They did offer two dishes for kids, but the service is very slow there (which is no problem for when my husband and I just go out to eat, but not when you have 2 toddlers and an infant with you). Another restaurant that we went to was Fishes and More. They have a pretty extensive kids menu compared to everyone else. And finally Que Pasa, which was also good. Personally, I wouldn't take the kids to Tuscany at the Marriott. Wherever you go, just make sure you bring props for kids to play with since not every restaurant has crayons or something to color.