7&4 News found some great family friendly deals at local restaurants.
TRAVERSE CITY -- For a family, taking the kids out to eat doesn't need to put a dent in your wallet. That's why we went to work and found a few places that either have "kids eat free" days or kids menus with discounted eats.
Our journey started with Bubba's on Front Street in downtown Traverse City.
"I like it, I like the macaroni and the chicken tenders are my favorite!" says 10 year old Alex Ritchie.
"So, you order from it a lot?" asks 7&4 News.
"Yep!" says Alex.
Ritchie is talking about the kids menu at Bubba's. His family is actually from out of town, but they make sure to always stop in for a quick bite to eat and to take advantage of the kids meal deals.
"Monday's kids eat free with an adult. One adult paid for dinner gets two kids meals, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Everything on our menu is under five bucks. We offer broccoli, pineapple, tator tots, French fries, little bit of everything," says Bubba's general manager, Scott Swanson.
Swanson says they started the deals about three years ago and it keeps families coming back.
Our next stop was La Senorita on Garfield Avenue in Traverse City. We met the Hensel family from Lake Ann who says they're regulars all because of the kids menu.
"It's a combination of both, the price for the kids menu and the quality of the food," says Lori Hensel.
"I just like their kids nachos with the refried beans, but once in awhile I'll try something different," says Timothy Hensel.
La Senorita general manager, Mike Jackson says on Sundays kids eat for 99 cents.
"We have eight choices you can get for 99 cents and it's not a half meal. It's a whole meal. It's a deal for me as a parent. I would come here even if I didn't work here...You can come in and if you've got five kids you're looking at 15 bucks for a family for a family to eat. In this economy, today that's hard to do," says Jackson.
"I don't know how some parents who have three, four, five kids can afford to take their kids out eat. So, if you don't have restaurants like this, it makes it unaffordable," says Hensel.
Up next on our list of restaurants, Blue Tractor on Union Street in Traverse City.
"On Sundays, the kids eat free, all day long. We offer dinner menus to our guests all day long from 11 to 10," says Blue Tractor general manager, Eric Fulkerson.
Fulkerson says kids eat free as long as an adult buys an entrée.
"Week after week, that simply tell us they come in because their kids eat free...Being a parent myself I know it's a big help when a business decides to look out for their guests and help them out with toting part of the bill, it's absolutely a big help," says Fulkerson.
For a list of other restaurants in the area that offer kid friendly menus and deals check out this link: http://www.traversecitykids.com/index.php?action=sections.show&id=15
