Full Moon Restaurant: Beyond Baby Friendly!

Everyone knows how tough it is to take a toddler out ... you spend your entire meal trying to placate them with books, toys, etc. and worry about people giving you nasty looks because of the noise. I usually prefer to go to chain restaurants because they are generally more baby-friendly, AND they tend to have changing tables in the bathrooms. I have, however, found a few places that are truly baby-friendly, and Full Moon Restaurant in Cambridge, MA is definitely one of them.

Full Moon
344 Huron Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138-6827
(617) 354-6699
www.fullmoonrestaurant.com

Located west of Radcliffe Quad/Harvard, Full Moon has a cozy, cafe atmosphere. Their lunch and dinner menus look great, with a variety of sandwiches, pasta, and fancy dishes like lamb shanks and grilled sirloin. There's certainly enough choices for a vegetarian like me. I went there for brunch and the menu is really good! I went for the poached eggs on grilled bread with asparagus and roasted pepper puree and it was delicious. They have a great kids menu and lots of small items like cups of cut up fruit, etc. too.

They also have a designated PLAY SPACE!!!! This area, tucked in the back corner, has a train table and buckets of toys and books! Definitely a plus for when you just can't get the kids to sit in their high chairs anymore.

The best thing was really the environment. There was nothing but a loud chorus of various babies crying and toddlers/kids whining ... it sounds weird but it was just awesome. You could totally blend in with all the noise and not worry about your kid disturbing anyone. This is the ultimate place to take your kid if you usually don't go out to eat. We were able to seriously relax and just enjoy the meal. I wonder about non-families that go there, I seriously do.

Definitely worth a try, especially for brunch!

Trekking on the T - Boston

I've been in Boston about 1.5 years now, and I honestly avoid taking the T if I can, Boston is a relatively small city and pretty walkable, but if I need to take public transit, I really have to say that I prefer the Red Line to any other ... I live close to the MGH/Charles St stop and it's completely accessible, with a good sized elevator to get you to the platform. There's even the handicapped entry turnstiles, which is great when you have an SUV stroller like mine (the UppaBaby Vista). There are certain stops that you have to pay attention to where you get off ... I once stopped at Park Street station and got off on the wrong side of the train to catch the elevator ... I had to wait for the next one and zip through the train to the other platform to take the elevator up.

So far I've only taken the Red and the Green Lines ... the Green Line is a story in itself ... there's so many different lines on the Green Line and it can be pretty confusing, but also there's a step up to get onto the train and some raised seating areas, so if you're getting on a crowded train it can be a real pain. I once took the Green Line all the way out to Babcock Street/Boston U. and it was really crowded. I got a lot of dirty looks for clogging up the aisles with my stroller, which I happily returned.

But the Red Line has been pretty easy to manage so far - my best trip on it has been to South Station, where you can either switch to the Silver Line or just walk from to get to the Boston Children's Museum - toddler heaven! :-)