Please help!! Need to find a top notch restaurant where I can bring my 8-month old daughter

[koreanfoodie]

Kindly help a fellow chowhound in a dilemna! Am planning a dinner with family the day after thanksgiving and cost is no consideration. So need to find the best restaurant where it would be appropriate to bring my 8-month old daughter. We're planning on a 5:45pm dinner and my daughter is not fussy (famous last words, i know).

Anyone have particular experiences to share themselves?

[jenniebnyc]

at 5:45 i would think most places would be fair game
if you are concerned about the baby factor i would try Blue Smoke or maybe Maya. friends of mine brought a 5 month old to maya last month on a saturday night and forewaned them that we were coming "with stroller" and they had no problem with it.

[bobby06877]

Otto. Every time I have been there, especially before 6:00, the place has a large number of babies. Also, the music is so loud that you would not have to worry if your baby cries, no one would hear it.

[MMRuth]

I should have thought of Otto - was there for lunch on Saturday around 2pm - and the back room was *full* of babies - actually asked to be moved to the front (no offense!).

[Blumie]

I brought my daughter to lots of places at that age without any problem. Union Square Cafe might be a good choice: it's sedate, the tables are well spaced, and their attitude in general is very accommodating. Similarly, on my last visit to Gotham Bar and Grill I observed a family, including young, well behaved children (although not infants), enjoying an early dinner and, as you would expect, the restaurant was very accommodating.

[a_and_w]

Please don't bring an eight-month old to any high-end place described as "sedate." Even the best-behaved child can get cranky or fussy, and it's disrespectful to your fellow diners who are shelling out good money for a certain experience.

PS: I second the Balthazar rec.

[MMRuth]

You could try Balthazar - pretty high noise level so I would suspect a young child would go unnoticed.