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This jungle-themed restaurant provides noisy fun and a California-style menu. The mixed grill includes barbecued ribs, soy-ginger steak skewers, chicken breast, and peppered shrimp. Kids get their own special menu, the cartoon-like decor is good fun, and a “volcano” erupts every now and then.

Despite being part of a chain, Romano’s has a neighborhood feel. The modestly priced Italian menu includes thin-crust pizzas cooked in a wood-burning oven, sauteed salmon scaloppini, and chicken marsala. Paper tablecloths and crayons will keep kids happy for hours.

A 600,000-gallon (272,600-liter) floor-to-ceiling aquarium is a calming backdrop to this themed restaurant. Despite the high-brow, mainly fish and seafood menu, it’s very child-friendly. Try the sauteed rock shrimp in a lemon cream sauce. (see Coral Reef).

Tasty seared steaks are the headliners here; choose from rib-eyes, strips, fillets, and porterhouses. The Outback also serves good smoked ribs, shrimp and chicken over fettucine, rib-and-chicken combos, pork chops, and hamburgers.

Mosaic tiles and a painted Moorish ceiling set the Moroccan scene. The food is flavorsome, with delights such as roast lamb au jus with couscous, and marinated beef shish kabobs. A belly dancer shimmies around and kids love to join her. (see Marrakesh).

The menu in this lofty space is Spanish tapas in name but more international in flavor, with such diverse nibbles as baked goat’s cheese, tuna sashimi, alligator bites, and snapper fingers. Performers (from sword eaters to artists at work) provide the entertainment.

At this restaurant, the waiters sing Broadway tunes and opera while the chefs prepare the Italian menu. It covers all bases, with pasta, meat, and seafood – try the lobster, shrimp, clams, and mussels in a white wine and garlic sauce, or the veal T-bone with olive and anchovy butter.

The draw here is the fresh and healthy Californian and Mexican cusine, with tacos, quesadillas, fajitas, and burritos, stuffed with lean meat and sour cream and cheese.

There are no preservatives in the dough used in the sandwiches and baked goods available to eat in or take away; there’s everything from whole-grain to focaccia and sourdough. Soup is also available.

This international TexMex chain serves scrumptious Cajun chicken sandwiches, margarita-grilled chicken topped with lime shrimp, and Cadillac fajitas with black beans and rice.