At Last, Dining Out Without the Din of Children : Travelers find more restaurants that offer separate rooms and menus for young customers.

As soon as we’d been shown to a table, the kids made a beeline for Bub City’s back room. They joined about 30 other noisy, energetic boys and girls of various shapes and sizes who were busy playing free carnival games, drawing on a big board and rolling out Play-Doh under the watchful eye of the smiling young staff at the restaurant in a trendy Chicago neighborhood.

We happen to live in Chicago, but on road trips and vacations we’ve begun searching out the growing number of restaurants and hotel dining rooms that cater to the needs of traveling families with young children by offering special children’s eating and seating areas, special menus and sometimes programs.

The preschoolers and toddlers in Bub City’s back room were having a great time, too, though they were supervised by their parents. “We come here every Sunday,” said Gretchen Trofa, an attorney, who had one eye on her 18-month-old twins. “The kids won’t sit still very long so we come back here to play while we’re waiting for our food and then they’re ready to eat. We get a night out with the twins and they’re happy.”

So were my kids Matt and Reggie and their 4-year-old friend Nathaniel, though it took Nathaniel a bit longer to warm up to the idea of playing without his mom in the room. They wandered back to the table long enough to eat--ribs, fried shrimp, hot dogs and French fries ordered from the extensive children’s menu--and when it was time to go home, they triumphantly showed off prizes they had won.

As for the grown-ups, we had a leisurely dinner eating food we preferred over fast burgers or pizza and enjoyed adult conversation . . . for a change. Even better, the children’s activities were free. For the first time in a long time, we had a dinner out with the kids and I wasn’t left wondering why we’d bothered to come.

Across the country, restaurateurs and hotels are beginning to get the message that today’s traveling families want more than children’s menus and high chairs and that accommodating them is good business. Hyatt Hotels, for example, asked 20,000 children what they could do to improve their Camp Hyatt children’s program. Give them their own restaurant, the kids said. American Family Cruises, whose first ships will sail Christmas 1993, is already touting its supervised children’s buffets so that parents can plan on a romantic dinner on board, without the company of the kids.

Though there aren’t many restaurants offering separate rooms for children or supervised babysitting yet, according to the National Restaurant Assn., the numbers are growing. And the trend is making life easier for vacationing families who would probably hire a baby-sitter to go out at home but may not feel comfortable leaving their children with strangers in a strange city.

The Hyatt Hilton Head in Hilton Head, S.C., has found that its Little Captains Quarters Restaurant--so far the only separate children’s restaurant in the chain--has upped the frequency of guest dining by 30%, according to food and beverage manager Scott Allen. The hotel even has launched a frequent-dining program for kids: Eat there 10 times and both your parents get a free meal.

The Holiday Inn Lake Buena Vista and the Holiday Inn Main Gate East in Orlando, Fla., both go a step further. Children eat free at the children-only Gingerbread House and Kids Kottage--no one over 4 feet, 8 inches allowed--as long as mom and/or dad are dining in the hotel.

Executive manager Terry Henson is convinced that the children’s dining programs are a major factor in the hotels’ success: It operates at more than 90% occupancy, the highest in the chain nationally.

That’s why families are flocking to places that cater to the kids as well as the adults.

In the restored harbor town of Newburyport, Mass., for example, David’s Restaurant offers a Kids’ Room where the children are fed, entertained and supervised: all for $3.15 a child.

“Definitely this is bringing in business,” said owner David Turin. “People come here when they otherwise wouldn’t go out.” Another advantage, he said, is that the restaurant no longer has to deal with the problem of active 3-year-olds in the dining room, disturbing childless patrons.

“It’s not just getting rid of the kids. The kids really like it, too,” said Steve Robins, whose American Rockwells restaurants in Westchester County, N.Y.--a good stopping-off place for those driving between New York City and New England--also have found that, by offering baby-sitting activities for the kids, it draws in families on otherwise slow weeknights.

Another restaurant that offers baby-sitting, although not in house, is Bistro Banlieue, in Lombard, in the western suburbs of Chicago, which works with a nearby Kinder-Care children’s day care facility. Parents who drop their kids off at Kinder-Care between 5 and 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday evenings are given a free voucher to cover up to two children when their dinner check is paid.

In Denver, A Piece of Quiet was designed with a place for parents on one side and the kids ensconced next door playing with toys and eating Silli Fusilli or Itty Bitty Ziti.

And at $5 a child for the evening, this option is cheaper than a baby-sitter. Further, you know exactly where your children are, what they are doing and who they are with. Nervous parents can look in on the kids through the big glass window that separates the Kids Cafe from the adult restaurant.

“I wish there were more places like this,” said Linda Meyer, who lives in Denver and is a repeat customer with her family. “Sure it’s not as inexpensive as McDonald’s but when you really need to get out and have some time as a couple, this is great.”

Taking the Kids invites reader questions and comments about family travel. Address them to: Taking the Kids, 2859 Central St., Box 119, Evanston, Ill. 60201.