Pizza parlors, mainly the kind that have a few vending machines, sports broadcasts, and a couple of pinball machines, are the perfect spot for taking our four-year-old. After all, it is socially acceptable for children to roam (and even run) around the restaurant and to whine to their parents for quarters. Plus, the noise levels in these wonderful establishments mask mild tantrums and verbal stims. Actually, any restaurant that has vending machines is really inviting kids to roam from their tables and booths.
Sometimes we run into problems, such as establishments that leave their doors wide open in the summer onto busy streets. Or maybe they have some other architectural feature like dangerous or "do not enter" stairways that are magnets for our kid and gauranteed to annoy the management. So we just don't go to those places. Also, it took us a few tries to train our son not to grab every parmesan shaker and lick it. Yeah, I know, that is really gross! (Don't worry, we've always handed any dirty shakers to the staff and left a nice tip).
That brings me to the topic of those kids on the autism diet. The very restaurants that are so suited to many autistic temperaments--pizza places-- serve ONLY gluten and casein (pizza, spaghetti, etc) and this is such a shame, such an ironic shame! Still, if the autism diet proves beneficial to your child then of course it will become a lifestyle and you will be used to always being prepared with a separate entree for the child--or else just not eat out so much (which is both healthy and economical), which is what I have heard from friends who have stuck with the diet.
Other drawbacks to pizza parlor arcades: 1) Possible overstimulation if there is TOO MUCH noise and flash. 2) Birthday parties. It is really embarrassing to have your child practically hunt down another child to wrestle a balloon away. So, we always try to send in a reconaissance person to make sure there isn't a big present and balloon fest in progress. If there is, we make it easy on ourselves and go somewhere else. Now that I think about it, I might even start calling ahead and asking if there are any parties in progress.
