Kids eat free in Chicagoland

This guide is for parents and grandparents in Chicago and the suburbs who want a sit-down dinner out without paying full price for a plate of chicken tenders that gets half eaten. It is sorted by day of the week, so you can check tonight’s options fast, and each entry spells out the fine print: how old the kids can be, how many free meals come with each adult order, and what hours the deal runs.

The list is short on purpose. Only restaurants that post the deal on their own website or social feed with a 2025 or 2026 date made the cut, and five passed that test when this guide was checked. Chains are limited to one location. Friday and Saturday are empty because none of the places checked runs a free kids’ night on those days.

Monday: kids eat free on Navy Pier

Mondays are thin, and the one verified deal is a daytime one. Offshore Rooftop is the big rooftop restaurant and bar at the far east end of Navy Pier in Streeterville, with views back across the lake to the skyline. The restaurant calls the deal Family Monday Funday: from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., each kid can get one free meal from the kids’ menu when an adult buys a meal. The restaurant’s own event calendar lists it every Monday through November 30, 2026.

No age limit is posted, so ask your server before ordering for a teenager. The timing works best as a late lunch after the Pier’s attractions, and it will not cover a regular dinner hour. Navy Pier’s own page for the restaurant lists the deal on Sundays, but the restaurant’s calendar says Monday, and that is the version to trust. Call (312) 535-6660 if you are making the trip just for this.

Getting there

The CTA’s #29 State, #65 Grand, #66 Chicago and #124 Navy Pier buses all stop at the Pier. The nearest L stop is Grand on the Red Line, a walk of roughly a mile east along Grand Avenue. Navy Pier’s garages are convenient but on the pricey side, and street parking in Streeterville is scarce, so the bus is usually the better call.

Tuesday: a Six Corners dinner and two suburban options

Tuesday has the most choices of any night. In the city, Community Tavern is a dinner restaurant at 4038 N Milwaukee Ave at Six Corners in Portage Park, where Milwaukee, Irving Park and Cicero meet. The menu runs from Asian-leaning small plates to a double cheeseburger that made The Infatuation’s 2026 burger list. The kids’ menu is short and priced at $10 per plate: cheeseburger, plain burger, grilled cheese, or a chicken and rice stir-fry with bok choy, each with fries, vegetables, fruit or jasmine rice.

The deal here runs Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday. Each adult meal of $16 or more (before tax and fees) gets one free kids’ meal, for children 12 and under. Two adults ordering full entrees can bring two kids for free. The one catch is cost on the adult side: as of September 8, 2026, a mandatory 20 percent service charge replaces tipping and is added to every check. The restaurant opens at 5 p.m. and is closed Mondays.

Getting there

The #56 Milwaukee, #80 Irving Park and #54 Cicero buses all stop at Six Corners. The Blue Line’s Irving Park stop is about a mile east, and the #80 bus covers the gap. For drivers, the restaurant points to a pay lot at Cuyler and LaPorte; street parking around Six Corners is metered.

Two more Tuesday deals are outside the city: Peckish Pig in Evanston (see Wednesday) and Mickey Finn’s Brewery in Libertyville (see Suburban options).

Wednesday: just over the city line in Evanston

Community Tavern’s deal covers Wednesday too. For a North Side family, the other good Wednesday pick is Peckish Pig, a restaurant and brewery at 623 Howard St on the Evanston side of Howard Street, a few blocks from the Howard stop where the Red, Purple and Yellow lines meet. The room is a neighborhood pub with house beers, burgers and a weekend brunch.

The kids’ deal runs Tuesday through Thursday. Kids under 10 get a free meal from the kids’ menu with each full-price adult entree. Like all of Peckish Pig’s weekly specials, the deal is dine-in only and does not combine with other promotions, so it will not stack with Taco Tuesday. Dinner starts at 4:30 p.m., and the weekday happy hour from 4:30 to 6 p.m. is limited to the bar and high-top tables, which are not the best seats with small kids. The phone is (847) 491-6778.

Street parking on Howard Street and the side streets is metered in Evanston, and the Howard L station makes this one of the easier suburban dinners to reach without a car. The #22 Clark and #147 Outer DuSable Lake Shore Express buses also end at Howard.

Thursday and beyond

Thursday is a repeat of Wednesday: Community Tavern and Peckish Pig both run their deals. After that the calendar goes quiet until Sunday.

Friday and Saturday

Nothing verified. Plenty of restaurants run weekend family specials, but none checked for this guide posts a free kids’ meal on Friday or Saturday with a current date, so there is nothing to list here yet.

Sunday

Community Tavern is back on Sunday with the same terms: one free kids’ meal for children 12 and under per adult meal of $16 or more, from 5 p.m. In the northwest suburbs, Di Benedetto Trattoria in Hoffman Estates runs a kids-eat-free Sunday (details below).

Suburban options

Libertyville: Tuesday

Mickey Finn’s Brewery is a brewpub at 345 N Milwaukee Ave in downtown Libertyville, with its own beers on tap and a private-event space called the Amber Room. Tuesday is the family night: kids eat free all day, and the same day brings $4 street tacos and $2 off beer four-packs to go.

The terms are posted two ways. The specials page on the brewery’s website says two free kids’ meals per adult order, while the brewery’s Instagram posts from August 18 and August 25, 2026, say one free kids’ meal per adult entree. No age limit is posted on either. Plan on one per adult and treat a second as a bonus if the server allows it.

Parking is the easy part: the brewery points to a free garage directly behind the building. Libertyville is on Metra’s Milwaukee District North line, though Metra service is thinner in the evening, so most families drive. Tuesday hours are 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; the restaurant does not list Monday hours and books the whole space for private buyouts on Mondays. Call (847) 362-6688 to reserve.

Hoffman Estates: Sunday

Di Benedetto Trattoria is a small, chef-run Italian restaurant and bar at 1766 W Algonquin Rd in Hoffman Estates, near Barrington Road. The restaurant’s specials calendar lists kids eat free on Sundays from 4 to 8 p.m., which is the full Sunday dinner service.

The restaurant does not post an age limit or say how many kids each adult covers, so ask when you reserve at (847) 496-5016. The restaurant notes that its weekday promotions are dine-in only; assume the same for Sunday. This is a car trip; there is no practical transit to this stretch of Algonquin Road.

Good to know

Checked September 28, 2026. Kids-eat-free deals change more often than menus, and restaurants drop them without notice, so confirm by phone before you go, especially if the whole plan depends on the deal.

• Nearly every deal here is dine-in only and tied to a full-price adult entree. Shared plates, happy hour food and carryout usually do not count.
• Offshore Rooftop’s calendar lists the Monday deal through November 30, 2026. A rooftop in December is a different question, so check again in winter.
• Community Tavern’s 20 percent service charge applies to every check, including tables using the kids’ deal.
• Age limits differ: 12 and under at Community Tavern, under 10 at Peckish Pig, and not posted at the other three.

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