Best Kid-Friendly Restaurants in Aspen
Aspen, Colorado — updated August 21, 2026
Ribs, slices, burgers and crepes in a town better known for tasting menus: where Aspen families can eat early, eat fast and skip the reservation scramble.
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Aspen's dining reputation runs to elk loin and wine lists, which is not much help at 5:30 p.m. with a hungry seven-year-old in ski boots. The places below trade in ribs, pizza slices, burgers, cookies and crepes, and most of them are within a few blocks of the gondola or on Main Street. Where hours are posted inconsistently across a restaurant's own pages, we say so.
1. Aspen Hickory House
The most heavily reviewed spot on this list and the safest bet with kids: barbecue ribs, served in a room where nobody minds noise. It holds a 4.4 across more than 1,800 reviews, which is a settled rating rather than a promising one. The Aspen location on West Main Street runs 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and again from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. daily, so breakfast, an early lunch and a pre-bedtime dinner are all on the table. The midday closure between 2:30 and 5:00 catches people out after a late morning on the mountain, so plan around it.
2. Paradise Bakery & Cafe
The corner of Galena and Cooper, and the standard reward stop after a day out: baked goods, plus a coffee menu for the adults that runs from drip and cold brew to chai and mocha lattes. At 4.6 from more than 1,100 reviews, it has the strongest combination of rating and volume in this guide. Doors open at 6:30 a.m. daily, which makes it useful before an early lift line. The posted closing time varies between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. depending on which listing you check, so treat the later hour as optimistic.
3. CP Burger
Straightforward kid food in the middle of town: beef burgers, hot dogs, truffle fries, plus tuna and falafel burgers for anyone at the table who wants something else. The 4.1 rating comes from 650 reviews, a large enough sample to trust, and it reflects a fast-food format rather than a fine-dining one. Hours are the thing to watch. The restaurant's own homepage lists 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, while its menu page and Yelp show an 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. close, so call ahead if you are counting on a late sitting.
4. New York Pizza Aspen
Slices by the piece, which is the whole argument for bringing children here: no shared-plate negotiation, no waiting on a whole pie. The menu also runs to full pizzas, salads, sandwiches and wings, with beer and wine. It sits upstairs on the Hyman Avenue Mall and opens daily at 11:30 a.m., with local delivery between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. In season the kitchen has gone as late as 2 a.m., so it doubles as the after-everything-else option. The 4.1 rating across more than 1,100 reviews is well established for a slice shop.
5. Crepe Therapy Cafe Aspen
Sweet crepes and coffee on East Cooper, and an easy sell for a child who has decided they are not eating dinner. Breakfast crepes are served until 10 a.m. only, so the morning window is narrow; after that the menu shifts toward the sweet side. Evidence here is thinner than for the places above: 4.2 from 163 reviews is a workable signal but not a settled one, so go in with moderate expectations. There is a separate Snowmass menu, worth knowing if you are basing yourself down valley.
6. French Pastry Cafe & More
Out at the Aspen Airport Business Center rather than downtown, which makes it a stop on the way in or out rather than a walk from the lifts. It serves pastries, a cafe menu and espresso and tea drinks. Hours are weekday-heavy: 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with a shorter Saturday and no Sunday service listed. The 4.5 rating rests on 141 reviews, the smallest sample in this guide, so treat it as promising rather than proven.
What we left off
Two names from the previous version did not make this one. PARC Aspen is a dinner-only fine-dining room serving Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m., with a menu built around dishes like applewood smoked elk loin and aged duck breast, which puts it outside the premise of this guide even though it reviews well. Home Team BBQ operates beyond Aspen, so it falls under our independents-only rule.