Every Upper West Side parent knows the moment. The museum is done, the playground is done, somebody small is melting down, and somebody tall wants a meal that isn’t chicken fingers again. A good family friendly restaurant Upper West Side families can rely on has to solve all of that at once: food a toddler will actually eat, something interesting for the adults, an option for the sibling who went plant-based last spring, and a menu simple enough to order from while holding a scooter.
Our biased answer: Two Boots at 70 W. 71st St, just off Columbus Avenue and a short walk from Central Park West, is a neighborhood pizza shop, and a pizza shop is one of the few places where a four-year-old, a twelve-year-old, a teenager and two parents can all order from the same menu without anyone compromising. Pizza is shareable, fast and familiar, and ours comes with a Cajun-Italian twist that keeps the grown-ups interested.
Below, parent to parent: how to order for a mixed-age table, what to do about picky eaters, and how to fit a slice stop into a real Upper West Side day.
Key Takeaways
- Two Boots Upper West Side (70 W. 71st St) is a neighborhood pizza shop where every age can order from one menu, from Pizza Face for little kids to Cajun-Italian pies for adventurous parents.
- White pies like The Meg and Larry Tate skip the red sauce, which helps with kids who swear they hate tomato.
- The vegan lineup uses Daiya non-dairy cheese, so plant-based family members get a full pie, not a side salad.
- For birthday parties, school events and team celebrations, our Upper West Side catering page handles drop-off group orders with 24 to 48 hours of notice.
Check Out Our Menu!
The Parent Checklist: What “Family Friendly” Should Really Mean
Search results for family restaurants tend to be long lists of names, which rarely explain why a place works for a family. Here’s the checklist we’d use, wherever you end up eating.
- Something every kid recognizes. Young children eat what they know, so one plain, familiar option takes the pressure off.
- Room to customize. Topping opinions change weekly. A menu that starts simple survives a picky phase.
- Shareable food. Meals go better when food lands in the middle of the table and everyone grabs what they want.
- Options for different diets. If the vegan in the family has to “just get a side,” it stops feeling like a family meal.
- Speed and portability. Hungry kids have short fuses, and food that travels well to a park bench is a bonus.
- Food the adults look forward to. The one people forget. Bored parents make family dinner feel like a chore.
A good neighborhood pizza shop checks almost every box by default. That’s the core of our pitch.
Two Boots on West 71st: A Family Friendly Restaurant Upper West Side Kids and Grown-Ups Can Share
Two Boots started in 1987 on Avenue A in the East Village, founded by Phil Hartman. The name refers to the two boot-shaped places on the map, Italy and Louisiana, and the menu has carried both ever since. That’s why you’ll see Parmigiano and basil pesto on one pie and crawfish and andouille on the next.
For families, that mix matters. The Italian side gives kids the comfort food they expect. The Louisiana side gives parents more character, like Creole chicken. Everyone eats from the same crisp cornmeal crust, but nobody is stuck with someone else’s idea of dinner.
Our pies are also named after pop-culture icons, which turns ordering into a small game. Kids love saying “Mr. Pink” or “The Dude” out loud.
Whole pies come in 10″, 14″ and 18″ sizes on the menu, so you can size an order for a family of three or a playdate of eight. There’s also an Upper West Side perk: Bombinis, savory Cajun hand pies available only at our Manhattan locations, easy to hold in one hand on the walk up Columbus.
One Table, Five Appetites: Ordering for the Whole Crew
Here is the situation we see all the time: a toddler, a picky grade-schooler, a hungry teen, a plant-based sibling and a parent who wants something with a little attitude. You don’t need five separate meals. You need a smart order.
| Who’s at the table | Pie to try | Add-on that helps |
|---|---|---|
| Toddler or preschooler | Pizza Face (small only) | Garlic Knots with a side of marinara |
| Picky grade-schooler | Create Your Pizza, starting from a cheese pizza | House-baked chocolate chip cookie as the reward |
| Kid who “doesn’t like sauce” | The Meg, our very white pie | Basil Pesto dipper for crust dunking |
| Hungry teenager | The Dude (ground beef and andouille, tasso ham, cheddar, mozzarella) | Meatball Parm sliders on garlic knots |
| Plant-based sibling | V for Vegan or Vegan Larry Tate | Vegan House Salad |
| Adventurous parent | The Bayou Beast (marked spicy on the menu, so maybe not for the little ones) | Cajun Ranch dipper |
| Parent who wants vegetables | Larry Tate or The Buckminster | Caesar Salad |
Put one plain thing in the middle. Garlic Knots (three per order, tossed in butter, parsley, garlic and Parmigiano, with marinara on the side) give the table a shared starting point.
Let sliders do the heavy lifting. They come on house-made garlic knots with marinara and fresh mozzarella, in Chicken Parm, Meatball Parm (andouille meatballs) and Eggplant Parm. Small enough for a kid, filling enough for a teen.
Watch the spicy tags. The Bayou Beast, The Bird, Night Tripper, The Divine, Meat the Mets, Hot Knots and the Jalapeño Pesto dipper are marked spicy on the menu, so keep those on the parents’ side of the table.
Drinks: Spindrift, Sweet Leaf teas, Boylan sodas, Hal’s seltzer, Coke and Pepsi cans and bottled water.
For Sauce Skeptics and Plain-Pizza Purists
Every family has one: the kid who picks off every topping, or who suddenly announced that red sauce is “gross.” Our menu has three good tools for that kid.
Pizza Face. Our kid-friendly face pie, small size only, made with younger eaters in mind.
White pies. The Meg skips red sauce entirely and stacks provolone, parmigiano, ricotta and mozzarella with roasted garlic and oregano. Larry Tate puts organic spinach, plum tomatoes and fresh garlic on a white base, a sneaky way to get something green in front of a kid. Mel Cooley adds sun-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers and basil pesto for sweeter tastes.
Create Your Pizza. It starts from a cheese pizza, and you add only what your kid approves. “Cheese only” is a perfectly good order.
For older picky eaters, The Buckminster is a top-sauce pie, with marinara over spinach, roasted garlic and three cheeses. Some kids who refuse sauce on the bottom are oddly happy with sauce on top. Kids are mysterious.
For more compromise strategies, see our earlier post on building an order everyone on the Upper West Side agrees on.
The Plant-Based Sibling Gets a Real Pie Too
Too often the vegan in the family ends up with a side salad and a sigh. Our vegan lane is a full menu section, mostly built on Daiya non-dairy cheese.
- V for Vegan: artichokes, red onions and wild mushrooms with a criss-cross of sweet red pepper pesto and basil pesto, plus Daiya.
- Vegan Larry Tate: the plant-based twin of Larry Tate, so siblings can order “the same pie” even if they eat differently.
- Earth Mother: spinach, roasted garlic, roasted peppers, wild mushrooms, red onion and marinara, with no cheese at all.
- Super Vegan, Vegan Cleo, Vegan Tony Clifton, Vegan Mr. Pink and The VCBGB round out the list for kids who want vegan sausage or vegan chicken.
Beyond pies, there’s a Vegan Calzone served with marinara and a House Salad that’s vegan as well. The Classic Calzone is there for the rest of the table.
One honest note: if anyone in your family has a food allergy or a strict dietary need, please ask the staff about ingredients before ordering. We’d rather you ask than guess.
Museum Mornings, Park Afternoons: Refueling Around the Neighborhood
Our shop sits in prime family territory: big museums, two big parks and a steady school-day rhythm, all of which end with someone asking, “Where are we eating?”
The American Museum of Natural History. A few blocks north on Central Park West, the dinosaur halls are a rite of passage for New York kids. Walking back down toward 71st Street turns a museum morning into lunch.
Central Park. Cross Central Park West for playgrounds, lawns and scooter paths. The Central Park Conservancy has a guide to playgrounds and family activities, and pizza travels well to a picnic blanket.
Lincoln Center. Just south of us, Lincoln Center runs family programming throughout the year. Check their calendar and plan a slice stop so nobody sits through a show hungry.
Riverside Park. Head west toward the Hudson for playgrounds, river views and bike paths. It’s a longer walk, so a to-go order makes sense.
School pickup on Columbus Avenue. A slice and a cookie between pickup and homework turns an ordinary weekday into a small celebration.
| Upper West Side family outing | What to order | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Morning at the Natural History Museum | Pizza Face plus a 14″ The Meg | Mild and cheesy for tired kids, easy to split |
| Playground loop in Central Park | Slices and Garlic Knots to go | Handheld, no utensils, picnic-friendly |
| Family show at Lincoln Center | Chicken Parm and Eggplant Parm sliders | Quick, filling, done before curtain |
| Bike ride along Riverside Park | Bombinis and a cookie for the walk back | Portable Manhattan-only hand pies |
| After school pickup on Columbus Ave | A slice each and a Gluten-Free Brownie | A small treat without a full sit-down meal |
| Rainy Saturday at home on the block | 18″ Larry Tate and an 18″ Cleopatra Jones | Enough for the family plus leftovers |
| Plant-based playdate | V for Vegan and a Vegan Calzone | The vegan kids don’t feel left out |
Feeding the Class, the Team or the Birthday Crowd
Sooner or later, every Upper West Side parent gets volunteered to bring food: a soccer wrap-up, a class celebration, a birthday party in the living room.
Start with our Upper West Side catering page. Catering is drop-off delivery and needs 24 to 48 hours of notice. Packages are organized by group size, with vegetarian and vegan options, which helps when you don’t know every family’s diet. Our FAQ mentions regular Two Boots pizza parties and events for 500 or more, so a classroom is well within reach.
A simple formula for a kids’ group order:
- Lean on cheese and white pies. A plain cheese pie and The Meg cover most young eaters.
- Add one pie with vegetables, like Larry Tate, for parents and brave kids.
- Include one vegan pie, such as V for Vegan.
- Add knots and sliders so there’s more than pizza.
- Finish with cookies and Gluten-Free Brownies.
For a smaller gathering, use the Order Online button on our location page.
Conclusion
A family restaurant doesn’t need to be fancy. It needs to feed a toddler, a picky kid, a teen, a vegan and a curious parent without anyone feeling shortchanged. Two Boots does that with Pizza Face, white pies for sauce skeptics, a real vegan lineup, Manhattan-only Bombinis and a Cajun-Italian menu the adults want to explore.
Find us at 70 W. 71st St, between your museum morning and your park afternoon, and start your order from our Upper West Side location page.
FAQs
Is Two Boots Upper West Side good for kids?
Yes. Our menu has kid-friendly picks like Pizza Face, Garlic Knots with marinara and simple cheese pies from Create Your Pizza, alongside more adventurous Cajun-Italian pies for adults. Shareable slices, knots and sliders make it easy to feed a mixed-age family from one order.
What should I order for a toddler or a picky eater?
Pizza Face, our kid-friendly face pie, is the go-to for younger children and comes in a small size only. For picky eaters, Create Your Pizza starts from a cheese pizza so you can keep it plain, and white pies like The Meg or Larry Tate work for kids who don’t like red sauce.
Do you have a separate children’s menu?
No separate children’s menu is listed. Instead, kids order from the main menu, and Pizza Face is the dedicated kid pick. Garlic Knots, sliders, cheese pies and the house-baked chocolate chip cookie are other easy choices for children.
Are there vegan options for kids?
Yes. Our vegan lineup includes V for Vegan, Vegan Larry Tate, Earth Mother, Super Vegan, Vegan Cleo, Vegan Tony Clifton, Vegan Mr. Pink and The VCBGB, most made with Daiya non-dairy cheese. There’s also a Vegan Calzone and a vegan House Salad.
Can we order for a kids’ party or a school event?
Yes. Our Upper West Side catering page handles drop-off group orders with packages by group size, including vegetarian and vegan options. Catering needs 24 to 48 hours of notice, so book once your date is set.
Is there anything gluten-free on the menu?
The Gluten-Free Brownie is the only gluten-free item listed on our menu. There is no gluten-free crust on the menu, so if anyone in your family avoids gluten, please ask the staff about ingredients before ordering.
