Thanks for all the suggestions-- I hadn't heard of M.Y. china, that looks like a tempting possibility. It's in the mall but not...mall-like, right?

We ended up in SF for a few days at short notice and looking at Opentable, realizing it's not going to be easy to find a good kid-friendly place on a Sat night -- Any suggestions? Something that might have reservations directly (ie not Opentable) or something with less than 30 min wait at 6pm. We are in the financial district but willing to jump in a cab to the Mission or somewhere not too far. Per previous threads tried Kokkari, Perbacco, etc, no luck. Is someplace like Absinthe too adult for well-behaved kids? Thats one place that is available.

I haven't been to any of those yet (except Mozza, which i assumed would be tough for Sat night table) -- thanks, all!

I have in-laws coming into town and I need to set up a birthday dinner for 8 people (including 2 kids) for this sat. We're trying to find some happy medium between east and west sides, so Hollywood or mid-city would probably both work, but my mind is blank in terms of someplace that's festive enough but not too fancy. (One restriction: not too spicy for the older folks and kids.) Any suggestions?

I haven't been to any of these yet -- which would you recommend? Is North Square the Washington Square Hotel bar? Thanks for the input!

We just lucked out and got an offer of babysitting help tonight -- and we're looking for someplace tasty (and maybe a little romantic) where we might be able to nab an early (6:30ish) reservation or at least not wait too long. Somewhere in W Vill is preferable. Tried Lupa and Blue Hill and Otto but no luck there. Any suggestions, please?

How hard would it be to get a table for 5 on weeknight after 8? It looks like none of them take reservations and I'm trying to find someplace for a foodie gathering with a fun tapas-y atmosphere somewhere below 28th Street.