Oregon Coast Family Restaurants

Ah, Cranky Sue -- who is anything but. A New Jersey native with a flair for making some of the best crab cakes east of Maryland (rated by The Oregonian as one of the Top Ten eateries to visit on the Coast), Sue has decorated her establishment a la wacky mermaid. Nets and seahorses hang from every available rafter. She furnishes a children's table in the main dining room, and in warmer months, Cranky Sue opens the doors to a lush expanse of green lawn for both dining and play. "I've got the biggest lawn in town," she boasts. Her menu brags "furiously good food," and she's right. Adults should note her special Caesar Salad and homemade soups. The kids' menu, titled "Lil Skippers Fare for a Decade and Under," offers up healthy munchies as well as burgers, pasta, PB&J and Chicken Corn Dogs.

Dooger's Seafood & Grill is a four-chain restaurant on the coast. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, the restaurant provides roomy booths and a varied menu with a great many fish choices. The individual restaurants may run promotions, like at the Warrenton branch, Thursday's lunch and dinner features a rollback in prices to the 1980s, and the Kids' Menu reduces all food items by $1. The kids' menu has cartoons and puzzles on the back to keep the younger diners interested long after the peanut butter and fries have disappeared. Dooger's is known for its tasty clam chowder, spicier and lighter than the usual chowders on the coast.

Warrenton: (503) 861-2839
Seaside: (503)738-3773
Cannon Beach: (503) 436-2225
Long Beach: (360)642-4224

Locally-owned, with good prices, the Hilltop caters to regulars as well as tourists with their family-oriented fare. Open 6 a.m. until 9 p.m., Hilltop offers both senior and kids' menus, vegetarian options, sugar-free cream pies and "the world's smallest Banana Split" for those enthusiastic eaters whose eyes may be bigger than their stomachs. With three rooms, booths and off-street parking, the Hilltop is an ideal choice for the traveling family.

Outdoor-In is the proud purveyor of what it calls "Eatertainment" -- not just due to the Kool Kids Meals, and the #1 Clam Chowder (voted by a recent Coos Bay poll), but the restaurant has close to 2000 sq. feet of indoor playground space catering to diners ages 8 and younger. For teens, there's "the largest Video Arcade on the Southern Oregon Coast." With its Forced Air Baked Pizza, supersize burgers, and a large assortment of moderately-priced appetizers, perhaps Outdoor-In does indeed corner the market on "Eatertainment."

With Depoe Bay providing a picturesque backdrop, families will love Spouting Horn's "Chuckwagon Buffet" which starts at 5 p.m. on Thursdays and Saturday nights. It's all-you-can-eat, priced at $11.50 for adults, $6.50 for children 10 and under and $1 per year for children 6 and under. Be sure to leave room for Betty's homemade pie. Rumor has it that there's a ghost named Ralph who drops in from time to time.