Susan J. wrote: >My relatives are coming into town. There will be twelve of us >including 5 kids (ages 2-8). Is there a good place to go to dinner in >Northern VA that can handle us plus have good food? > >Any help is appreciated. Asian restaurants (Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai) are used to family groups, including young children. Make a reservation. One of the best Chinese restaurants around is Fortune at Bailey's Crossroads. Many others will handle such a group, too. My fave Vietnamese place is Cha Gio. It's kind of small, so they'll need notice for a group of 12. There are various restaurants around that style themselves as "family restaurants" (often means that no alcohol is served) and should be able to deal with such a group. I don't know of any that have especially worthwhile cuisine. Restaurateurs would probably prefer to handle a group like yours on other than a Friday or Saturday night. Expect to see a 15% gratuity added to your bill automatically (many restaurants do this for groups larger than eight)--be careful not to tip another 15% (unless you want to be remembered as either extraordinarly generous, extraordinarly stupid, or just as suckers).
Washington, DC