Sun Cafe

One day last week, Smalls and I went out to lunch at Sun Café on Old Monrovia Road. This was kind of an impulse lunch. We had left the house a little late for all the morning errands we had to do that day, and we had a few left to do, but it was about 12:30 or 1:00, and we needed to eat. Sun Café had gotten on my mental list a few weeks ago when I was looking for somewhere to go for dinner (we ended up at Surin of Thailand that night), so I decided we’d try it for lunch.

It's in the shopping center with H. H. Gregg, across Old Monrovia Road from Madison Square Mall.

As a bonus, we got to see an inflatable air-noodle wavy-guy over at H. H. Gregg. Smalls likes to impersonate them; she makes a “whoop” noise as she waves her arms and bends her knees.

 They’re a little intimidating up close, though. Big.

It was about 12:30 or 1:00 when we arrived, and the restaurant wasn’t crowded. We were seated in a booth and Smalls got a highchair. They do have a kid’s menu, and it might be ok for an older kid, but I didn’t think Smalls would be interested. They did, however, have a salad with mango and cucumber (two of her favorite things), so I told the waitress Smalls really likes mango and cucumber, but asked what else was in the salad. When she said seaweed and mayo, I must have made a face, because she offered to have the chef make it with no seaweed and mayo. I thought that was really nice, and we ended up with a plate of shredded mango and cucumber that Smalls loved. We had the leftovers for dinner. I also ordered teriyaki chicken skewers (because I guess I’m obsessed with Smalls trying chicken on a stick—I just think it would be a great option for Smalls at restaurants where the chicken option for kids is “nugget”). She didn’t eat them, so we also had chicken skewers for dinner that night. But she WILL learn to love them.

The dreaded nugget. And French fried.

I really should have asked, but I don’t know what “no veg” on the kid’s menu lo mein or fried rice means. Maybe that you can’t order vegetarian fried rice or lo mein for kids? That seems odd.
I had the Singapore noodles and they were pretty good (not as fried/smoky tasting as the ones at P.F. Chang’s). Sun Café also has sushi, bento boxes, noodles, seafood, all kinds of stuff. The lunch entrees are about $8 and the dinner ones range from about $9 to $15. The menu is online here: http://www.suncafeal.com/menu.html.

Bathroom report: No changing table in the women’s, but it was clean and large—a private bathroom, not one with stalls.

Toddler friendliness ratings:

Atmosphere: 3.5 out of 5 booster seats. It was a little quiet and dark, so I felt like I needed to keep Smalls really quiet so we wouldn’t disturb anyone’s lunch. It didn't feel like it ever gets too crowded, though.

Food: 3.5 out of 5 booster seats. They were really accommodating about making Smalls a special salad, so if you don’t like the kid’s menu, I bet they’ll work with you to find something your kids will like.

Sun Café
930 Old Monrovia Rd, Huntsville AL 35806
(in the shopping center with H.H. Gregg)
256-585-1422
http://www.suncafeal.com/

Hours: Lunch: Mon-Sat 11 AM-3 PM
Dinner: Mon-Thurs 3 PM-9:30 PM
Fri and Sat 3 PM-10 PM
Sun 12 PM-9 PM