Eating at Broken Tree Pizza With Kids

Broken Tree Pizza is a family owned restaurant in downtown Neenah, and it's set up to make room for kids rather than tolerate them. There's a dedicated kids menu, dine-in seating, and takeout, so there's a way to make a family meal work whichever way is easier that day.

Two options, both $8, both dine-in specials

The Sapling is an eight inch pizza with house blend cheese, a choice of sauce, and up to two toppings, and it comes with a choice of drink. That's small enough to let a picky kid keep it plain, house blend cheese with a red sauce and nothing else, or add two toppings from the same lists the adults order from if they want more. The Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese comes with applesauce and a choice of drink, for the kid who'd rather skip pizza entirely. Both are $8 and both are dine-in specials only, which means they're built for eating at the table, not for a to-go order.

What "choice of drink" actually gets you

The fountain soda line-up covers Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Mr. Pibb, Mello Yello, lemonade, iced tea, and raspberry iced tea, with free refills, so a kid isn't stuck with one option or nursing a single cup all meal. Adults have a second choice at the table too: gourmet bottled soda from Sun Drop and a few Sprecher flavors, root beer, cream, orange dream, and grape, for $3, if the grown-ups want something a step up from the fountain.

Welcoming kids isn't just a line on the menu

Broken Tree Pizza's own listed business attributes include welcoming children right alongside serving dine-in, offering takeout, and accepting mobile payment. That's the kind of detail that's easy to skip past, but it means the two kid-priced items aren't an afterthought bolted onto an adult menu, they're part of how the restaurant describes itself.

If takeout is the plan instead

The Sapling and the Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese are dine-in specials, which means they aren't available to go. If takeout is what you're planning, the kids' pizza would come off the regular menu instead, either a specialty pizza or a Customize Your Own build kept simple with cheese and one or two toppings. It's worth deciding dine-in or takeout before you order, since it changes which kids' options are actually on the table.

If an eight inch pizza isn't enough

The Sapling is sized for a smaller appetite, house blend cheese with up to two toppings on an eight inch pizza. For an older kid who eats more than that, the Customize Your Own twelve inch pizza on the regular menu starts at $12 and allows up to five toppings across three price tiers, so there's a bigger option sitting right next to the kids menu rather than only two sizes to choose between.

Lunch is a good window to bring them

Lunch service runs 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, before the dinner crowd shows up. If a long wait with a hungry kid is the thing you're trying to avoid, that window is worth using. Saturday and Sunday run straight through from 11 a.m., without the afternoon gap the weekdays have, so there's more flexibility on weekends if lunch timing doesn't line up for your family.

Parking

Street parking right in front of the Marketplace building can be tight, especially at busy times. There's more parking available behind the restaurant, which one Google reviewer mentioned specifically after a lunch visit, and it's worth knowing before you're circling the block with kids in the back seat.

The rest of the table doesn't have to compromise

While the kids are eating off the Sapling or the mac and cheese, everyone else at the table can still order off the full specialty menu, which spans five different sauces, or build their own pizza from the Customize Your Own menu. Nobody has to pick a compromise pizza that's plain enough for a five year old and interesting enough for the adults. Broken Tree Pizza has been family owned since it opened in Neenah in May 2015, and dine-in seating, a kids menu, and takeout are all part of how it runs day to day.