Aurora: Choo Choo's Restaurant

Push a button and this crossing signal lights up

The Hershey train brings meals and desserts to kids

With coupons for free kids meals in hand, thanks to awards from our library's summer reading program, we headed to Choo Choos in Aurora. To be perfectly honest, without those certificates, it would have been a tough sell for the grown ups. The seen-better-days landscaping doesn't exactly entice anyone in. Meandering past a Browns Chicken sign, through the Mexican restaurant half of the business and then sinking into a booth that has long since lost any supportive abilities doesn't set the stage well for a good dinner. The kids, however, have a completely different perspective. The back of the restaurant is dedicated to trains and ice cream, so there's ample train decor to look at. An animated Christmas village can be control by kids pushing buttons while waiting for their food. Meals come to kids on a train that meanders through the village and up to the tables, one trip for the main meal and another for the ice cream. So, I wouldn't call it a destination restaurant, but then I'm not a train-loving child. In their minds, any place that brings them food on a train is good indeed. Know your audience, restaurateurs. Just give their parents a reason to come back, too, please.