By Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

Kids will eat for free on Monday nights starting next week at Pronto Pasta, a relatively new, locally owned restaurant in Raleigh.

Here's the deal: Get one free kids meal from the restaurant's kids menu for every adult entree purchase. Kids drinks are sold separately. And the offer is from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays for a limited time.

I write about great kids menus from time to time (see past posts in the box). And this one has been on my list for a while. Full disclosure: The restaurant and owners live in my neighborhood.

This is a fast-casual restaurant where you order your food at the register and it's brought to your table. You'll pick from pastas, soups, salads and sandwiches. Much of it is made from scratch and it's all really affordable. For my family of 3.5 (because the one-year-old really doesn't eat all that much), we spend about $20, which is a great deal for some really delicious food.

On the kids menu, you'll find chicken tenders and fries here on the kids menu. But your kids also will have a choice of healthy sides like fresh fruit, organic yogurt or (and I haven't seen this at any other restaurant in the Triangle) snap peas with ranch dip. Other entrees on the kids menu include pasta marinara and creamy macaroni and cheese. Prices on the kids menu hover around $4. And drinks, which include organic white or chocolate milk or 100 percent juice, are 99 cents.

But there are a couple of other things that make the restaurant fun for kids. Instead of the usual crayons and coloring sheet that kids get at restaurants, kids get a pack of those bendable Wikki Stix with their meal instead. And there's a step stool in the women's bathroom, which is a small thing I know. But when you 've got a baby in one hand and your other kid needs to wash her hands, it's exactly what you need.

Pronto Pasta is at 404 E. Six Forks Rd. across from Costco in the shopping center with Kroger and Staples.

I'm adding Pronto Pasta to our Kids Eat Free page.