Take the Kids: Marbles' Bean Sprouts offers up fun food in cheery, thoughtfully designed space

Bean Sprouts opened last week and offers up hip and healthy food for families.

Posted 1:54 a.m. Feb 21, 2020 — Updated 1:54 a.m. Feb 21, 2020

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

, Go Ask Mom editor

RALEIGH, N.C. — The cafe space at Marbles Kids Museum has gone through several changes over the last dozen years since the downtown Raleigh museum opened.

Roly Poly was there from 2008 to 2013, selling sandwiches and wraps. Pogo, which was run by the Farmers Table Restaurant Group, came next, opening in summer 2013. Pogo closed about three years later when Marbles refreshed the space with a new concept that the museum operated itself. And in January, the restaurant, which sits inside Marbles IMAX theater building, closed again for a refresh.

Now there's Bean Sprouts, which opened last week and is part of a national chain of cafes located in family-friendly destinations. It's the vision of two moms who wanted to create hip and healthy places for families to eat. As I wrote last week, the menu definitely has a fun twist on the usual suspects you'd find on museum menus. The section of the menu that's geared for kids is called "Imaginibbles" and includes a Grilledzilla, a grilled cheese cut to look like a monster, and a Crocamole, a dip that's served in an avocado that's designed to look a bit like a crocodile.

Recipe: Bean Sprout's Crocamole

My 10-year-old and I went to the restaurant this week to check it out and enjoy a quick one-on-one lunch together. She went with the cheese pizza and a smoothie. I chose something off the Imaginibbles menu - the Spacedilla, a chicken and cheese quesadilla that's shaped like a rocket ship.

The Space

It's the same space, but it's gotten some updates, including a new color scheme and updated counter area. What I especially love about the counter is that there are toddler-sized surfaces next to the register where kids can see pictures of the items on the Imaginibbles menu and select what they want.

The Food

It's good! The Spacedilla was super cute, yummy and filling (even for an adult) and came with a side of veggie tots which both my daughter and I enjoyed. The cheese pizza was just enough for one person, but could definitely be shared among two smaller children. And the strawberry smoothie was refreshing and full of flavor. For $20, I thought it was reasonably priced as well for the amount of food we purchased. (I skipped a drink and just had a cup of water.)

Prices for entrees range from about $5.50 off the Imaginibbles menu to $10.25 for a chicken pesto sandwich.

The Other Stuff

There's a small area with items for purchase, including sandwich cutters and the Bean Sprouts cookbook. If you buy the cookbook, you'll get a free kids entree. There's also a special cup you can purchase for $7.95, which will get you free lemonade or iced tea all day.

My expectations weren't high. It is a museum cafe, after all. But we were pleasantly surprised. We found cheery service (seriously, hats off to the friendly crew who was there around noon, Tuesday), food that was yummy and reasonably priced and a bright, thoughtfully designed space.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekends.

Go Ask Mom’s Take the Kids series is your No. 1 resource for weekly ideas about kid-focused places to take your family in the Triangle and beyond. New articles are published every Friday.

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