Great places to hang out in Den Haag

I have a good friend who lives in Den Haag and passed on the following
advice about places to go and eat if you have a small child. This is really
great advice so I thought I should post it here:

Hi Victoria,

Very sad to hear your friend has such a lousy experience in my country. As
Ian can confirm, it's not a very easy place for 'outsiders'... The upside is
that if you are not at fancy free and footloose as my friend Ian is- and
with a little boy that age she will have moderated her dancing ambitions-
The Hague can be quite a nice place to hang out.

Here are a couple of my personal favorites:

- Ziani: italian restaurant espically great with children. There is even a
little playcorner and no one will mind a couple of screeming children (I
have experience):
http://iens.nl/restaurantsVan/DenHaag/restaurant.htms?r=4240

- De Boterwaag: grand cafe at the center of town (Grote Marktstraat). Good
place to have a few beers and especially sunday afternoon it is crowded with
children. Bit smokey but all that will be history after jan 1 when all
public hangouts will be smoke free. Remnds me that I should quit before
then.

- Bodega 'De Pakschuit'. On the canal on the old part of the center. Good
tapas and again fine place for drinks on sunday afternoon with children. Not
too crowded.

Plenty of good parks and playgrounds of course. I frenquent the playground
on the Scheveningseweg/Kerkhoff laan a lot. Good stuff for kids and daddy
can look at the skateboarders when he is bored. She should definately check
out the park 'Clingendael', very classy park and good playground as well. I
am sure she will have discoevered the marvels of the Beach, and it is
starting to become off-season but I highly recomemend strandpavilioen 'Zuid'
on the 'Zuiderstrand'.

Best thing of coursee with children is to get a babysit and have a romantic
evening out for mom and dad.

- Pastis: french bistro at the hart of the old center. Decent steak
bearnaise and good ambiance:
http://iens.nl/restaurantsVan/DenHaag/restaurant.htms?r=21430

- Favorite Thais restaurant is Ponsawan:
http://iens.nl/restaurantsVan/DenHaag/restaurant.htms?r=18512 great food and
very frendly people (right around the corner from where Ian used to live but
let's admit it Ian, you were also a bit shortsighted).

For mom alone, when she is tired of the whole afair: Wicked Wines
http://iens.nl/restaurantsVan/DenHaag/restaurant.htms?r=5571

Nice place that women tend to like on wednesday nights for a glas and some
gossip.

For Dad, when he just wants to get hammered on Belgian beertasting: Cafe 'De
Paas' on the Dunne Bierkade. Ask Ian (he still will recall that he beat me
by one glass and was very proud of that. Never saw him check in the office
the next day though).