Sweetie House Playground & Café

If you’ve got kids anywhere from crawling age up to tweens, this place is worth knowing about. The indoor setup stays genuinely clean — not “clean for a kids’ place” clean, but actually clean — which Staten Island parents will tell you is rarer than it should be. While the little ones run around, you can grab something from the café and sit down like a human being for five minutes. The staff actually seem happy to be there, which makes a difference when you’re wrangling a birthday party or showing up for an open play session on a rainy Tuesday. Honestly one of the better calls for a kid’s birthday on the Island — the food doesn’t disappoint either.