In general, restaurants in Germany are kid friendly. Many will have highchairs. Some will have kids portions. But, overall, kids are welcome. The primary exception is if you're having a fine dining experience at a Michelin restaurant that takes 3+ hours. I wouldn't recommend that with kids.

Asking for the check
Just say "Ich würde gerne bezahlen". The check will not come until you ask for it. The table is yours and you will never be pressured to leave.

Tipping
10% is usually more than enough. The process is to include the tip when you pay. Do not leave the tip on the table! If using cash, the waitron will bring the bill and expect you to pay immediately. So, this means you must calculate the tip in your head, hand over the money, and say how much you are going to pay. For example, let's say the bill is 20 and you want to leave 2 as a tip. If you hand over 30 Euro, tell the waitron you'd like 8 in return (or you can say you'd like to pay 22 in total).

Dogs in Restaurants
We had our dog living with us in Germany and we took her with us everywhere. Most restaurants allow dogs and typically wait staff will even bring water for them. Typically if a restaurant does not allow dogs it will be posted on the door and will say something similar to "Hunde mussen draussen bleiben." There is some sort of unwritten code when it comes to dogs in Germany. If your dog does not behave well in public then clearly they do not belong in restaurants. If your dog does not get along with other dogs than if you walk into a restaurant and there is already a dog there it is common sense to just move along to the next restaurant.

Onyx
Mannheim
http://www.onyx-mannheim.de/
Hip, stylish, trendy sorta restaurant. Nice outdoor seating in summer overlooking the park and wasserturm (old water tower). Good good. German standards with a moderinsh twist, plus a few bizarre non-German dishes. Food is good. Service is good. Good place for a cocktail. English spoken + English menu available. There are lots of Americans in Mannheim, mostly affiliated with the army. Moderately Expensive->Expensive

Alte Seilerei
Located in downtown Karlsruhe.
http://www.seilerei-karlsruhe.de/site/index.html
More of a casual fine dining place, a weinstube. Recommended. Good, inexpensive winelist. They speak English. Good value for money. Moderately expensive

Die Kartoffel
Famous restaurant located in Ladenburg Altstadt. Argentinean steaks served on a hot stone that you cook yourself. Comes with a huge baked potato that is sometimes hard to find under copious amounts of some of the best sour cream on the planet. Great place, great food, great fun.

Heidelberg

Weisser Bock
In Heidelberg, Aldstadt.
Große Mantelgasse 24
http://www.weisserbock.de/
Traditional German food. Good restaurant, moderately priced, great wine list. Also has extensive veggie menu (lots of upper end tourists go here). Good service. Need reservations on the weekend. Probably not too kid friendly due to time it takes to eat (but older kids, yes).Moderately expensive->expensive.

Vetters
Heidelberg, Aldstadt
Steingasse 9
http://www.brauhaus-vetter.de/
Down & dirty brewery just down from the alte brucke (old bridge). Schnitzel & Sausages. One or two veggie options. Decent beer (not great). I like it cause it has a good, friendly, casual atmosphere. Food is OK to good. Nothing special. Efficient service. Kid friendly.

Kulturbraurei
Heidelberg, Aldstadt
http://www.heidelberger-kulturbrauerei.de/
Popular place (with tourists and locals). Traditional German food. Decent beer, good (but not great) food. Better food of this type can be had for cheaper outside of the aldstadt. Kid friendly. Inexpensive->Moderately expensive.

Schnitzelhaus
Located in Neckarmunzplatz in HD - Altstadt. (square along the river near the end of town where the tour busses park during the day.) They have over 100 different kind of schnitzels and after trying most of them I have never been disappointed. Cheap and delicious - very friendly - English speaking and menus.

Hemingway's
Located along the river in HD-Altstadt. Great food with South African influence. (nothing weird) All the food is amazing. Excellent atmosphere and outdoor seating.

Bier Bretzel
Heidelberg, Aldstadt (Marktplatz)
Right in fromt of the HBerg cathedral. Cheap, friendly, good beer. (Welde). They serve pizzas, salads, flammkuchen (a sort of flatbread with white sauce, not red. Very good). Cheap & cheerful. Quick, kid friendly. Probably very busy in the summer.

Grey Stones
Located across from Vetter's near the old bridge in HD-Altstadt. Very modern contemporary place. Food is light but quite good. nice drink menu and atmosphere.

Print Media Lounge
Located across from the HD-Hauptbahnhof. Inside the Heidelberger Drueckmaschinen building - look for the big horse statue. The is one of the most impressive uses of space in HD. The lounge is located around an indoor stone filled pool. This place is all about atmosphere. Drinks are very good. I have never eaten there. It is expensive.

Roten Ochsen
Heidelberg, Aldstadt
http://www.roterochsen.de/
A Heidelberg classic. We had to go because... it's a classic, I guess. Kid friendly, good ambience, and surprisingly friendly service considering it's been on the map forever. Still a family joint. Decent food, traditional German. English spoken+menu. Inexpensive.

Akademie
Heidelberg, edge of the Aldstadt on corner of Akademiestrasse & Plock
Great Italian restaurant. Order from the chalkboard specials, not the menu. A bit of English is spoken. If you wanna splurge, order the '95 Lisini Brunello. It will delight you. Reservations reccomended. Moderately Expensive->Expensive.

Mike Tschudy writes: Peter, Anya and Sandra and I had a nice dinner- it came out to be about 24 Euros a head.

Sudpfanne
Hauptstrasse 223
http://www.heidelberger-sudpfanne.de/
Very good, traditional German food. Better than Vetter's. Very good ribs that they are often sold out of. I prefer it over Kulturbrauerei. Very casual, simple ambience. Not veggie-friendly. It's small, so not great for a group. However, they do have a very cool group room in the back which you must reserve in advance. I assume they speak English (but I'm not sure). Very inexpensive.

Alt Hendesee
Mühltalstraße 4
Heidelberg, Handschuhsheim neighborhood
Good beer garden in summer, good German restaurant. Friendly service, good price/quality ratio and huge portions. Good ambience inside and out. Recommended. Not touristy. Moderately Expensive.

Gilbert's Goldener Adler
Handschuhsheimer Landstrasse 96
Heidelberg, Handschuhsheim neighborhood
Same owner's as Alt Hendesee. Above average Germany food. You may find something veggie (but I cannot promise). Great beer garden. Cool interior. Very simple & casual. Friendly service, big portions. Recommended. Not touristy. Moderately expensive.

Roter Ochsen
Mühltalstraße ?? (approx location)
Heidelberg, Handschuhsheim
Across the street from Alt Hendessee. Same type of place, old-school German. Good beer garden, and the food is a notch better than Alt Hendessee, in our opinion. Slightly larger, with several different seating areas. There's a cool room in the front for a large party. Recommended. Moderaltely Expensive.

Lamm (bier garten, not the fancy restaurant)
Heidelberg, Handshusheim
http://www.lamm-heidelberg.de/
We only ate in the biergarten. I have no clue why they don't serve the upmarket menu outside, and we saw more than one German couple walk out as a result. But, even in the downmarket restaurant, the food is very good. Traditional German, but very fresh. A good beer garden, but not a rowdy place. Slightly stuffy (comparatively) but still nice. Kid friendly. Moderately Expensive.

O'Rileys Irish Pub
Heidelberg, Neuenheim
http://www.oreillys.com/Heidelberg/Heidelbergwelcomepage.htm
A favorite of many ex-pats. Decent food (cottage pie, burgers). Nothing fancy. Kid friendly, but smoky when crowded. More of a cave-like atmosphere more appropriate during winter than summer. Guiness, of course. Big screen TV, sports and American football. Inexpensive.

French Cafe (cannot remember the name)
Heidelberg, Neunheim, Neuenheimmarktplatz (on Ladenburger Strasse)
Small cafe. In the summer the table spill out onto the markplatz. Very social. You can get a good salad here (as close to an 'American style' salad as I've found). They also serve decent wine by the glass. Inexpensive.

Marktstuebel
Heidelberg, Neunheim, Neuenheimmarktplatz (on Ladenburger Strasse)
Across from the French cafe. In the summer the table spill out onto the markplatz. They serve flammkuchen (sorta like a flatbread pizza with white sauce). They also serve my personal favorite weizen (wheat beer), Hoepfner. Very tasty. Inexpensive.

DorfSchanke
Located in Neuenheim a few doors down from Neunheimermarktplatz (towards the river) They have great german food. Steaks are awesome. I don't think they have an English menu. In fact I think they only have a handwritten german menu which is difficult to read. Definitely learn your german food words if you want to know what you are getting. I am sure the wait staff speaks English.

Strahlenberger Hof
Schreisheim
http://www.strahlenbergerhof.de/
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Special occasions, or if you want to drop 100E per head, but they are so cool and the food is amazing.


Goldener Hirsch
Schreisheim
http://www.goldenerhirsch-schriesheim.de/
Little brother of Strahlenberger Hof. Same owners. Good food, good wine list. Not exemplary like the other place, but it's also 25% of the cost.

Backmulde
Ladenburg
Hauptstrasse 61
http://www.back-mul.de/
This is a great place in a nice location in the center of Ladenburg, a cool village. Good wine list. Great food. Veggie-friendly. The staff speak English and the service is good. Have dinner in a 16th century building.

Lowenthor
Gondelsheim
Bruchsalerstrasse 4
http://www.loewenthor.de/
We never made it here but we heard it was great. A great ambience, and apparently Napoleon once stayed here. It's near Bruchsal just south of Walldorf.

Thai Restaurants
There are 3 that I've tried in Hberg. They are all OK, not great, but welcome if you're tired of German food. One is near the Marriot on the corner. The other two are behind the Crowne Plaza within 1-2 blocks of each other.

• Ruen Thai restaurant in the SAP Industrial Park in Rot is excellent. The ambiance is a bit lacking but the wait staff is friendly and quick and the food is some of the best Thai food around.
  

Incomplete...

Place in Westadt where we had breakfast maybe the Schwarze Wahlfisch??? -- they have good breakfast

Italian place in Neuenheim
Not bad. Again, order from the specials, not the menu. Wine list is decent, if overpriced. Service is OK. Not as good as Akademie. Goood outdoor seating in summer.

Pizza takeout/delivery in Neuenheim.
Efficient take out/delivery service. Also have eat-in, but we never tried it. Pizza is good (better than average in Germany), but overall disappointing if you have a fave pizza joint in the US or Italy. This is convenience. Inexpensive.