Sleek, Intuitive, Compact Folding High Chair
February 15, 2020
The City Bistro High Chair is compact, attractive, intuitive, and easy to fold and store. I live in a 1,200 sq ft older home with small compartmentalized rooms so space, particularly in the kitchen and dining room, is extremely limited. Most baby gear and toys seem to be designed to monopolize every inch of my home. Not so with this compactly folding high chair!
The high chair was already assembled so taking it out of the box, setting it up, reading the instructions and testing every feature took me under 15 minutes. The instructions started with photos, then had a section spelling out the details. The manual intimidated me, making it look complicated but I was pleasantly surprised to discover how easy and intuitive all the features were: the 4 height settings, 3 tray depths, folding and unfolding the chair (unfolding literally takes less than 3 seconds). I love that the tray stores securely on the back legs. Adjusting the height of the straps and removing the cover for cleaning were insanely easy--after rethreading the straps on our carseat, I never expected any baby product to be so simple.
My 18 month old son looks so comfortable in this chair; the seat is wide and well cushioned, the straps also have the padded covers and the tray is the perfect size where we can fit plenty of food but he can still reach the blueberry that rolled to the farthest corner. I love that the tray cover is removable for easy washing in the sink and is small enough to actually fit in my sink without me spraying water everywhere. However, the seat of the chair rocks about 1 inch back and forth. It made it feel less secure and when the seat is tilted that 1 inch, the tray is not flat and items like blueberries roll around. The only other downside for me was also related to the seat/tray: the tray should have an overhang on the side facing the child. Instead, the section facing the child is flat from the back edge of the tray down to the plastic piece that sits between his legs. This means I cannot push the tray back as far as I would want to so there is a large gap between my son and the tray and food ends up in that crack more than I would desire.
My favorite features were the design and compact fold:
-I love the way this chair looks (the fabric matches my couch!). The dark gray and black colors are modern and neutral, it doesn't stand out or scream 'tacky baby gear.' The colors make the chair look even smaller and more compact.
-With 3 simple touches, you have the chair folded down under 27" tall, 20" wide and 6" deep. It is freestanding so you can truly put it anywhere. For me, it fits perfectly between my hutch and side tables in the dining room. This would also be great at Grandma's house so she can hide it away to keep her dining room clear most of the time and pull it out that one weekend per month when we visit.
Overall, this high chair is great if you have a small space and want an attractive chair that blends in or can be stashed away. Thank you to the Stellar Panel Testing Panel for providing me with this high chair.
This product review was collected by the manufacturer.