I'm still in the Lao Sze Chuan camp for what we like to order, BUT, for a 9 year old, I have suggestions that my kids would love if they were still 9, and would still love today. Possibly "outside of the box" but these are in Chinatown, and interesting.
The sushi conveyor belt place: Sushi +
https://www.rotarysushi.com/The korean bbq place with a robot server, and the ferris wheel presentation.
https://www.jiangniubbq.com/The smoothie / bubble tea / ice cream/waffle place - I think it's "Joy Yee PLUS." Those waffles are as good as they look:
https://joyyee.com/If they like noodle soup, then Daguan Noodle is an absolute favorite of mine. You order your soup flavor, and when they bring it out, they also bring a tray with a bunch of add ins you can choose, and they dump it in your soup for you at your table. But, the soup is really, really good, imo. It's not like a HUGE presentation deal, it's pretty fast, but that could be fun, and the soup is GOOD.
https://www.daguannoodle.com/Plus, right next door to Daguan is Feida bakery (old school Chinese bakery - kinda grungy, but I love it,) and also Legend Tasty House for rolled ice cream, where they make your ice cream right in front of you. I've only been to Legend Tasty House once - it was the one in Berwyn. I honestly could not believe the music they were blasting, and I actually LOVE Gangsta Rap. I don't believe it belongs in an ice cream place with little kids running around. And yes, it was VERY R Rated. I have no clue if the Chinatown branch has the same thing going on, or if we just caught them at an awkward time. The Berwyn location only stayed open for a hot minute, it's closed now. I actually stood under one of their speakers and recorded with my phone for 15 seconds. Nwords, B words, F bombs galore. There were families with LITTLE kids just enjoying their tasty ice cream, maybe oblivious to the lyrics, but it was LOUD a.f.
We also like to go into the grocery store on the East side of the mall on the south side of the walkway. I have no idea what it's called, but they have tanks with live fish in back. You never know what they might have swimming around back there. Our best sightings were hundreds and I mean HUNDREDS of live, big ass, frogs. MULTIPLE tanks full of them.
We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.
Pronoun: That fool over there
Identifies as: A human that doesn't need to "identify as" something to try to somehow be interesting.