The children’s meals nowadays are invariably identical to the adult vegetarian pasta main course - the days of them offering chicken nuggets etc are long gone. I have therefore stopped ordering them, and bring plenty of snacks for my son just in case. I sympathise with the OP as many young children wouldn’t eat that (I have had that dish and it is pretty strongly flavoured - it is not ‘cheesy pasta’ by any means). It is however just a reality nowadays that the child meals have also been enhanced…
Exactly this, my 7 year old son insists I don’t order him a child’s meal as it’s better to have a choice of the adult meals than to be stuck to the child’s meal.
Sometimes the child’s meal has been ok, but typically it’s just a variation on one of the adult meals, so it’s better to have the choice.