DL Dining??-advice welcome!! About This Page:

[Kgbutaud]

We are going to Disneyland for the first time ever in June. We are veteran WDW addicts but know very little about DL. What would you recommend for dining experiences/yummy places to eat and experience? Quick service, table service and character meal recommendations would be greatly appreciated. We are all very excited but kind of clueless as what to try to experience while we are there. Thanks so very much!!!

[chezp]

We tend to do table service meals. Of those, I can recommend the Napa Rose, the Minnie and friends character breakfast at the Plaza and the Blue Bayou at the start of Pirates of the Caribbean.

[cdnmickeyfan]

We went for the first time to Disneyland in April of 2011. We only had one day to experience both parks. It was a bit rushed but I wouldn't have passed it up for the world and can't wait to go back. I had bought the WOC dining package with preferred viewing. I highly recommend doing that. We ate at Ariel's Grotto and had a fantastic dinner and then ofcourse had the preferred viewing which was amazing for the show. You don't want to miss WOC. It was the highlight of the trip!!!!!

Sorry we were only there for the 1 day so not too much advice for you. Have fun on your trip!!!!

[sunshinetaradise]

I went for 5 days last year and the one place that stands out is the Catal Restaurant in DTD. It's the upstairs portion of the UVA Bar and restaurant. The atmosphere is very pleasant and the inside is beautiful! I had the best salmon i have ever had in my life and it was probably one of the best meals i've ever had. They also have a wonderful selection of wine as well

[Desurae]

At the Disneyland Park:
We love going to the Hungry Bear Restaurant for quick service. They have a great menu and lots of outdoor seating by the river. I suggest walking past the very busy upfront area and going all the way to the back of building upstairs. People don't venture that far in so there are more tables and great views.
For sit down dining we really enjoy Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. It's all you can eat and the food is really good. The entertainment is silly country songs (make sure to participate) and the service is wonderful.

For California Adventure:
Pacific Wharf Café is a must do for us when doing quick service. Can't beat that delicious San Fransisco Sourdough! The outside seating area is nice there too.
For sit down we enjoy Ariel's Grotto. Honestly, we don't really eat at sit down places in the California Park but this one is nice.
DTD:
We eat breakfast at La Brea Bakery® Café. Get there before the park opens and enjoy your meal outside while watching everyone come in.

HAVE FUN!!!!

[coasties]

Counter service in California Adventure:
Taste Pilots Grill- next to Soarin. AWESOME ribs and onion rings. They have a great toppings bar for your fries, burgers etc...

Counter Service at DL:
Corn Dog Wagon - BEST corn dog I have ever eaten!
Bengal Bar-b-Q- the skewers and the sauces here are truly unique and tasty!
Golden Horse Shoe- the show here is fantastic and the ice cream sundaes are heavenly. Also if you go for a late snack ( 800pm) you can sit upstairs and see Fantasmic.

Table Service- our go to Favorite is Naples at DtD. Request a table downstairs so you can watch them toss the dough. A family size pizza is more than enough for four! WONDERFUL food and service every time. Plus it is pretty inexpensive.

COFFEE- If you get a coffee at The Market House on Main street and keep your receipt you get FREE refills ALL day. Just show your receipt

[sunshinetaradise]

The corn dogs are awesome!!!


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[Dlandmom2]

Eating at DLR isn't the same as eating at WDW. At DLR, it's as much of a "highlight" of being at the parks. That being said, there are some pretty great eats to be found!

If you want to see World of Color, then I'd recommend Ariel's Grotto or Wine Country Trattoria for dinner if you're planning to do TS. The food is good, and it's worth it get the WoC dinner package that comes with FastPass access to a great reserved area for the show.

If you want some cool ambiance, the Blue Bayou at Disneyland is great. The food is pretty good (I don't find it fantastic, but it's definitely not bad), and the setting is so much fun (like eating at night time on an outside patio on the bayou).

For counter service, I like Rancho del Zocalo and Jolly Holiday Cafe at Disneyland.

Churros are yummy (from food carts), and the corn dogs are delicious (both DL and DCA)! Bengal BBQ (DL) also has some great eats on a stick (meats and veggies options).

There are beignets at the QS counter at the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney, and Mickey shaped beignets in New Orleeans Square inside DL (it's a tiny QS window on the back side of Cafe Orleans, I think). The Mickey ones are cute, but I prefer the "original" ones from Jazz Kitchen.

I know there's more, but these come to mind right now!

[PixieMichele]

Napa Rose at the Grand Californian is a fantastic fine dining experience. The atmosphere is really pretty and the food is fantastic. I was told that you can also request to eat on the patio (which I believe is a smoking area) so if you're an outdoorsy person you might want to look into that. They also do a Chef's Table option that a lot of people are fond of.

In Disneyland:
Blue Bayou: Is inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride which is really cool. It's dark, pricy and always busy but the gumbo is fantastic and it's a cool experience. If you have a special celebration this is a place i'd consider. It's something you have to experience during a Disneyland visit.

Carnation Cafe-we had breakfast here, it was ok. The seating is outside, the service is slow and the food is just ok.

The Plaza Breakfast with Minnie and Friends: Is a cafeteria style buffet with a random selection of characters that's fun and the food is typical breakfast buffet food.

Thunder Ranch BBQ; the food here is good but the entertainment might drive you crazy. This is a family style all you can eat BBQ with ribs, chicken, corn bread, beans, etc. Nice messy BBQ food and you get to eat outside, which is nice.

California Adventure
Pacific Wharf Cafe-This is my favorite place in California Adventure to eat. They have La Brea Bakery sourdough bread that they do soup bowls in. The soup is thick and yummy, there are good salads and sandwiches and a selection of bakery items. I love this place.

Wine Country Trattoria; we did a World of Color dining package here and it was a price fixe menu. I really enjoyed the environment, we sat upstairs and had a sort of balcony style open air dining experience which was really nice. The menu selection was ok and I enjoyed my beef tenderloin.

Ariel's Grotto: we ate here for World of Color dining package as well. I had the tri-tip steak, which I had on good authority was the best choice. It was ok. The other items were just ok and i don't think i'd eat here again. The environment is cute and they do have princess characters for breakfast and lunch but not for WOC dinner package.

I think the quick service food is better at Disneyland and California Adventure than in WDW but that could just be me. I like the selections and it seems there are more healthy menu item options and sandwiches/soups, etc where WDW seems more burger and fries.

[Tonichelle]

Character Meal - of the two we did Ariel's Grotto and Goofy's Kitchen - hands down Goofy's Kitchen won. I've done both Goofy's and Chef Mickey's, and Goofy's won in everyway. Better food, better interaction. It was fantastic. I loved every minute of it. In fact we loved it so much we stayed for over TWO HOURS... our little one was eating so slow anyway, and it was super empty (there were maybe 5 families and a few couples in teh whole place). Ariel's was nice but it wasn't a great interactive experience (understandably so). Food was very good at Ariel's, though... I'm not sure it was worth the price on the menu.

[LizCatMom]

On our most recent trip to Disneyland, I told DH I wanted to try at least 2 places we'd never eaten at before.

Others have already mentioned Bengal BBQ (very close to Indiana Jones in Disneyland) and this was one of the places I wanted to try. DH got the Banyan Beef Skewer, I got the Chieftain Chicken Skewer, and we shared a Jalapeño-cheese filled pretzel and Safari Skewer (bacon-wrapped asparagus). We loved all of it! Beware, though -- the Banyan Beef Skewer is described as Hot & Spicy and they aren't kidding! I love spicy things and this did not disappoint. This isn't exactly a big sit-down meal, and actually, there are very few places to sit, but there are some counters you can stand at while you eat, but we walked away quite happy with the experience. So, if you are looking for a light meal or something to tide you over for a couple of hours, I'd check it out.

We also ate at Hungry Bear Restaurant (CS) back near Splash Mountain. As we'd just gotten to the park mid-afternoon after flying in from Salt Lake City and not having had anything more than airplane snacks, we were starving and I didn't hesitate to order the Pioneer Chili Cheeseburger, while DH went with the plain Cheeseburger. I love sweet potato-anything, so I was content with the side of sweet potato fries, but DH doesn't care for them, so he got the slaw instead, which I thought was pretty tasty, as well (did I mention I was starving?). If I hadn't been so hungry, I might have been tempted to try the Fried Green Tomato sandwich as it is quite different from your typical amusement park food (something to try for next time!) The seating area here is quite lovely, right beside the water, and there was plenty of seating at that time.

While we didn't get to eat here on our most recent trip, on a previous visit we tried the newly opened Paradise Garden Grill (CS) near Goofy's Sky School in California Adventure. I realize I have a thing for skewers, but DH and I both thought this was really, really good and found the portions to be quite generous. You have a choice of grilled steak, lemon chicken, spiced ground beef, or veggie/tofu. Then you can select a sauce (or two) to go with your meat: Moroccan chili, chimichurri, tandoori, or tzatziki. These platters come with rice, a cucumber side salad, and pita bread. This is also somewhere that you can get baklava. They have plenty of seating, either covered or out in the sun. Of all the counter service places at the Disneyland resort, I think this one ranks easily in my top 3.

[Kgbutaud]

Thanks so much everyone!! You have all been a huge help. Can't wait to sit down with the family to figure out the food!! And I am so excited there are beignets!!!! Bad for the diet though. But........it is vacation time!!!!! Thanks again.

[MickeyWatch]

Thank you for all the recommendations. It will be hard to choose where to eat when we visit in June.