Food!

[martinolichfamily]

We are planning on taking our first trip to DL in mid July.
It'll be our Family (Me, DH, DS(10), DD(5) & DS (10mo) )as well as our neighbor (DW, DH, DS(7) & DS (10mo)).... this trip is a first for both families. We have been to WDW many times and love the dining choices there! I am finding DL a little harder to choose!

Any "must do" restaurants..character, casual and quick service is what we'll be looking for.

I have been looking at Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast, Plaza Inn for lunch and PCH Grill for breakfast.

All help is greatly appreciated!

 

[disneydreamer74]

Plaza Inn is a must-do for our family each trip! They have awesome fried chicken plates that are big enough to be shared. They also have wonderful desserts that you can ask to be boxed for later!
We also love Riverbelle Terrace. They have a quick service breakfast that includes Mickey pancakes. We go for dinner also because we love their roast beef and pulled pork sandwiches..yummo!!
At DCA Taste Pilots has a lot of options to choose from also!
Enjoy your trip!

 

[Halloweenqueen]

My top choice is Blue Bayou. It's inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I would compare it to any signature restaurant at WDW. Other signature type restaurants would include Napa Rose and Steakhouse 55.

My favorite character meals is breakfast with Minnie at the Plaza Inn. It is a breakfast buffet, but includes a dozen plus character interactions. Second would go to Goofy's Kitchen brunch.

Counter service choices are many. The menus have much more variety than a typical WDW restaurant. We love Hungry Bear's new menu. The location is so lovely and we love the fried green tomato sandwiches. We love the fresh bread bowls at Paradise Pier, chicken at the Plaza, and pomme fries at Cafe Orleans.

My family thinks the food is just better at DL. The theming may not have the impact as some WDW places, but each place at DL is unique.

 

[Tiny Little Seed]

At DL, I like Hungry Bear and Plaza Inn, too.

At DCA, we usually go for the soup-in-a-bread-bowl at Pacific Wharf Cafe or the pasta and salads at Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta. I also recommend White Water Snacks in the GCH. It's a quiet counter service location just outside DCA. Take the exit straight into the GCH and hang a left.

My last suggestion is to take the monorail out of Tomorrowland and into DTD. From the monorail station, it's a short walk to Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen Express, Tanagroa Terrace/Trader Sam's at the DLH, or the Taqueria at Tortilla Jo's. It's a nice way to get out of the parks for an hour without too much hassle.

Dining at DLR is a bit more laid back than at WDW. Often, you can walk right up for table service restaurants and be seated quickly. But if you have specific places/dates/times that you want, make a reservation. Just don't worry about being 180 days out. 30 days (or even just a week) out is usually plenty. You'll find lots of unique and tasty counter service choices at DLR. Check out the menus and see what appeals to you.

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

Here is a link to the menus at DLR in case you haven't seen them yet.

http://allears.net/dlr/din/menu/menus.htm#dl

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

We also have those same menus here on the DIS. Why take the time to head over to All Ears if you don't have to!

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneyland/dining/menus.cfm

 

[disneyfan4ever54]

We also have those same menus here on the DIS. Why take the time to head over to All Ears if you don't have to!

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneyland/dining/menus.cfm

I haven't checked them lately, but in the past, they weren't as accurate or recently updated, so I always use Allears.net.

Edited to add: Thanks for sending me BACK to the menus on the dining section here on the DIS! I checked it out and it's great! I love the photos of the restaurants....It gives you a real
picture of where they are and what they are like. Okay...so now I'm a convert....LOL

 

[momto3pirates]

We went to DLR for the first time over Thanksgiving. My 3 boys all said the best place we ate was Naples in DTD. We ordered the large pepperoni pizza and it was plenty for all 5 of us.

 

[BELLEDOZER]

I love the Plaza Inn not only for their Minnie and Friends character breakfast, but their lunches as well. We did the character brekki Feb/11 and found there to be lots of characters 11 I think when we went, and lots of interactions and photo opportunities with them. There food is excellent overall. I personally like the Golden Horseshoe, and if you watch the ent schedule for the Laughing Stock ent group, get there at least 30 mins in advance of the show and the show is worth it alone, it's hilarious with Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. It's on my must do for DL. For QS Tomorrowland Terrace has good food, and I like the Stage Door Cafe for their fish and chips, and the Royal Street Veranda for their Gumbo.

 

[larina]

We really enjoyed our character breakfast at Storytellers. It was nice to have the option of ordering from the menu or the buffet, and the food was good for both.

 

[FourM's]

DH and I were just at DL a month ago and tried the new restaurants that had opened in the partadise pier area of DCA. Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta was really good as well as Paradise Garden Grill. I would eat at either of those again in a heartbeat. It was fun to try someplace new. Storytellers is one of our breakfast favorites too.

 

[Huff]

Check allears.net for menus and reviews. For counter service we love Jazz Kitchen Express in Downtown Disney. Great burgers, fries, poor boy sandwiches, gumbo, biegnets etc.

The BBQ at the ranch in Disneyland is excellent. Its all you can eat chicken, ribs and sausage and a great value.

Minnies breakfast in Disneyland is very good, lots of characters. PCH breakfast is good food but not as many characters although Lilo and Stitch are fun!

For table service dining Napa Rose and Steakhouse 55 are great. Mortons steak house just south of Disneyland on Harbor near the convention center is supurb but expensive and not Disney.

Dining isn't anywheres near the experience it is at WDW. DLR for us is all about the parks rather than dining. At WDW dining is a large part of the overall vacation. But there are many great choices at DLR.

 

[Huff]

At DCA Taste Pilots has a lot of options to choose from also!

I keep wanting to like Taste Pilots but each time am disappointed. The burgers are always dried out and certainly not freshly cooked (kept in warmer?). The ribs are good but pricey. Instead we get burgers at Jazz Kitchen Express which are always freshly grilled and juicy.

When DCA was new they had several great restaurants such as the counter service in the building where Flynn's Arcade is now. Soap Opera Bistro was in where Disney Live is now. It was another great fun restaurant but few ventured in so it closed. Dining just doesn't seem to do as well at DLR as it does in WDW.

 

[Gisele]

Blue Bayou definitely. And please pass the butter, gracias!

~~ I love you Phil, and you will forever be with me! Forever my very best and most special friend! I love you to no end. ~~

Strange days have found us
And through their strange hours we linger alone
Bodies confused
Memories misused
As we run from the day to a strange night of stone - The Doors​

 

[Gisele]

http://allears.net/dlr/din/menu/menus.htm#dl


Very tasty information. Yum!

~~ I love you Phil, and you will forever be with me! Forever my very best and most special friend! I love you to no end. ~~

Strange days have found us
And through their strange hours we linger alone
Bodies confused
Memories misused
As we run from the day to a strange night of stone - The Doors​

 

[rainnorsnow]

We are planning on taking our first trip to DL in mid July.
It'll be our Family (Me, DH, DS(10), DD(5) & DS (10mo) )as well as our neighbor (DW, DH, DS(7) & DS (10mo)).... this trip is a first for both families. We have been to WDW many times and love the dining choices there! I am finding DL a little harder to choose!

Any "must do" restaurants..character, casual and quick service is what we'll be looking for.

I have been looking at Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast, Plaza Inn for lunch and PCH Grill for breakfast.

All help is greatly appreciated!

Cafe Orleans was our family's absolute favorite. We loved the monte cristo sandwiches, gumbo, pomme frittes & mickey beignets so much we ate there twice on our last trip. It is also casual & relatively inexpensive. My daughter & I were just discussing how we wish we could go back & have the Mickey beignets, gumbo & pomme frittes.

 

[Rainasunshine]

I love love love Cafe Orleans as well! The food is just amazing! So much so that my lovely DBF convienced me to try the recipes at home You must try their monte cristo and pomme frittes!
And you can't pass up Gibson girl ice cream!

Since it is a large group of people and if you are willing to leave the park for lunch I would suggest Captin Kidds. It is across the street from the main enterance and it isn't too much of a walk. They have very good buffet style food for a really cheap price.

 

[disfan07]

My top choice is Blue Bayou. It's inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I would compare it to any signature restaurant at WDW. Other signature type restaurants would include Napa Rose and Steakhouse 55.

My favorite character meals is breakfast with Minnie at the Plaza Inn. It is a breakfast buffet, but includes a dozen plus character interactions. Second would go to Goofy's Kitchen brunch.

Counter service choices are many. The menus have much more variety than a typical WDW restaurant. We love Hungry Bear's new menu. The location is so lovely and we love the fried green tomato sandwiches. We love the fresh bread bowls at Paradise Pier, chicken at the Plaza, and pomme fries at Cafe Orleans.

My family thinks the food is just better at DL. The theming may not have the impact as some WDW places, but each place at DL is unique.

My family actually thinks the opposite. We think that the food at DL is really lacking in a lot of areas. Mainly in CS. BUT, this may also be because we think that they handle allergies at WDW much better than at DL....especially at CS restaurants.

That being said, we do have our favorites at DL:
Carnation Cafe (LOVE IT!)
Cafe Orleans
Storytellers (in GCH)
Goofys Kitchen

and in DTD, we thought Rainforest Cafe was excellent. The food was fresh and tasted wonderful. ANd tehs ervice was absolutely amazing. I have multiple food allergies (including 1 life threatening one) and the serviec I got from them surpassed any service I've ever had at a DL restaurant.

There is really no CS meal that really stood out for us as being a"must do". HOWEVER, we will never go back to Pinocchio Village Haus...It was absolutely terrible the last time we were there (about a month ago). The service, the food...everything. That is the only time in 15 trips to WDW and about 8 trips to DL that we have ever said we would never go back to a restaurant.

 

[nunzia]

We also have those same menus here on the DIS. Why take the time to head over to All Ears if you don't have to!

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneyland/dining/menus.cfm

Very nice and why did I never notice this before Really like the green tomato sandwich at Hungry Bear and the baked Potatoes at..uhh..Troubador whatever I think it's called? Took forever to find because it seems like it's IN the Fantasy Faire.

 

[nunzia]

DH and I were just at DL a month ago and tried the new restaurants that had opened in the partadise pier area of DCA. Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta was really good as well as Paradise Garden Grill. I would eat at either of those again in a heartbeat. It was fun to try someplace new. Storytellers is one of our breakfast favorites too.

Oh yes..that..really like the kabobs with rice and pita bread..great flavor