Ariel's Grotto menu questions

[Crazy4Goofy]

Could any of you give any food recommendations for Ariel's Grotto? This is our first time going and we will be doing lunch. I would love to hear any recommendations if you loved an item or warnings if something tasted terrible!! Also I would love to see some pics of the food or the atmosphere if you have them. Thanks so much

 

[CrAzY4DL]

I have been several times and LOVE to eat here!!

Things I prefer to eat:
For appetizer-the chicken noodle soup
Why?-I have had the salad and it is really pitiful. Was a handful of lettuce with one cherry tomato, a cucumber slice and a few grated carrots, plus it was ICE cold. Also, I don't like onion soup, LOL.

For entree-I LOOOOOOVE the Penne Pasta. It's vegetarian and has the teeniest tiniest kick and is soooo flavorful and delicious. The fish and chips are good, nothing spectactular, just fish and chips. My MIL had the meatloaf once and sent it back, said the sauce was uber salty and gross.

For dessert-the apple thing is super yummy!! Now on the menu it lists chocolate cake (which they didnt have last time i went) and fruit parfait (also new). Before they had a rocky road dessert and that was NASTY!!! I like rocky road ice cream but the dessert was just ick.

My kids have had the octa dog with mac and cheese and the fish sticks and they liked them fine. They used to offer sundaes and that was their dessert of choice but I no longer see it on the menu. Last time we went, they got their meal and dessert AND a sandpail full of cotton candy. Interesting! LOL

 

[ironpig70]

had the meatloaf and i really liked it. was super busy with the girl and the princesses so the food was not the priority

 

[21yankees]

I second the penne pasta. It is wonderful, very tasty and a huge portion. The chocolate cake dessert thing is awesome. For kids mine loved the fruit parfait thing. Don't do the macaroni & cheese for the kids, it just doesn't look or taste right, not very good at all.

Have fun.

steph

 

[ballarinamom]

The onion soup was really just both with a few shreads of cheese. So odn't expect a gooeycheesy soup.

I really likes the chicken potie. Beware, it is a very large portion. I am not a big apple pie person but I did like the apple crumble.

The cotton candy is supposed to be seafoam (the Ariel twist!!)

 

[Sillyup2]

Aerial's Grotto serves poop. Food is nasty.

 

[Monkey Monkey]

I just ate there 4 hours ago!

The hostess was a b1tch, and it's hard to focus on your food when they have princess coming to the table 5 minutes apart, after your food is brought to the table.

I agree about the salad. It was pathetic and drowning in dressing.

I had the meatloaf. It was lukewarm and tasted just ok, but the mashed potatoes and string beans were good, as was the chocolate cake.

We had 2 kids' hot dogs with mac and cheese, and they came out cold. Bah.

You're pretty much paying for the brief photo ops with the princesses, which is fun and memorable.

 

[silly old bear]

Aerial's Grotto serves poop. Food is nasty.

I totally agree!! We ate there this past weekend and it was awful! You know it is bad when you order something and the waiter tells you not to order it because it is disgusting. It was a total waste of money.

 

[hlbtimes2]

The hostess was a b1tch,.

Must have been the same person we had a year ago. She was rude and it set a bad tone to our meal. I hated being rushed through our meeting with Ariel. They rudely told us we were limited to one picture with her. I wanted 3 pics- one of each child (2) and one of both kids with her. They were too busy trying to get the picture they wanted to sell us for $30 during our meal. They did choose us to be the family of the hour or some such thing- we got to ring a bell and meet Snow White.

Anyway, I had the onion soup and the shrimp cobb salad. The salad was huge and was pretty good. The soup was ok, not great. I had the apple dessert and it was horrible. It was a good idea but WAY under cooked. My apples were barely warm and still very hard. Dh had the chicken pot pie which had some season / herb in it that he didnt care for. He had the chocolate cake, it was a bit dry but better then my hard apples.

I dont recall what my kids had. I know they had apples and caramel for dessert. It turned out to be a sticky mess.

 

[lulubelle]

Well, I thought the Salmon BLT was fabulous. But I like that kind of thing. The chicken pot pie was also very good. I agree the food is not the main reason to eat there, but I would never call it gross or nasty. I guess it is all up to each person. Just wanted to give a more positive review.

 

[sand2270]

We definitely don't go for the food. I tried to talk my DD8 out of this our last trip but she really wanted to see the princesses. I even offered her a day at the beach but the princess lunch won out. Tradition I guess, we have done it every time we go to Disneyland, but this will probably be the last time.

The last 2 times I have had the hamburger, kind of hard to screw that up. My DD had the octadog and mac and cheese. Very cute, but she hardly ate the carrot/celery stick appetizer and wasn't interested in dessert at all. My apple dessert, as mentioned above, was undercooked and hard to eat.

They do serve alcohol...very pricey, but available if you want a drink.

Regarding the character interactions, it felt very rushed this last time. The other two times we went there were parades with the kids and it felt like the princesses spent a little more time at our table.

I like Goofy's Kitchen better (I have only been there for breakfast). Cinderella was also at breakfast, another time Alice was at the breakfast.

 

[sand2270]

picture of octadog and macaroni and cheese, there are also goldfish crackers sprinkled on top...

 

[fairycat]

It is so sad to hear how far the food has gone down hill. A few years ago we used to go to Ariel's for the food (ok less me but it was good). I heard great things about the Meatloaf, Salmon BLT, Chicken Pot Pie, the Chicken and French Onion soup (tthat used to be VERY cheese) and the Apple Crumble.

Its sad to hear its a sad version of what it was. Having no kids I guess we will stick to WCT and pray they don't mess that one up!

 

[chickybanky]

I had the Salmon BLT and thought it was good. My DH had the chicken pot pie and said it was great! My DD liked her octopus hotdog, but didn't like the mac & cheese...she ate my french fries instead.

DH & I both got the chocolate cake for dessert and it was just so-so. DD didn't like any of the dessert choices (she's picky), so I asked if she could just get fruit and they brought out a great bowl of fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries). I think that was the best part of the meal!

We probably won't be doign Ariel's again. But we'll definitely be doing Goofy's Kitchen for b-fast again!

 

[pixiewings71]

I don't think I've been to the same restaurant as some of you. Seriously, we've always had a GREAT experience at Ariel's, from the food to the Princesses! We've eaten there 4 or 5 times and we really enjoy it. The Princesses always spend a special moment or two extra at our table, Jasmin even takes pictures with DBF (she's his fave) and they always chat the girls up about our trip and what their favorite things are, we get at least 5 minutes with each Princesses. Last time (about 3 weeks ago) we got walk up seating and we got to meet Mulan and Pocahontas which was really neat for us.

As for the food, we've never been unhappy. I love the onion soup, it has a lot of broth with some onions, cheese over the top and a piece of bread. It's not the best onion soup and no it's not drowning in cheese but I still love it, get it every time. Last time I had the Chicken Cesaer Salad, it was really good, big enough that I didn't finish it but I really enjoyed it. I've also had the Penne pasta, which I almost had last time, and loved it. I've done the cheeseburger as well but it was a bit dry. DBF has done the Salmon BLT, the meatloaf and the fish and chips, he's enjoyed them all. The girls usually just go simple and get chicken or the octadog, they have never complained about the mac n cheese and they always eat their carrots and celery with Ranch. For dessert they get the apples w/caramel, I get the apple crunch thing and it's been very good, the apples can be firm sometimes but it's edible and DBF get the chocolate cake. We've also done breakfast which was quite good. I guess we've been 5 times because I've done the pasta twice and we did the breakfast once.

hth

 

[catsintrbleagn]

We were there 2 weeks ago.They had our reservation wrong and we ended up waiting an hour, there was another family that they did the same thing to at te same time as well. I agree that the penne pasta was great, the apple caramel ice cream dessert thing was yummy as well. My boyfriend had the meatloaf and said he liked it, but he will eat anything. My mom had the chicken pot pie that had 1 piece of chicken in it! The kids liked their meals okay. It wasn't terrible but yet not the best experience either. We won't be doing that character meal again though.

 

[ironpig70]

wow sounds like this went downhill. was there 2 years ago and the food was good and the princesses took their time at each table. not alot of time but we had more than 1 picture. i'd say that the memoirs and pictures is the reason alot of folks go and if the food or service is below disney then send them a letter. figure if enough of us have a gripe then maybe it will change. just my .02

 

[audrabolster]

perhaps is depends on when you go as well? Maybe the servers are more rushed when busy? I've had very different experiences in various disney dining places depending on the time of year.

 

[pixiewings71]

I don't know, the first time we went was in April of 06 at lunch time. Around 1:30 I think, it was packed but we still got more than 1 picture with each Princess. We went in July of 07, same thing, packed but we got lots of time, Dec 07 was breakfast and each Princess took quite a while at our table and Cinderella brought DD8 a special b-day card, it was a card that plays A Dream is a Wish and Cinderella had signed it for her. We brought it in but thought it was above and beyond that Cinderella brought it to her.
We went again last month and walked in, had great service, it was around 5:30 so it was earlier that usual. There was 1 other trip in there but I can't remember the details, just that it was great as usual. We've been a lot this year, we've used the heck out of our AP's. lol

 

[ashbyyokosuka]

ACK
i'm *scared* of all the mixed opinions...
well
we are going anyway (already have the vouchers)
and my youngest DD is a HUGE Ariel fan and loves the other princesses as well.

hopefully b/c my oldest DD will be wearing a birthday pin
they will be a little nice!

and i want THREE pics.
one w/ ea girl alone and one w/ the 2 of them.
i'll settle for 2 though
(the biggest fan and ariel alone--and one w/ both girls and Ariel)