Best off-site restraunts?

[limace]

Again, I think reviews some place like Yelp are a good place to start-obviously, if folks are getting food poisoning somewhere, it'll be reflected in their reviews.

The only time I've ended up with a kid vomiting all night while traveling? Once after eating at a Cheesecake Factory, and once after eating on property at WDW. Maybe it was food poisoning, maybe not-life happens.

OP, although it's technically a chain, I'd recommend Roy's. There's one at Gardenwalk I'm hoping to try-his food is generally great and reasonably priced as far as nice meals go. It might be our best seafood option close the parks.

 

[smiles33]

We hate chains, too, unless it's a "burger joint" like In-N-Out or Five Guys. I posted this thread, NorCal Hound w/kids heading to Disneyland, on Chowhound seeking non-chain recs last year when we went in Sept. 2011.

We ended up eating at OC Poultry and Rotisserie (a Vietnamese place a 5 minute drive from HoJo per a great rec from Das Ubergeek, a prolific SoCal Chowhound), had leftovers for breakfast in the room, burgers and fries from Five Guys, and ate the remainder of the meals inside the park (corndogs, Ariel's Grotto, Thunder Ranch BBQ).

 

[SomeDude78]

Anyone who isn't into chains will probably have a tough go in tourist areas like DLR There's tons of so-called "local" cuisine if you have a car and care to drive around ... Anaheim isn't far from what's dubbed ""Little Saigon" (basically Garden Grove, Westminster, Huntington Beach, plus surrounding suburbs) so there's an endless variety of Vietnamese food in the area. Lots of Mexican stuff too. I'd check out Yelp, Chowhound, or even Tripadvisor. Yelp would be the best bet IMO since it's used more heavily by locals. The Vietnamese stuff down there is seriously great, even those of us from places like the SF Bay with lots of Asian food still enjoy eating down there, only problem is many of the best places are holes in the wall or don't have English signs

 

[Spassvogel]

Doesn't California make restaurants post the letter grade they received from the health department in the window? Just avoid anything C or below and you should be fine.

For cheap outside-the-park eats we usually go to the Subway on the corner of Harbor and Katella. (there are also some greasy-spoonish places in the same strip mall). We can eat for less than $20 for four of us. (about half of what we will spend on a meal at Disneyland). After the greasy food in the park, a sandwich is usually a welcome change.

Yes, it's a chain, but at least you see everything that goes onto your sandwich and can pick the ingredients.

 

[rramstad]

Doesn't California make restaurants post the letter grade they received from the health department in the window? Just avoid anything C or below and you should be fine.

I haven't been to CA in a year, but unless this happened very recently, I think you are probably confusing LA with NYC. NYC posts letter grades from the department of health.

 

[SomeDude78]

The letter grading system isn't consistently used in California. But yes, it is employed in many places here. Los Angeles and San Diego have been doing it for a loooooong time. Most of the SF Bay adopted it a few years ago. Orange County, however, rejected the grading system years ago and I don't believe they've revisited the matter since (they may have gone to a pass-fail system at some point but they soundly rejected the A, B, C, etc. system).

 

[rramstad]

The letter grading system isn't consistently used in California. But yes, it is employed in many places here. Los Angeles and San Diego have been doing it for a loooooong time. Most of the SF Bay adopted it a few years ago. Orange County, however, rejected the grading system years ago and I don't believe they've revisited the matter since (they may have gone to a pass-fail system at some point but they soundly rejected the A, B, C, etc. system).

Absolutely fantastic clarification. My last couple of trips have been flying into Long Beach and never going farther north than Anaheim... or farther south than San Juan Capistrano... hence my lack of knowledge in this area... but I was sure I hadn't seen any letter grades in or around Disneyland!

 

[SomeDude78]

Absolutely fantastic clarification. My last couple of trips have been flying into Long Beach and never going farther north than Anaheim... or farther south than San Juan Capistrano... hence my lack of knowledge in this area... but I was sure I hadn't seen any letter grades in or around Disneyland!

Haha yep that would be it I lived in LA for a while and those letter grades are ubiquitous there just like they are in NYC. Now I live in the SF Bay and they only became widespread here a couple years ago ... a bunch of small mom 'n pop eateries closed up soon after it went into effect LOL. OC was the only major county to dump them, although I don't know if anything has changed since then (this was back around '07 or '08).

 

[nsiordia]

Not within walking distance, but Slater's 50/50 in Anaheim Hills is really good

 

[rramstad]

We hate chains, too, unless it's a "burger joint" like In-N-Out or Five Guys. I posted this thread, NorCal Hound w/kids heading to Disneyland, on Chowhound seeking non-chain recs last year when we went in Sept. 2011.

We ended up eating at OC Poultry and Rotisserie (a Vietnamese place a 5 minute drive from HoJo per a great rec from Das Ubergeek, a prolific SoCal Chowhound), had leftovers for breakfast in the room, burgers and fries from Five Guys, and ate the remainder of the meals inside the park (corndogs, Ariel's Grotto, Thunder Ranch BBQ).

Really helpful Chowhound thread, thanks so much!

We decided this time to keep our rental car specifically so we could get out and try some of the local establishments, and the suggestions you got are great!

 

[chrissiecutie]

Can't believe no one recommended In N Out

I read through all the posts here and I have to say...it's kinda silly. Food preferences are SO subjective. What one person hates another loves, kwim? And to compare non-chains vs chain restaurants....again, very subjective. How can you accurately judge??

I like chains because I know exactly what I'm getting. I know when I walk into a McDonald's exactly what my choices are and how they are going to taste. The good, the bad and the ugly! And to be honest, sometimes while on vacay- I like the comfort in this.

However, while on vacay, we also like trying new places. So that's where the recommendations from a board like this come in handy! But it has to be taken with a grain of salt, because again...what one person loves, another hates. However if everyone says it's good, then on the list it will go!

 

[rramstad]

Can't believe no one recommended In N Out

I read through all the posts here and I have to say...it's kinda silly. Food preferences are SO subjective. What one person hates another loves, kwim? And to compare non-chains vs chain restaurants....again, very subjective. How can you accurately judge??

I like chains because I know exactly what I'm getting. I know when I walk into a McDonald's exactly what my choices are and how they are going to taste. The good, the bad and the ugly! And to be honest, sometimes while on vacay- I like the comfort in this.

However, while on vacay, we also like trying new places. So that's where the recommendations from a board like this come in handy! But it has to be taken with a grain of salt, because again...what one person loves, another hates. However if everyone says it's good, then on the list it will go!

I agree that food preferences are entirely subjective, but conversely, I think there are definitely a handful of things that are absolutely necessary to have a good (or great!) restaurant...

I think your comments on chain restaurants vs non-chain restaurants are well taken... except again, I think you can eat at a restaurant, not really like the food because it isn't your cup of tea, but know that it's actually a good restaurant. I know, that seems a bit obtuse, but it's true... I can see the quality in the ingredients, the care in presentation, the portion size vs. cost of raw ingredients (i.e. "value"), the way the staff behaves, and so on, and while I can't necessarily say I liked the food, or even that the food was authentic (or not), I can say that the restaurant is a good restaurant... just that the food may or may not be what you are looking for.

That's where chain restaurants make their bread and butter, by the way, by delivering over and over again, so that if you like it once, you'll like it again. Most good restaurants do this, too, but many great ones don't, precisely because they work with fresh ingredients and are constantly tweaking and adjusting recipes and techniques. I like restaurants that grow and change, personally, but again, I'd agree that's a personal preference.

 

[limace]

We hate chains, too, unless it's a "burger joint" like In-N-Out or Five Guys. I posted this thread, NorCal Hound w/kids heading to Disneyland, on Chowhound seeking non-chain recs last year when we went in Sept. 2011.

We ended up eating at OC Poultry and Rotisserie (a Vietnamese place a 5 minute drive from HoJo per a great rec from Das Ubergeek, a prolific SoCal Chowhound), had leftovers for breakfast in the room, burgers and fries from Five Guys, and ate the remainder of the meals inside the park (corndogs, Ariel's Grotto, Thunder Ranch BBQ).

I feel like I met someone famous! I read that thread in my food planning-man, some yummy recs in that thread. Thanks for posting!

 

[smiles33]

I feel like I met someone famous! I read that thread in my food planning-man, some yummy recs in that thread. Thanks for posting!

LOL! I was lucky Das Ubergeek and others who are Anaheim area experts were kind enough to post on that thread. At least one of them agreed with me that Ariel's Grotto was worth the price just for the convenience factor (though I totally agree with them the food is lackluster, as I thought my UCLA dorm food from the 1990s better!).

Also, re: chrissiecutie's post, we are NorCal folks so In-N-out isn't new to us, but I definitely think it was fun to compare to Five Guys (which we didn't have up here until a few months ago). If I could get an In-N-Out burger and Five Guys cajun fries, then I'd be set! If you're out-of-towners, it's definitely worth trying In-N-Out just to compare (though I hate their fries).

 

[chrissiecutie]

I agree that food preferences are entirely subjective, but conversely, I think there are definitely a handful of things that are absolutely necessary to have a good (or great!) restaurant...

I think your comments on chain restaurants vs non-chain restaurants are well taken... except again, I think you can eat at a restaurant, not really like the food because it isn't your cup of tea, but know that it's actually a good restaurant. I know, that seems a bit obtuse, but it's true... I can see the quality in the ingredients, the care in presentation, the portion size vs. cost of raw ingredients (i.e. "value"), the way the staff behaves, and so on, and while I can't necessarily say I liked the food, or even that the food was authentic (or not), I can say that the restaurant is a good restaurant... just that the food may or may not be what you are looking for.

That's where chain restaurants make their bread and butter, by the way, by delivering over and over again, so that if you like it once, you'll like it again. Most good restaurants do this, too, but many great ones don't, precisely because they work with fresh ingredients and are constantly tweaking and adjusting recipes and techniques. I like restaurants that grow and change, personally, but again, I'd agree that's a personal preference.

I get what you're saying here...but I would have to say that for me personally- if I don't like the food, then it's not a "good" restaurant. As you said, lots of things contribute to making a restaurant "good", the quality, staff, cleanliness, presentation, etc. However, a restaurant is nothing without the food. And if I don't like it, then I'm not coming back. But really all these things are subjective too. For me and DH- we hate "fancy" restaurants. I don't like paying an arm & a leg for 2 bites of food that's been beautifully arranged on my oversized platter while drinking my $40 glass of wine. But I'm sure a LOT of people really enjoy this and would definitely classify this as a "good" restaurant. But for us, because it's not our thing- it's not a good place for us to eat. Does that make sense?? Oh geez, this is really hard to describe.

I most likely wouldn't go out of my way to recommend a restaurant where I didn't like the food. If the only thing I didn't like was the food & everything else was "good" then when I asked, I would certainly say that everything was great, we just didn't like the food. I would never bash a restaurant based completely on personal food preferences because I understand that everyone has different tastes.

But if a restaurant does meet all my criteria, and really- I've only found a few, then I do go out of my way to recommend them. And for me, those are usually the non-chain restaurants. I don't intentionally set out to exclude the chains, this is just where my personal food preferences tend to fall. But of course there are many horrific non-chains too....so alas, it just all comes down to personal tastes.

 

[chrissiecutie]

Also, re: chrissiecutie's post, we are NorCal folks so In-N-out isn't new to us, but I definitely think it was fun to compare to Five Guys (which we didn't have up here until a few months ago). If I could get an In-N-Out burger and Five Guys cajun fries, then I'd be set! If you're out-of-towners, it's definitely worth trying In-N-Out just to compare (though I hate their fries).

Smiles- if you ever come to the Seattle area, you should try Dick's burgers.

Folks compare them to Five Guys & In n Out, so chances are if you like both of these, you'll enjoy Dick's too! Personally, In n Out is my absolute fav! But because we don't have them here, I must eat my way through Five Guys & Dick's burgers while waiting for my next trip to Cali!

 

[woody73]

. . . Personally, In n Out is my absolute fav!

In-n-Out is my favorite fast food burger. There's one within walking distance of our house.

Woody

 

[AddictedtoDoleWhip]

I agree that food preferences are entirely subjective, but conversely, I think there are definitely a handful of things that are absolutely necessary to have a good (or great!) restaurant...

I think your comments on chain restaurants vs non-chain restaurants are well taken... except again, I think you can eat at a restaurant, not really like the food because it isn't your cup of tea, but know that it's actually a good restaurant. I know, that seems a bit obtuse, but it's true... I can see the quality in the ingredients, the care in presentation, the portion size vs. cost of raw ingredients (i.e. "value"), the way the staff behaves, and so on, and while I can't necessarily say I liked the food, or even that the food was authentic (or not), I can say that the restaurant is a good restaurant... just that the food may or may not be what you are looking for.

That's where chain restaurants make their bread and butter, by the way, by delivering over and over again, so that if you like it once, you'll like it again. Most good restaurants do this, too, but many great ones don't, precisely because they work with fresh ingredients and are constantly tweaking and adjusting recipes and techniques. I like restaurants that grow and change, personally, but again, I'd agree that's a personal preference.

Well I would suggest, depending on how far you want to drive, there's a restaurant called Thai Chili that I really enjoy it's not too far from Disneyland (maybe 10-15 minutes.) It's a Thai Restaurant,

Bruxie is another really good place to eat, as far as I know there is no Bruxie up in NorCal and it seems to be an Orange County kind of place only. They have their menu posted on their website, I think it's yummy and to me it's kind of unique.

 

[rramstad]

Well I would suggest, depending on how far you want to drive, there's a restaurant called Thai Chili that I really enjoy it's not too far from Disneyland (maybe 10-15 minutes.) It's a Thai Restaurant,

Bruxie is another really good place to eat, as far as I know there is no Bruxie up in NorCal and it seems to be an Orange County kind of place only. They have their menu posted on their website, I think it's yummy and to me it's kind of unique.

Interesting suggestions, thanks. I've put them both on the map, and hadn't heard of either before.

The Chowhound thread and board has been excellent for our trip so far. We're down in Laguna Woods for a couple of days and ate at Break of Dawn for a late breakfast / early lunch, and had dinner at Taco Mesa in Mission Viejo, both were great!

 

[smiles33]

Just had to share these posts here after the PP's statement about only eating at chain restaurants. This is specific to fast food restaurants but interesting perspective offered by employees:

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/co...enu/?limit=500