Counter service recommendations

[94bruin]

I vaguely remember seeing a thread on restaurants to avoid. I've made my PS for sit-down meals, so I think I'm set on those. I need info on counter-service type places - places to go *and* places to avoid.

I already have White Water Cafe on the list. I'm sure we'll be hitting them a lot since we're staying at GCH.

FYI, we'll be traveling with my parents, who like to eat light & healthy. So any recommendations on places that will satisfy an average 4 year old plus 2 seniors will be appreciated (opposite ends of the food spectrum, lol.)

 

[LavenderPeach]

We really like the sandwiches at Riverbelle Terrace. Their turkey sandwich is made with carved turkey, not deli meat and they have a lot of toppings/sauces to choose from to put on it. The have other sandwhiches there too. Bengal BBQ is also really good and it's all grilled food so it should be pretty healthy.

At DCA we like the ribs at Taste Pilot's Grill and also the Full Throttle Fries. Okay, so that's not health food but it's yummy. They also have a chicken sandwich and hamburgers/cheeseburgers. Some people have raved about the hamburgers but honestly, DH and I tried it recently and it's like your basic theme park hamburger only they have a lot of toppings available for you to put on it. If you go here, get there before 12 if possible because the line gets LONG and takes forever.

Also at DCA (and more healthy) is the Pacific Wharf Cafe with soups and salads in a bread bowl. Haven't tried the soups but the salads are good.

Hope that helps. Here's the link to the menu page at allears.net if you haven't seen it yet so you can look at all the menus and see what sounds good to you.
http://allears.net/dlr/din/menu/menus.htm#dl

 

[TheZue]

We've always loved Red Rockets Pizza Port. My husband and I always just share a pasta because they are HUGE. We also love Riverbelle and the Mexican place in Disneyland. I'm not a huge fan of much of the food in DCA unfortunately, and yes I've tried Taste Pilots grill.

 

[Kayla's Mom]

Pizza Port and Rancho Del Zocalo are our favorite counter services spots.

 

[Lynzer Torte]

I would avoid Hungry Bear and Village Haus. Nothing good has ever come out of those places.

 

[ballarinamom]

Ditto on Rancho del Zaccolo. They have a grilled 1/2 chicken and you could get veggies instead of beans and rice. There is also a mexican ceasar. Have you checked out allears.net for the menus? There are several places that have entree salads

 

[bumbershoot]

A lot depends on what foods you like, so checking out the menus is a good start.

For your parents, I suggest sharing. Hubby and I don't look it, but we generally share and don't eat terribly. We find that, for specific example, sharing a plate of penne with marinara and splitting a garden salad, is MORE than enough food. We realized later that it would have been better and just a touch less expensive if we'd each gotten a kid's meal of the penne, along with the garden salad...same amount of breadstick (half a breadstick with a kid's meal, one breadstick with an adult plate), just a bit less penne for each of us, plus a small bottled water each and carrots/apples...even more healthful in our opinion.

I look at sharing this way...if it satisfies your hunger, you've saved money over buying a meal each. If it doesn't, you can go buy more food.



We love the vegetarian gumbo, though it's SALTY and we can't really eat the breadbowl anymore. Hubby watches his carbs and even sharing that gumbo makes me full with just a few nice bites of soup-laden bread.

I like the caprese sandwich at Wine Country, though that's not actually counter service.

That's all I can think of right now...

 

[Eeyore76]

My husband and I looooove Bengal Barbecue.
It's a little stand in Adventureland close to the Indiana Jones ride.
They have these meat skewers that are inexpensive and the BOMB!
Oh, and the grilled veggie skewer is yummy too!

 

[pixiewings71]

Oh go to Taste Pilot's!!! You won't regret it!! YUMMY!!!!! Riverbelle Terrace is good, Rancho is good, Pizza Port is good, I like Award Weiners in DCA too, I even like Hungry Bear. I'd avoid Village Haus, it's not horrible but it's not very good either.

 

[pixiewings71]

Ohhhh, how could I forget?? French Market is good too!!! I LOVE the 4 cheese baked pasta and the sauteed veggies are sooooooooo good!!! The pasta isn't really enough to share but you could do it if you got a side salad or an extra side of the sauteed veggies. YUM!

 

[LavenderPeach]

Ohhhh, how could I forget?? French Market is good too!!! I LOVE the 4 cheese baked pasta and the sauteed veggies are sooooooooo good!!! The pasta isn't really enough to share but you could do it if you got a side salad or an extra side of the sauteed veggies. YUM!

Hmm..... I'll have to try that sometime. It sounds yummy! I got the chicken there one time and it was okay but I don't think i would get it again.

 

[disneynerd420]

I love the PLAZA INN. The fried chicken dinner is delicious. The desserts are not bad either. They offer a large portion for a not so bad disney price.

 

[TheZue]

A lot depends on what foods you like, so checking out the menus is a good start.

For your parents, I suggest sharing. Hubby and I don't look it, but we generally share and don't eat terribly. We find that, for specific example, sharing a plate of penne with marinara and splitting a garden salad, is MORE than enough food. We realized later that it would have been better and just a touch less expensive if we'd each gotten a kid's meal of the penne, along with the garden salad...same amount of breadstick (half a breadstick with a kid's meal, one breadstick with an adult plate), just a bit less penne for each of us, plus a small bottled water each and carrots/apples...even more healthful in our opinion.

I look at sharing this way...if it satisfies your hunger, you've saved money over buying a meal each. If it doesn't, you can go buy more food.



We love the vegetarian gumbo, though it's SALTY and we can't really eat the breadbowl anymore. Hubby watches his carbs and even sharing that gumbo makes me full with just a few nice bites of soup-laden bread.

I like the caprese sandwich at Wine Country, though that's not actually counter service.

That's all I can think of right now...

Sharing is HUGE. The portions there are crazy large. DH and I always share if we can agree on what to eat. Also a lot of the counter service restaurants have example plates out so you can see how large everything is before you order, which really makes it easy to figure out if two people can get away with one item.

 

[disneychrista]

I would avoid Hungry Bear and Village Haus. Nothing good has ever come out of those places.

I agree!

We like Rancho & Plaza at DLR. And Pacific Wharf at DCA.

 

[Brancaneve]

ditto on the Pacific wharf. The bread is baked fresh and absolutely delicious!

 

[Brady's Mom]

I love the PLAZA INN. The fried chicken dinner is delicious. The desserts are not bad either. They offer a large portion for a not so bad disney price.

We love the Plaza Inn, too. DH and I are big salad eaters, so we get 2 side salads and share the chicken dinner. It works great for us and saves some money. It ends up being about $22 for the salads and the dinner for 2 of us - which is a great disney price. Our DS 13 loves their pasta, but he doesn't want to share with anyone, LOL. I also love Plaza Inn for the real plates, glasses and silverware. I get really tired of plastic and paper on our vacations, so it is nice to find a counter service place with real stuff.

We also love Cove Bar - it's not counter service - but, good food (lobster nachos) and real utensils, plates and glasses and their servings are share-able.

 

[Eeyore76]

Triple on the Pacific Wharf. The food is so fresh, and the cheddar broccoli soup is sooooo yummy! The Chinese Chicken salad was really good too, but the soup stood out more for me.

 

[94bruin]

Thanks for all the replies thus far. I'm keeping a list.

Anything good in DTD?

Any places to avoid?

 

[nunzia]

These are all good..I had the kids's turkey sandwich at riverbelle terrace and it came with drink, grapes and a side and was very reasonable and filled me up.
DTD..I like the quiche at La Brea, but the tomato soup bread bowl wasn't that good. The bread things are better in DCA. I can be happy with a pretzel from Wetzel's for a light meal. .

 

[disneynerd420]

It's not counter service, but as far as DTD is concerned, ESPN Zone is the best! Avoid house of blues... cool atmosphere but mediocre food.