Dining for family essentials

[hawkeyesparks]

im taking my family to DL for the first time this summer.
Family: wife and I, DS(13), DD(7), & DD(4)

I'm looking for advice on eating. FIRST. What are 3 great places for our family to eat?(table service)

I'm interested in one character meal, maybe 2.

Also, of the three places which meal time is best(I'm looking for a little variety on that as well)

Thanks

 

[Bud Ice]

> What are 3 great places for our family to eat?

- Blue Bayou
- Carthay Circle
- Storytellers Cafe

> I'm interested in one character meal, maybe 2.

- Goofy's Kitchen
- PCH Grill
- Plaza Inn

> Also, of the three places which meal time is best

- Breakfast is pretty popular at all 3.

 

[CandMmommy]

Interested in seeing what others suggest

 

[agamble]

For a character meal I would suggest Minnie’s. The restaurant is the only character meal in Disneyland itself. Also, you get a nice variety of characters, many you can’t see in the parks. The food isn’t as fancy as some of the other character meals, but the character interaction and location make up for it. It also happens to be the cheapest of the character meals.

Goofy’s serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner and Ariel’s serves breakfast and lunch. The other character meals only serve breakfast. Although Goofy’s is currently closed so a dinner character option is being offered at PCH grill (Mickey’s location) for now.

I can’t give suggestions on any table service meals because we’ve only eaten counter service and quick service meals. I will say that Rancho De Zocalo is our favorite place to eat. You order at the counter, but the dining area is nicely themed (especially in the evening with the lanterns) and you eat with real plates and silverware. The Carnation Café is also like that. These two restaurants are kind of like a cross between the counter order and the table service. They are quick and convenient (plus cheaper) with the counter service ready made food, but they provide a nicer eating arrangement than the other counter service locations.

 

[figment_jii]

'm looking for advice on eating. FIRST. What are 3 great places for our family to eat?(table service) Also, of the three places which meal time is best(I'm looking for a little variety on that as well)

What kinds of foods do you and your family like? Are you looking for casual dining locations? Formal dining locations?

For may family, our favorite locations are:

• Cafe Orleans (lunch or dinner) - Cafe Orleans has the same menu for lunch and dinner (no breakfast). My family likes to have lunch here because we enjoy eating outside (most of the seating is outdoors) and people watching while having lunch.
• Carnation Cafe (lunch or dinner) - Carnation Cafe hast he same menu for lunch and dinner. My family likes having either lunch or dinner here, but there is some indoor seating (and air conditioning) if it's hot outside.
• Storytellers (lunch) - Storytellers has a different menu at each meal. We like the lunch menu, although the dinner menu/buffet is pretty good too.

I'm interested in one character meal, maybe 2.

There aren't a lot of character meals at DLR and most all are breakfast.

• Plaza Inn (breakfast) - Minnie and friends
• Ariel's Grotto (breakfast and lunch) - Princesses
• Storytellers (breakfast) - Chip, Dale, and other woodland friends
• Goofy's Kitchen (all meals) - Goofy and friends
• PCH Grill (breakfast) - Mickey and friends.

 

[ShaunaM]

im taking my family to DL for the first time this summer.
Family: wife and I, DS(13), DD(7), & DD(4)

I'm looking for advice on eating. FIRST. What are 3 great places for our family to eat?(table service)

I'm interested in one character meal, maybe 2.

Also, of the three places which meal time is best(I'm looking for a little variety on that as well)

Thanks

Our three kids all enjoy Blue bayou for a really special meal. ..they looked through the menus for Carthay and Napa and as kids who order from the adult menus they Regretfully did not find anything appealing...DS14 likely would have been happy But the other two not so much. Time and time again they want to go to carnation cafe ...malts. .baked potato soup and deep fried pickles Commonly appear on our table there. Another family favorite for us is cafe Orleans we all love the pommes frites, The Gumbo is yummy too among other things. We find one sit down reservation per day and one walk up for day works well for our family sometimes we do supper sometimes we do lunch but as long as we have one meal a day where we know we have a table waiting for us it works. We have done 2 character breakfasts really enjoyed the one at storytellers cafe but interestingly enough have not been impressed with their suppers...too big...loud and really slow ...food was OK but not memorable. We also did a breakfast at Goofy's kitchen which we all found to be a little bit too much Like a really expensive cafeteria. What appeals to everyone varies so much; being able to look at the menus ahead of time will help immensely to see if there are things that appeal to you and your family. Good luck ,have a great trip ,have fun AND Bon Appétit!

 

[hawkeyesparks]

Thanks, for the suggestions.

 

[VandVsmama]

im taking my family to DL for the first time this summer.
Family: wife and I, DS(13), DD(7), & DD(4)

I'm looking for advice on eating. FIRST. What are 3 great places for our family to eat?(table service)
I'm interested in one character meal, maybe 2.

Also, of the three places which meal time is best(I'm looking for a little variety on that as well)

Thanks

3 great table service restaurants for your family?
It kind of depends on what sort of food your family likes and what price point you're considering. The DL hotels & DTD have some good options. But DL & DCA have good options, too.

Our family has eaten at Blue Bayou and we really liked it. A reservation is always recommended there, especially if you want to eat there at a certain time of day.

We've also eaten at the Carnation Cafe at dinner time. I'd like to try breakfast there on our next trip. The dinner and lunch menus are the same. I hated the fried pickles, but many people love them. Everything else we had there was really good. I would totally eat there again.

Character meals:
Our family has done 3 character meals at DL. Here's my thoughts on each of those 3:

• Ariel's Grotto for lunch - really overpriced and minimal character interaction with each of the 4 princesses. Just barely enough time for them to say hello and take a photo and then they moved on to the next table. I would not do it again.
• Goofy's Kitchen - went there for dinner. Kids loved the food. DH & I thought the food there was kind of ok. Character interaction was great. I'd like to try breakfast/brunch there some time. I think that I'd pass on dinner there.
• Breakfast with Minnie & Friends at the Plaza Inn - We all loved this. Our family loves breakfast food. Character interaction was the best of the 3 character meals that we've done. Saw about 7 characters. Food quality was good. DH had a made-to-order omelet and he thought it was really tasty. My kids porked out on bacon and Mickey waffles and they said that it was good. I tried a little bit of many different things and thought it was good. Good price for what you get. I thought this was a good value. We did this character meal on a day when rope drop was for an 8:00 am DL park opening and our reservation was at 10:00 am. So we ate something small in our hotel room, went to rope drop, went on rides commando-style for 2 hours, and then got to SIT for an hour and eat while the characters came to us. And I'm not talking just "quick photo and they take off" kind of interaction. We're talking the kind of interaction where Tigger plays patty cake with your kids, or Minnie has a "conversation" with you (lots of gestures & you do a lot of talking & she responds), stuff like that.

 

[VandVsmama]

Another thought or 2 on Blue Bayou....

Dinner prices are higher than at lunch. If you're not doing a special dining package, then I'd recommend to do lunch at Blue Bayou. If you absolutely want a waterside table, then make a lunch reservation for 11:30 am and arrive at the check in desk 15 min beforehand and tell them that you want a waterside table. This is the time of day when it is easiest to get that. And have the dining people make a note of it on your reservation when you make the reservation.

Just a tip - we did this 3 years ago - my DH ordered the gumbo as his starter instead of a salad. My kids (ages 4 and 6 at the time) asked me if Princess Tiana had made DH his gumbo. So when our server checked on us, I said, "Could you please give Miss Tiana our compliments on her gumbo? It really is tasty." Our server did not miss a beat. She got a twinkle in her eye and said, "OH! I'll go to the kitchen right now and tell her."

You should have seen how big my kids' eyes got at that moment. They said, "Mommy! Daddy! Princess Tiana made your lunch? HOLY COW! Mommy, can she come out and say hi?" I told them no because she's busy running the kitchen and being head chef. A couple of minutes later, the server came out and said that Princess Tiana was so pleased that we enjoyed her gumbo that she wanted us to have a copy of her recipe...and then she gave us a copy of the recipe.

My kids still talk about it 3 years later.

 

[DLfan4]

i suggest Blue Bayou (in DL) . its pricey, but its a great experience to eat inside the pirates of the carribean ride. We all loved our meals.
We really enjoyed our experience at Ariels Grotto.(DCA) The family style antipasto tower and dessert tray were great. meals so-so. But we still loved it. WE sat outside on the patio overlooking the paradise pier. the princesses are great.