Dinner at Plaza Inn or Cafe Orleans?

[happydisneyfamily]

What are your thoughts? We've never had dinner at Cafe Orleans and from what I've read, the Monte Cristo is one of the highlights. I've also read that the chicken dinner at Plaza Inn is awesome as well. What do you think? Already planned Pizza Port for lunch one day, the beignets at Ralph Brennan's another day, turkey legs if we can find them, and eating at Blue Bayou on our last night in Disneyland.

 

[sonnyjane]

Well, this depends on whether you want a sit-down dinner, or a cafeteria-style one. Cafe Orleans is a table service restaurant, so you have a waiter, etc. Plaza Inn you go through like a cafeteria with a tray, choose what you want, pay at the register, then go sit down. Totally different, and because there is no server, Plaza Inn is likely less expensive. That said, I've eaten at both. The chicken dinner at PI is HUGE and could easily be shared. You get 3 pieces of chicken, potatoes, veggies, a roll... BLEH I felt sick after and if I hadn't been solo, I should have shared! I like CO because of the yummy desserts and yes, they have the Monte Cristo also, which I share when I go because it's so rich.

If you want CO at a certain time though, I'd suggest calling for a reservation, especially if you're going at a busy time. I've eaten there without one though, just had to wait 20 minutes or so. Obviously Plaza Inn doesn't take reservations.

 

[marciemouse]

If you don't split the entrees from PI, you'll pay more per person than at CO. We ate at PI on our last trip. Had one chicken dinner and one steak dinner with one fountain drink and it was over $30 with our AP discount. That said the food was good and very large portions, and we enjoyed the indoor seating, as it was a cool evening. My chicken was a little salty, but still quite good. I'd say if you want to eat at a specific (popular) time for dinner and want table service, go to CO. Otherwise, give PI a try. Also, CO seems a bit closer menu-wise to BB.

 

[Susie*Q]

The P.I. chicken dinner is HUGE and the C.O. monte cristo is RICH. Both are very good and both are too much for me when I'm visiting solo, so I usually doggy bag the chicken and eat it later and have to leave half my m.c. sandwich.

When I go with a friend we split them. A Monte Cristo and 2 cups of gumbo fill us up.

You might try one restaurant for lunch and the other for dinner.

ENJOY!

 

[pixiewings71]

When we go to PI DBF and I share, we get a chicken dinner and a side salad and it's plenty of food.
When we go to CO we also share but we do it differently. I order a salad and gumbo and he gets the MC, he has some of my meal and I have some of his.
BB also has the MC so if you're going there maybe just order the MC there.

 

[ORDisneyfans]

I just replied on another post about BB and CO. That said we have eaten at the Plaza Inn right before the fireworks. This has worked out well as the view was great and we split a chicken dinner and a dessert. I ordered coffee. During the fireworks DH took the girls to Tomorrowland and I sat and enjoyed a free refill of coffee and watched the fireworks. This was like night #5 so they weren't really missing anything and I was tired! LOL! It was very peaceful and relaxing. I would skip the pizza port at all costs!! The pizza is yuck! So many other great food options! Have fun!

 

[ConnieB]

What are your thoughts? We've never had dinner at Cafe Orleans and from what I've read, the Monte Cristo is one of the highlights. I've also read that the chicken dinner at Plaza Inn is awesome as well. What do you think? Already planned Pizza Port for lunch one day, the beignets at Ralph Brennan's another day, turkey legs if we can find them, and eating at Blue Bayou on our last night in Disneyland.

Until your last sentence I was going to recommend Cafe Orleans....but for ME the highlights of Cafe Orleans are the Monte Cristo and the beignets. Since you're already planning beignets elsewhere, and you can get the Monte Cristo at Blue Bayou, then it's a duplicate (albeit a DELICIOUS one, lol).

If there are other places that you had on your list but you only have so many meals so they didn't make it high enough on the priority list....I'd knock Blue Bayou and Brennans off the list, do Cafe Orleans instead, do Plaza Inn too and then find one more great place to fill in.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I would skip the pizza port at all costs!! The pizza is yuck! So many other great food options! Have fun!

We love Pizza Port but definitely not for the pizza! The pasta and salads there are really yummy. I agree about staying away from the pizza though.

 

[pixiewings71]

We love eating at PI and watching the fireworks during our dessert. It's GREAT!!!! We've been able to time it perfectly when we've wanted to do this and the view is good. It's not perfect, there are trees in the way but it's good enough when you've seen as many fireworks as we did. LOL
We love Pizza Port, the pizza isn't gourmet but it's good. It's not horrible. This is what our family of 5 does, 1 salad (usually a cesear), 1 order of foccacia bread, 1 fettucini alfredo and 2-3 slices of pizza (depending on how hungry we are), we share it all between the 4 of us and it's plenty. Sometimes DD11 wants pizza so we all get pizza instead of the pasta, a couple of times I've taken a kids pasta because I didn't want pizza, or an extra side salad so I can have a little more.