Downtown Disney Dinner Reservations

[kathyclownfish]

Will be in DTD on Friday, May 13th. Need a place to have a moderate to expensive dinner. Any ideas?

 

[tlovesdis]

Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen is our favorite place in DTD!

2nd for us is Tortilla Joe's.

We don't really like any of the others all that much! If my niece is with us, sometimes we do Rainforest Cafe.

 

[LizzyS]

RB's Jazz Kitchen!

 

[jsmla]

We had birthday money at both Tortilla Jo's and Rainforest Cafe and a restaurant.com certificate at House of Blues and we both much preferred Tortilla Jo's to the other two.

Rainforest Cafe (lunch)
We had drinks and a couple of appetizers (the sampler platter and coconut shrimp). It was okay, not great but not terrible either. We sat in the bar and service was abrupt yet slowish.

House of Blues (dinner)
We eat at HoB quite often in both Orlando and NOLA, it's a good deal for us using restaurant.com. The Anaheim location had great service but the food was seriously subpar when compared to the other locations. DH usually loves their Voodoo Shrimp appetizer but this one was a plate of mush (It had obviously been sauced a loooong time before serving.) topped with under seasoned, over cooked shrimp. My Caesar salad consisted of the same shrimp atop a pile of limp, yellowed romaine. DH left about half of his meatloaf and he NEVER leaves meat behind! Drinks were strong and tasty as was the bread pudding. Our server was the saving grace. He was friendly and always at hand when we needed anything even though the restaurant was extremely busy.

Tortilla Jo's (dinner)
DH loved the margaritas here! I had enchiladas and DH the carnitas burrito. We don't have a lot of experience with authentic Mexican but we enjoyed our meal very much. I preferred my enchiladas to my much pricier dinner at Blue Bayou. Service was fine-friendly, attentive and prompt.

We didn't try Brennan's but if their food is up to Commander's or Palace Cafe in NOLA standards it should be really good!

I'd strongly recommend reservations for dinner. There were hour + waits at both places the nights we visited.

 

[NannyBeBe]

Ralph Brennan's, without a doubt.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen

 

[ADLFAN]

Have you checked out the menu at Catal and UVA Bar? They sound pretty darn good, and though I have never been to either, UVA Bar is on my list for a happy hour style break from the parks on our next trip. (Which is soooo close I can practically taste the pear martini!! 5 short days to go!!) Catal sounds interesting but a bit more formal. I think the middle of DTD location of UVA will be awesome for people watching!

 

[jsmla]

We really wanted to try Uva, loved the location and the menu appealed but it was just too chilly for this Louisiana girl!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

RB's Jazz Kitchen and Catal in DtD. Does it have to be within DtD? If the location can include hotels, then we prefer NR and S55.

 

[ParkHopper1]

Napa Rose right inside the Grand or Steakhouse 55 in the Disneyland Hotel are about as nice as you are going to get.

 

[kathyclownfish]

Thanks everyone for your replies. The UVA Bar looks interesting. I'll be with my 24 year old son. I think he would love sitting outside after driving from Santa Monica on a Friday night! Do you have to make ressies at Catal? Is there a separate opentable.com for just UVA? Alittle confused on the reservation part?

 

[Indiana Scott]

Ralph's! We always hit that place once during our trips.

 

[LeahMLee]

We love the Jazz kitchen as well! Can't wait to eat there again.

 

[figment_jii]

Thanks everyone for your replies. The UVA Bar looks interesting. I'll be with my 24 year old son. I think he would love sitting outside after driving from Santa Monica on a Friday night! Do you have to make ressies at Catal? Is there a separate opentable.com for just UVA? Alittle confused on the reservation part?

I have to concur that it's a bit confusing. Catal is the restaurant located on the second floor of the building and it takes reservations. Uva Bar is the outside area and Uva Cafe is located downstairs inside the building and neither of those take reservations.

Otherwise, I also highly recommend Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen. I also like House of Blues (which is leaving DTD for GardenWalk at the end of the month), but it can be pretty noisy inside. For either location, I highly recommend making a reservation, otherwise wait times can be pretty lengthy.

 

[jessicaerv]

I also like House of Blues (which is leaving DTD for GardenWalk at the end of the month), but it can be pretty noisy inside.

Interesting - I had not heard that. Do they have a tenant lined up for the HoB space out of curiousity?

 

[figment_jii]

I haven't seen anything about what will be replacing the HoB yet, but I can't imagine they'd want to leave the space empty for very long.