Napa Rose + 1 yr twins

[TigerB]

We will be having dinner at Napa Rose one night. We are going to try to use the babysitting service (I think Disney refers a place?).

Worst case scenario -- we will have to take the kids with us. They eat table food from high chairs. It's been a while since I've been to Napa Rose. Tell me, honestly, if we should cancel it all together or if we can make it work.

Are we crazy for even thinking of bringing the kids if we can't use the babysitting service? (Anyone have info on them or used them, by the way?)

 

[sonnyjane]

I'm not going to tell you what to do or not do, as I am not a parent yet. What I will say is that when people come to these boards asking about a special place to have memorable birthday dinners, romantic anniversary celebrations, or even a place for a proposal, we always recommend Napa Rose. Most of us revere Napa Rose as the place to go for a refined meal. You know your twins best, but how will they behave during a Napa Rose meal? If they are typically well-behaved and quiet for the extent of a meal, then it is your decision whether or not to bring them. Just keep in mind what other diners are expecting when they book a reservation at Napa Rose and hopefully your decision whether or not to bring the twins will coincide with those expectations. How's that for the P.C. answer?

 

[rillsung]

I haven't been to Napa Rose but I think that attempting to keep my 2 and 4yr old busy during my expensive meal would sorta ruin it for me. We are planning on switching babysitting with my BIL and SIL for the little ones so that we can each have a romantic, quiet dinner.

 

[Sydnie]

Honestly as a mom of a 1 y/o and 3 y/o who have been going to restaurants since they were itty bitty I would recommend not going if you can't get a sitter. My kids are very aware of what expectations are when we are at restaurants but I wouldn't bring them to NR.It's the kind of place you really want to relax and savor your meal, and no matter how well-behaved your kids are you simply won't enjoy your meal if you are constantly having to attend to them. Not to mention that most other diners would probably prefer a very quiet and romantic meal and even well-behaved children can be a distraction. A baby shrieking with delight cuts through the ambience just as cleanly as a baby shrieking in anger.

There are so many wonderful restaurants at Disneyland that are perfect for families and I will probably stick to them until my kids are old enough to spell haute cuisine

 

[TeddiBarra]

Hi- fellow M.O.M. here:

I wouldn't do it. Mine are now 6, and I still wouldn't do it, at the Napa Rose. BB, sure, in fact probably even SH55, but not the NR. More because of the ability to enjoy my meal and out of courtesy to others. And I wasn't the type to not take my twinfants everywhere with us. I remember when we took my not yet 2 yr old sister to a really fancy smancy place in New Orleans and the total mess she made on the floor and the utter of the waiter when he saw my mom (who was majorly ) on on the floor trying to clean it up. Yeah, NR is the ONE "don't take a baby" place I'd suggest.

ETA: they do have referrals to onsite sitters. they are outside companies but are bonded.

 

[nana50]

Boy as a grandma who loves her 3 year old twin grandsons, I would not be happy to see someone bring their babies to an expensive restaurant. I'll be honest and tell you that I'm not worried about it ruining your dinner and evening I'm worried about mine. That is an expensive restaurant and for me it would be a rare event to go to a nice restaurant.

 

[cpster]

Ditto with previous posters. I'm a mom to an almost 2 year old and I really don't think children so young will have the attention span needed for a longer meal. I really wouldn't want to disrupt the dining experiences of others.

 

[DahliaRW]

Personally, I won't take my 6, 4, and 2yo there. If you do go, I would have one of you ready to take out a child if they start being loud or fussy right away. It's really a nice restaurant, and I know if I'm paying a bunch to eat there a screaming child would really irritate me. Other places, not so much. I hope that makes sense!

 

[LisainCalifornia]

We have taken all of our kids out to dinner every Saturday night since they were babies (all different kinds of restaurants--some very nice), but I wouldn't recommend going to the Napa Rose with babies that young. The reason is that the 2 times that we have eaten there we have found on big issue--they are incredibly SLOW. I mean like the slowest service ever! This is fine if you are wanting a nice, leisurely dinner--but we are not talking leisurely, we are talking slow.

We also had a glaring bad experience the last time we went which was a big problem. They forgot to bring my daughter's food. We waited for a long time, feeling badly that we were eating in front of her, but kept thinking her food would come as promised any moment. We had already waited for so long for the rest of our meals, and everyone was very hungry. We finally flagged down our waitress, and when she realized the mistake she said it would be right out. Her food didn't come for another 20 minutes, and we were all done eating. We decided to risk ordering desert--telling our waitress that we wanted it fairly quickly if possible, and again it was turtleville!

The food was good, but I have had much better. Living in the Bay Area we have access to some pretty great restaurants, so Napa Rose is simply in the "good" not "great" catagory. The food is overpriced for the experience, and the slow service makes for a difficult evening.

So, I would recommend you don't take your one year old twins there--because they will grow bored of the experience probably before you even are through with your salads.

 

[cgh]

I'm the mom of a 2 1/2 year old, and I would agree with the others. We take him out to restaurants all the time and he knows expectations, and could be quiet for 45 minutes or so. But, for selfish reasons, if I'm going to spend that much, I'd like to focus on my husband and not trying to insure a 2 year old was quiet. For more altuisitic reasons, I wouldn't want to subject others who did hire babysitters to have to experience such a meal with potentially rambunctious kids.

 

[rentayenta]

Save it for another time. It's not fair to the other guests who did find child care.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

To the OP, I agree that the kids should not come but *I* will be honest and say it's more so that *you* and DH can have a nice, relaxing experience, considering the $$$$ prices.
I feel for the other diners, too, and others have spoken eloquently on their behalf, but I'm irked by the general societal attitude (not necessarily those expressed here) that kids can't dine anywhere but McDonald's. As one friend's husband put it, "If there is a kids' menu at the restaurant, you should go there expecting to dine with kids around." And to face such attitudes at a DISNEY park feels like a bit of an unexpected slap to me. Part of the reason I'm excited about this trip is the feeling we'll be somewhere that I can be out with my kids without strangers judging us for having them out of the house while my kids get to practice their Public Manners.
So do what's best for *you* I guess I'm saying.

There are so many wonderful restaurants at Disneyland that are perfect for families

Sydnie, could you please list some places that are family appropriate if you have a child who is still young enough to be at the park for free (i.e. under 36 months)? I was serious when I said I do care for the other diners' experiences, too.

AJ

 

[jenpace]

Save it for another time. It's not fair to the other guests who did find child care.

^^^This, absolutely!!

I love children and I love being a mom, I have 5 (including twins) of my own but I don't want to be around other people's children when I've made arrangements to have a kid-free dinner. I am notorious for asking to switch tables when a family with young kids/babies sits within earshot of my husband and me when we're out for a special dinner alone.

Napa Rose is a perfect example of the type of restaurant people dine at for a very special occasion. I'm willing to bet that many of their patrons have arranged for childcare so they can enjoy a grow-up dining experience.

 

[jenpace]

Sydnie, could you please list some places that are family appropriate if you have a child who is still young enough to be at the park for free (i.e. under 36 months)? I was serious when I said I do care for the other diners' experiences, too.AJ

IMO, any of the other DLR restaurants would be perfectly appropriate to bring young children to. It's just Napa Rose that I would consider to be in the grown-ups only catergory.

 

[Sydnie]

Sydnie, could you please list some places that are family appropriate if you have a child who is still young enough to be at the park for free (i.e. under 36 months)? I was serious when I said I do care for the other diners' experiences, too.

AJ

Sure! My favorite place to bring the little ones is The Rainforest Cafe in DTD. There is so much to look at and the food is actually pretty decent. My boys loved the elephants, it's sort of like The Jungle Cruise in restaurant form Any of the restaurants in DTD are good for families though, another favorite was Via Napolino Pizza.

In the parks The Plaza Inn is fabulous for breakfast/brunch as it's a buffet and kids under 3 are free with paying parents. Plus it's a character meal so your kids will get tons of one on one time with the characters. Other than that we mostly do CS restaurants in the parks to maximize our time, and obviously anything CS will be fine for children. I haven't taken the kids to the Blue Bayou restaurant but I think it would be fine for little ones. It's in the middle of Pirates of the Caribbean so it's fun to watch the boats go by. I personally thought it was a bit overpriced for the quality of food so I haven't gone back there since I've had kids, but the ambience is nice.

Really anywhere in Disney other than NR would be fine with the little ones.

 

[kikiq]

We recently had our anniversary dinner at Napa Rose at the Chef's Counter (which was INCREDIBLE). Had the late seating and the group behind us had 3 small children that we NEVER heard a peep from from 8:20 to the time we left at 10:45. In fact, didn't even know they were there until I turned around to look at a wine our server was showing us. We had a birthday dinner at the late seating and had a family come in right from the park around 9 pm. It was in a word...HORRIBLE. It was bad for the kids and all of us around them, but the parents didn't seem to mind The servers did everything they could to make the children comfortable and ended up serving them french fries and ice cream! The little girl was older, kept telling her parents she wanted to go to sleep, tried to keep her brother entertained and the little boy actually fell asleep in his ice cream bowl.

Only you know your children. Would they be able to sit through a 2 hour dinner? There are only 2 seatings, 5:30 and 8:30.

 

[the donut]

We recently had our anniversary dinner at Napa Rose at the Chef's Counter (which was INCREDIBLE). Had the late seating and the group behind us had 3 small children that we NEVER heard a peep from from 8:20 to the time we left at 10:45. In fact, didn't even know they were there until I turned around to look at a wine our server was showing us.

We've brought our kids multiple times (now 2 and 5) to Napa Rose, and we've had neighboring tables be similarly suprised to find that they had been dining at a table next to little kids for an entire meal without realizing it. Our kids are very practiced at eating out, and we insist on the same behavior standard whether we're at In N Out or Napa Rose. Also, we order the kids meals as soon as we sit down at Napa Rose, since service is indeed very slow. It also helps that our kids love that bread basket and are super slow and adventurous eaters.

I agree with the PP that only you know your kids. We are confident in ours, but even they can have a bad day especially after a tiring day at the DL. Since we're usually at the GCH, we're always ready to pack it up to go and skedaddle if they're showing signs of unacceptable behaviour. However, once we did get a sitter to stay with the kids while we were at Napa Rose, and it was a much more relaxing and leisurely meal.

Both our kids love Napa Rose, but their favorite DL restaurant is probably Uva.

ETA: I'll PM you regarding the babysitting service.

 

[sonnyjane]

Only you know your children. Would they be able to sit through a 2 hour dinner? There are only 2 seatings, 5:30 and 8:30.

The OP didn't say they were having Chef's Counter, just that they were going to Napa Rose for dinner, so it wouldn't necessarily be a 2 hour meal.

 

[tinkermomma]

I'm one of those people that would, but then, my child is an angel

 

[FlameGirl]

I agree with everyone that has suggested not bringing them. Even if they aren't fussy, little ones tend to be loud and can really detract from a nice dinner for other diners. People are paying a lot to dine at Napa Rose, and what a loving parent may consider acceptable volume from their kids may be really disruptive to the surrounding tables.

I think it's really nice that you asked others' opinions, OP.