Napa Rose Chef’s Counter - Here’s How to Book It

[AndrewC]

We've never done this before and are considering giving it a try. Is the current price $200 pp for the meal without the wine pairing? I assume tax and tip are added on top. Is there a Magic Key discount?

Oh LKing! I didn’t notice who asked this question until just now. I suspect, and please don’t take offense, that you’ll be fairly critical of this. Based on the posts and reviews I’ve seen from you here, and I think you’ve experienced general Napa Rose out in the restaurant… this is not significantly better in the food. It is very much a novelty and “Disney.” Again, I personally put a huge weight on the experience of watching into the kitchen. I have always been someone that loved cooking shows like Hell’s Kitchen (at least back when it first started, not sure if it became really formulaic in its later seasons) and Iron Chef. Obviously Napa Rose isn’t anywhere near a pissed off Gordon Ramsay that’s hamming it up for TV, but you will occasionally see the acting head chef of the night pull one of the cooks up to the pass and point at the plate and explain what’s missing or if it’s under cooked or over cooked and send it back. Or they’ll step back to a station and take over cooking something to show/explain what should be happening. It’s not dramatic, but I soak ever bit of it up. On one of the two nights I went in October clearly something had gone wrong one night, either a fridge wasn’t kept at temp (we vaguely heard a discussion about maintenance had been called but hadn’t shown up yet) or they had just run out of something. The head chef (his name escapes me right now) pulled a cook over (she actually looked kinda nervous, so must have been a somewhat new prep cook) and directly in front of us started explaining and showing her how to quickly make what looked like an appetizer and then told her to make like 20 of them. I mean the distance was like if you were sitting on one side of a home kitchen island and someone was standing on the other side doing prep work. It was cool to watch him refine how she was doing it and then go back to sending dishes out like two minutes later and leave her to preparing this new dish in front of myself and my friend (arguably the worse people to do something for the first time in front of since our eyes were glued on her watching with great interest, lol).

Now that stuff doesn’t happen every night, but I live for it. It shows that it’s a real kitchen, that they adjust and change with the night. That even how pre-planned and “boring” the night is, the people working there are pretty skilled and good at what they do. If you’re somewhat local and can pick and choose when you can go, you probably would get more of a kick out of it if you can get a night where they’ll seat you at the appetizer station or main course station (left side or center). You have the best view then and can see more of the entire kitchen. They should be able to tell you when you make the reservation if they’ll be able to seat you there or not. Dessert is far right and kinda unique in its own way, and you can still see into the kitchen, just you are further away and kinda off to the side. I noticed on my last trip that the dessert cook really made a great effort to explain each of the 6 or 7 different desserts that they had that night as he made them throughout the night and sent them out. He said it was so we could see them all and hear about them first and then decide what we liked best for ours at the end of our meal, but I suspect they’ve also been told to engage with the customers over there more. The next night we were seated at the main course (center) location and it was a different cook on dessert station and they were just as involved in showing each dessert and explaining them. Personally I think it’s still enjoyable there and it’s unique in its own way, but for someone that already sort of knows what to expect food wise and might already feel the food isn’t *amazing,* the main or appetizer might do more to justify the cost and experience.

I would still encourage you to do it if it’s reasonably affordable for you, but set your expectations. I’m sure for the same price you’ll find better food in LA, possibly even within a few miles of Disney, but the experience is hard to match.

(I’ll also note that I often dine solo or if I’m lucky I can make plans work to where I can get a friend to join me. I have seen other kitchen’s that have a chef’s table with a view into the kitchen and custom menus, possibly significantly better food, but normally they have a minimum party requirement of 6, 8, or even 12. So I greatly appreciate Disney will accommodate lil old solo me so I can have this experience)

Hopefully that sets expectations a little and explains where my love of this comes from. The only time I’ve been truly wowed by the food was when Chef Andrew Sutton has cooked for me, and I think he genuinely made a few unique items that are not rotations from their standard menu or “frequent inclusion” to the chefs counter… he’s a busy guy and out of six or seven times I’ve been there over 3 or 4 trips… he’s been there two nights and cooked for me once. The one trip he was there the two nights he recognized me the second visit I made to the counter and said he would let someone else cook so I would have a new experience; worst mistake I’ve ever made, I should’ve insisted he cook again for me even if there was some repetition. The food wasn’t worlds better, but it did feel and taste a little more unique from him.

Edit: and I keep forgetting, no discount sadly.

 

[LKing]

Oh LKing! I didn’t notice who asked this question until just now. I suspect, and please don’t take offense, that you’ll be fairly critical of this. Based on the posts and reviews I’ve seen from you here, and I think you’ve experienced general Napa Rose out in the restaurant… this is not significantly better in the food. It is very much a novelty and “Disney.” Again, I personally put a huge weight on the experience of watching into the kitchen. I have always been someone that loved cooking shows like Hell’s Kitchen (at least back when it first started, not sure if it became really formulaic in its later seasons) and Iron Chef. Obviously Napa Rose isn’t anywhere near a pissed off Gordon Ramsay that’s hamming it up for TV, but you will occasionally see the acting head chef of the night pull one of the cooks up to the pass and point at the plate and explain what’s missing or if it’s under cooked or over cooked and send it back. Or they’ll step back to a station and take over cooking something to show/explain what should be happening. It’s not dramatic, but I soak ever bit of it up. On one of the two nights I went in October clearly something had gone wrong one night, either a fridge wasn’t kept at temp (we vaguely heard a discussion about maintenance had been called but hadn’t shown up yet) or they had just run out of something. The head chef (his name escapes me right now) pulled a cook over (she actually looked kinda nervous, so must have been a somewhat new prep cook) and directly in front of us started explaining and showing her how to quickly make what looked like an appetizer and then told her to make like 20 of them. I mean the distance was like if you were sitting on one side of a home kitchen island and someone was standing on the other side doing prep work. It was cool to watch him refine how she was doing it and then go back to sending dishes out like two minutes later and leave her to preparing this new dish in front of myself and my friend (arguably the worse people to do something for the first time in front of since our eyes were glued on her watching with great interest, lol).

Now that stuff doesn’t happen every night, but I live for it. It shows that it’s a real kitchen, that they adjust and change with the night. That even how pre-planned and “boring” the night is, the people working there are pretty skilled and good at what they do. If you’re somewhat local and can pick and choose when you can go, you probably would get more of a kick out of it if you can get a night where they’ll seat you at the appetizer station or main course station (left side or center). You have the best view then and can see more of the entire kitchen. They should be able to tell you when you make the reservation if they’ll be able to seat you there or not. Dessert is far right and kinda unique in its own way, and you can still see into the kitchen, just you are further away and kinda off to the side. I noticed on my last trip that the dessert cook really made a great effort to explain each of the 6 or 7 different desserts that they had that night as he made them throughout the night and sent them out. He said it was so we could see them all and hear about them first and then decide what we liked best for ours at the end of our meal, but I suspect they’ve also been told to engage with the customers over there more. The next night we were seated at the main course (center) location and it was a different cook on dessert station and they were just as involved in showing each dessert and explaining them. Personally I think it’s still enjoyable there and it’s unique in its own way, but for someone that already sort of knows what to expect food wise and might already feel the food isn’t *amazing,* the main or appetizer might do more to justify the cost and experience.

I would still encourage you to do it if it’s reasonably affordable for you, but set your expectations. I’m sure for the same price you’ll find better food in LA, possibly even within a few miles of Disney, but the experience is hard to match.

(I’ll also note that I often dine solo or if I’m lucky I can make plans work to where I can get a friend to join me. I have seen other kitchen’s that have a chef’s table with a view into the kitchen and custom menus, possibly significantly better food, but normally they have a minimum party requirement of 6, 8, or even 12. So I greatly appreciate Disney will accommodate lil old solo me so I can have this experience)

Hopefully that sets expectations a little and explains where my love of this comes from. The only time I’ve been truly wowed by the food was when Chef Andrew Sutton has cooked for me, and I think he genuinely made a few unique items that are not rotations from their standard menu or “frequent inclusion” to the chefs counter… he’s a busy guy and out of six or seven times I’ve been there over 3 or 4 trips… he’s been there two nights and cooked for me once. The one trip he was there the two nights he recognized me the second visit I made to the counter and said he would let someone else cook so I would have a new experience; worst mistake I’ve ever made, I should’ve insisted he cook again for me even if there was some repetition. The food wasn’t worlds better, but it did feel and taste a little more unique from him.

Edit: and I keep forgetting, no discount sadly.

Thank you for taking the time to share all of that. It is something that my spouse has been wanting to do for years. I put Nov 30 on my calendar to call to see if a date close to a Feb birthday might be available. As Nov 30 gets closer, I'm getting a little more hesitant about biting the bullet.

We've eaten at NR several times. We used to always get the Vinter's Table x 2. Since we share meals, one time we tried on Vinter's Table and an a la carte starter and entree. That's the time that everything got mixed up. I think the pacing of Vinter's Table doesn't match with the pacing of a regular meal. Even though we explained to our waiter that we planned on sharing the food, it was difficult to get the starters to arrive at the same time and the entrees to arrive at the same time. It didn't help that our waiter was personal friends with the table adjacent to us so was preoccupied talking about a recent date and wasn't checking on their tables.

One concern is that my spouse and I don't drink alcohol. There are restaurants where we can feel the waiter's disappointment when we don't order from the drink menu. Napa Rose has consistently been one of those restaurants. For what it is worth, Carthay Circle is not. With something like Chef's Counter where they are really engaging with you, would they focus on the guests who do the wine pairing and kind of leave us as second class citizens?

 

[foolish_mortals]

With something like Chef's Counter where they are really engaging with you, would they focus on the guests who do the wine pairing and kind of leave us as second class citizens?

For what it's worth, we did the wine pairing and were seated at the appetizer stations and they didn't really engage much and not at all once another couple was sat next to us.

We've gotten more engagement seated in the regular dining room and was lucky enough to meet Chef Andrew Sutton who chatted with us and sent another appetizer our way after.

So YMMV regardless of wine pairing or not.

 

[AndrewC]

Thank you for taking the time to share all of that. It is something that my spouse has been wanting to do for years. I put Nov 30 on my calendar to call to see if a date close to a Feb birthday might be available. As Nov 30 gets closer, I'm getting a little more hesitant about biting the bullet.

We've eaten at NR several times. We used to always get the Vinter's Table x 2. Since we share meals, one time we tried on Vinter's Table and an a la carte starter and entree. That's the time that everything got mixed up. I think the pacing of Vinter's Table doesn't match with the pacing of a regular meal. Even though we explained to our waiter that we planned on sharing the food, it was difficult to get the starters to arrive at the same time and the entrees to arrive at the same time. It didn't help that our waiter was personal friends with the table adjacent to us so was preoccupied talking about a recent date and wasn't checking on their tables.

One concern is that my spouse and I don't drink alcohol. There are restaurants where we can feel the waiter's disappointment when we don't order from the drink menu. Napa Rose has consistently been one of those restaurants. For what it is worth, Carthay Circle is not. With something like Chef's Counter where they are really engaging with you, would they focus on the guests who do the wine pairing and kind of leave us as second class citizens?

Yes and no. I don't think they'll treat you like second class citizens, but they may tell "less of a story." I normally don't get the wine (it's just way too much to drink, I wish they would do three half glasses but really high quality stuff but instead I think it's like 4 or maybe even 5) and I don't feel neglected or anything. To be honest, it's sort of passive to begin with. You can talk to your server about the same amount as you would out in the general dining area, and the chef will come over and explain every (or most, and if they're really busy when your plate is ready then the server will explain it) course. You can ask some questions, but it's clear they're working and busy. If you sit at the appetizer station and someone uses that area to break down and clean up for the night or do some prep for the next day towards the end of the night, there's more opportunity to chat, but other than maybe right when they open for the first 15 to 20 minutes and the last 30 to 60 minutes of the night, it's more of asking a few short questions and having the cooks or chef spend maybe a minute answering.

The no is from in my experience, one of the servers that works the chef's counter is either a trained sommelier, or is the sommelier for the restaurant. She is a story teller. She likes to come over and tell a story with each wine and chat and ham it up. I personally don't like her (I mean she does a fine job) because she just feels fake for lack of a better word. I don't know exactly what it is, but the stories all feel canned and feels like it's all adding up for a good tip at the end of the night. I truly don't know what makes me feel this way, and I feel like an *** for saying it if she really is just trying to do a great job and add more to the night, but there is *something* that makes the delivery or whole feeling just feel fake. So... if you're someone that loves that kind of attention, you'll certainly get it more if she's working and you order wine. Otherwise the servers sort of are hands off, but I'm sure you could start to chat with them, but I wouldn't expect more than when sitting out in the dining room.

I've never had plates show up at different times for my friend and I, and usually we always have different things (I'm vegetarian, she eats meat). Though a couple plates are basically standards that pretty much everyone at the counter will get unless there is an allergy. The kolache (if that's the right word) that is served right before the chilled dish which it's self is right before dessert is pretty much a give in and I think I've had it a couple times over the course of a few years. It's great, but it shows that not everything is "custom" made just for you. What I would ask, if you want to sample each others stuff, is make sure to ask at the start of the night to, within reason, have them make you different dishes for as many courses as they can. They should be able to accommodate that for at least half the courses, and of course dessert you can each get something different.

I still would encourage you to do it with your spouse, especially if you think they'll enjoy it more than your more, let's call it critical eye, lol. BUT, I want you to have the right expectations. I think a lot of people think the Chef's Counter is like a secret restaurant within Napa Rose. No, it's commercial and it's Disney. If they can mix in a few Napa Rose regular menu items they will. Obviously they have to prep, so even though the "menu is made based on the chef's selection that night and your personal preferences," sure... within the budget reasons of Napa Rose and practical work flow of a real busy working restaurant. If you've never been to Napa Rose I suspect you would think you were treated like kings and it was all unique and special. If you've been there, or done it multiple times like I have, you start to see through the Disney magic a little and understand it's a business. I still enjoy it, and they certainly have always done a good job with allergy issues up there or my vegetarian requests, and I do think I've got some non-standard stuff. This last time they were able to make almost every dish different for my two nights so I didn't repeat stuff, but I asked more than a couple times, the chef looked kinda annoyed (though he also sort of just had that attitude), and STILL like the kolache and desserts were the same. (Though I was so stuffed that night I asked just for some house made ice cream or sorbet for dessert and that was such a wonder end to the night, super flavorful and ice cold and didn't make me feel sick.)

If you do it, I'm very much looking forward to your honest write up and any photos you get. It might be a one and done for you, but again, if it doesn't break the bank, I think it's something that should be checked off the list.

 

[LKing]

Looks like they are expanding the space available for Chef's Counter.

https://disneyparksblog.com/dlr/exciting-new-additions-hotels-of-disneyland-resort/

Napa Rose to Bloom with New Interior, Beautiful Patio​

The award-winning Napa Rose is taking its dining experience to the next level with an exquisite new look that celebrates Craftsman design with an eye toward modern Californian luxury and approachability. The restaurant will have a rustic elegance and will be a tapestry of California’s storied history of wine and wine making, using natural textures such as reclaimed French oak flooring and columns (a type of wood used to make wine barrels), hand-pinged artisan metals, leathers, deep colors of cabernet, and an eye-catching chandelier inspired by California’s Mission grapevines.

Along with its existing dynamic exhibition kitchen, the restaurant will expand the counters where guests can watch the masters in action. Outside, the gorgeous patio is being enhanced with more seating for lovely al fresco dining, with two new fireplaces adding to the charming ambiance.

Napa Rose will temporarily close this spring and is slated to reopen in fall 2025. The restaurant, known for its refined California cuisine made with superb ingredients, will introduce a new menu and will still feature fan-favorites such as the Smiling Tiger Salad, along with an impeccable wine collection of more than 1,500 labels.

To make way for these enhancements, there will be temporary updates to dining offerings at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. Please check Disneyland.com for more details.