Quick Service Recommendations

Frozen2014

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Jan 12, 2014
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I've been looking at menus for Quick Service and just wanted to get recommendations for our family. My husband is a meat eater, but I don't eat meat myself (but do eat fish/seafood). My daughter is an OK eater but my son is super picky and typically likes pizza, mac and cheese, chicken fingers kind of food. He's 12 but will probably order off of the kids menu due to his limited tastes. My husband likes many different foods but my kids and I are more American style (even though we're Canadian...ha ha).

I've identified the following. Any others (or any of these are bad and should be avoided)?

DL
  • Jolly Holiday Bakery
  • Galactic Grill
  • Redd Rockett Pizza
  • Daisy's Diner
DCA
  • Pacific Whart Cafe
  • Smokejumpers Grill
Not sure if it's a big deal to hop over to Downtown Disney (and if anything there is worthwhile) or even outside of the park...especially for dinner time.
 
I'm not sure how many days you're in the park and what type of schedule you like to keep? (Are you staying close by? are you "leave the park and nap mid day" type people, or power through all day?) leaving to eat at DTD isn't something we would do, as we try to maximize our park time ;). If you do, we like Earl of Sandwich for pretty quick meals.
So, with that said, most menus at the qs restaurants will have something for everyone. Salads or pasta for those avoiding meat, and the kids meals are often the same and will suit your son well.
Have you been on this site? https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/disneyland/#/quick-service/ All the menus are available for you and you can take your time and see what you'd enjoy :)

If you have a bit f extra time, I love Cafe Orleans. Sitting on the patio and people watching is such a nice break mid afternoon :).
 
My boys are picky eaters...especially one of them. Sometimes when we want to eat at French Market, or Rancho del Zocalo he will get chicken nuggets or a corn dog at Stage Door Cafe and bring his food over so we can all eat together. It's never been a problem, and the rest of us get a little more variety! Just another option.
 
Cozy Cones in DCA - Yummmmmm
IMG_4909.jpg
 

Omg. My kids would love the mac and cheese cone. Noted.

To answer question above. We have 4 park days. We're staying across the street but we're not nappers. But we will probably want to put our feet up once in awhile.

We may also do a couple table service...maybe a character meal, maybe WOC dining package, and also noted Cafe Orleans or Carnation Cafe (think that was the name).
 
Lets see for meat lovers AND veggies I would say:

In Disneyland
  • Pizza Port, they have pizza with meat and cheese pizzas, as well as pastas and salads.
  • Jolly Holiday is good too, they have lots of sandwich options for vegetarians and meat lovers alike. My vegetarian sister always gets the Caprese sandwich and she says it's great.
  • Galactic Grill has your basic burger options, and a veggie burger, and the Jedi training academy is always fun to watch there. Every once and a while we'll snag some burgers and enjoy the show during lunch.

In DCA
  • Pacific Wharf is always solid, there are three restaurants there, Mexican, Chinese and a bread bowl place.
  • Flo's V8 Cafe in Carsland I love, they have a ton of options for meat eaters like Roast Beef Sandwich or Turkey French dip, also they have a Veggie Tater Bake that my vegetarian buddy always gets. I've had it too and it's awesome.
 
I think the most kid friendly options are in Frontierland. One of the restaurants there has a secret unlisted menu item the cheese sticks! I'm talking about Stage Door Cafe and the Golden Horseshoe.

Midnightred
 
We found Pizza Port and Daisy's Diner bad, bad, bad. For pizza I'd do Naples in DTD, or better yet, people say Pizza Press on Harbor is really good.
Jolly Holiday is good as is the French Market and Plaza Inn. Really, just look over the menus and see what sounds good. Kids meals are pretty similar at most of the QS places.....really lots of choices...
 
We really really liked Plaza Inn (nice to put our feet up indoors and eat a quality meal). It's somewhere between a table service and a quick service. I was just telling someone that I was really skeptical about the fried chicken, but wow is it really good. They also have a fish and a salad option.

Similarly, we really enjoyed Flo's. If you can catch a table indoors, it's a nice, cool break. DH really liked his roast beef sandwich, and I was shocked at how good the roast turkey sandwich was (hard to explain, but DH and I both agreed it "tastes like Thanksgiving!") Kids menu includes a mac n cheese option.
We also ate the mac n cheese cone as well as the chili cone. DS enjoyed the Mac n cheese (standard Disney Mac, I'm not a fan), and we thought the chili was quite good. BUT, we ate it at sundown when it was much cooler outside. Since it's so hot in carsland, with minimal shaded tables available at the cozy cone, I wouldn't eat there during a hot day.

We didn't care for Bengal BBQ. The chicken skewers were over-sauced yet dry. I had the special pork skewer, which was way too salty. The bacon wrapped asparagus was really good though.

We ate at Pizza Port. DS had a cheese pizza. I mean, for me it tasted bleh. For my son it was fine. The adults had the chicken fusilli. It was decent. Impressively, the pasta was al dente and not mushy. It wasnt amazing, but it was satisfactory. And again, it was a nice, cool place to eat on a hot day. Plus wasn't very crowded.
 
If your staying across the street may I suggest Pizza Press. You can build your own pizza with what you want on it and it is yummy!!
 
I looked at Plaza Inn. Is it mostly meat? I think I looked at Flos too and there weren't many non meat options (but decor looks cute). I'm not a baked potato fan.

Ok so scratch Pizza Port and Daisy Diner but include Pizza Press outside on Harbor.
 
I really like Pizza Port. Haven't had a bad experience. They have really good salads and love the chicken fusilli. My girls and I usually grab a Caesars salad and a chicken fusilli and bread sticks with extra alfredo sauce and share it between the 3 of us. More than enough food.

My daughter says the pizza isn't great, but it is good for park pizza. Your son could get pasta with any type of sauce (butter, parm, alfredo, or marinara) or the kids pizza or a full slice of pizza.
 
I would really check prices before eating a lot of meals in the parks. We usually stay at the FFI and eat breakfast prior to going, light snacks in the park, lunch at Panera/McDonalds, and drive our rental car for dinner at In-N-Out or wherever.
 
I would really check prices before eating a lot of meals in the parks. We usually stay at the FFI and eat breakfast prior to going, light snacks in the park, lunch at Panera/McDonalds, and drive our rental car for dinner at In-N-Out or wherever.
See, when I am at Disneyland, I do enjoy the food there. And I don't spend the time there going to get the exact same food as we can get at home. I enjoy Steakhouse, Carthay, French Market, STage Door, Pizza Port, Flo's, the Cozy Cones, and if we head offsite to eat, we try Buca, Morton's, or Cheesecake Kitchen or some other place we don't have here.
 
See, when I am at Disneyland, I do enjoy the food there. And I don't spend the time there going to get the exact same food as we can get at home. I enjoy Steakhouse, Carthay, French Market, STage Door, Pizza Port, Flo's, the Cozy Cones, and if we head offsite to eat, we try Buca, Morton's, or Cheesecake Kitchen or some other place we don't have here.
Right on, everybody has their own touring style. The price of the food in the parks is just too much for us. We're more about the rides - not big foodies. Not that we don't enjoy our Dole Whips and whatnot :)
 
Jolly holiday special! It's been a favorite for me and my daughter since it opened. Tomato soup and grilled cheese. They have other sandwiches, but we go for that.
Earl of Sandwich, holiday sandwich. It's Thanksgiving in a sandwich. Corn dogs, I don't even like corn dogs, but I love the Disney ones.
Bengal BBQ, love the beef, and the veggie is awesome.
I miss the green tomatoe sandwich at Hungry Bear Was so good!
Flo's French toast thing is great, like a bread pudding, that's breakfast though.
Clam chowder bowls, lobster roll (ok, only had that at WDW, but I assume it's the same) at Harbour Galley.
 
Whitewater Snacks in the Grand Californian Hotel (enter across from Grizzly Rapids into hotel and take a left at the end of the hall) has a decent variety of food. Their indi pizzas come with a salad. We like to sit out on the patio and peek through the fence into DCA while we eat!
 
I would really check prices before eating a lot of meals in the parks. We usually stay at the FFI and eat breakfast prior to going, light snacks in the park, lunch at Panera/McDonalds, and drive our rental car for dinner at In-N-Out or wherever.

Our hotel offers a (very basic) breakfast so it's just lunch and dinner. I'm sure you can do cheaper outside, but sometimes it's about convenience (unless we want a Disney break). I can't see us exiting and entering that often...especially if middle of day and hot outside (as we're coming end of August)...but maybe for say one of the dinners. But I can see us going to Downtown or one of the hotels as that's still in the Disney feel. That's just us though, and maybe I'll feel differently when we're there (or DH who is one who can't take too much Disney).

P.S. - Is Jolly Holiday there all year round?
 




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