So much food! How to choose?

[merfsko]

Imagine it's your first trip to Disneyland and you are only going to be making one PS; only having one "sit-down" dinner. With all the wonderful choices, what do you choose?

Hopefully you guys can help us decide!

Quick background information: Family of four, the teens being 16 and 18.
Two members of our party can NOT handle spicy food. At all. Also, none of us enjoy seafood.

I'm thinking a character dinner but be nice (we're all kids on the inside, right?) but I'm open to anything, as long as the food is yummy

Anyhow, I want to hear about your favourites food, experience, or ones you would suggest skipping.

Thanks!

-merfsko

 

[lisadoll93]

If it was my first visit, I would say Blue Bayou. It feels like a whole another world.

 

[Sherry E]

Based on what you said about not liking seafood and no spicy stuff (those are criteria for me as well!), I would not recommend Blue Bayou just yet. It is a nice place, but not enough choices on the menu to appease picky eaters and too expensive for the lack of choices. The only character dinner options are Ariel's Grotto (all Princesses) and Goofy's Kitchen (Goofy, Pluto, Baloo, Chip, Dale, and usually a couple of princesses and maybe Alice and the Mad Hatter). All the other character meals don't do dinner. And even though Goofy's is my favorite and I would pick that for my one and only PS, I am suggesting it to you not because it is my favorite but because it has a large buffet with good food and tons of options from which to choose and everyone will be satisfied.

Also, I think the Celebration BBQ does dinner too, and that features Woody and a couple of other Toy Story characters, but it is a limited menu so be aware of that.

 

[PinkBudgie]

I haven't been there yet, but we are going to try Steakhouse 55. We have heard good things about it, and we don't care for seafood either.

 

[teatime]

I say buffet style ( character ) your right, your not going to please everyone and there for a buffet style will do just that

 

[Boo Bear]

There aren't any Disney characters, but if you go to DTD I recommend the Rainforest Cafe. I went to the one in DTD at WDW and loved it. The atmosphere is amazing and there is a fake thunderstorm every 30 minutes, and every 15 min or so an electronic animal comes to life. They have great variety of foods on their menu and if you enjoy tasty adult beverages, I recommend the marGorilla! I hope you have a great trip!

 

[Sherry E]

There aren't any Disney characters, but if you go to DTD I recommend the Rainforest Cafe. I went to the one in DTD at WDW and loved it. The atmosphere is amazing and there is a fake thunderstorm every 30 minutes, and every 15 min or so an electronic animal comes to life. They have great variety of foods on their menu and if you enjoy tasty adult beverages, I recommend the marGorilla! I hope you have a great trip!

Rainforest actually is a really good suggestion. No, it is not a character meal, but there are enough items on the menu to please everyone, and the atmosphere is great for adults and teenagers. Plus, they serve that Volcano dessert thing.

Storytellers Cafe in the GCH is a nice restaurant in general, and the dinner there is non-character, but I don't know if they have enough things on the menu to appease everyone. It may be something to consider, however. Nice woodsy, earthy kind of atmosphere.

PCH Grill in the PPH is not somewhere I have eaten thus far, BUT they serve that ENORMOUS "Kitchen Sink" dessert which you may or may not have seen photos of on DIS, and if your group likes ice cream, this is the way to go!!!

 

[Boo Bear]

Yeah the volcano dessert comes with a lit sparkler on top of it! You can also purchase cups with flashing lights for the kids and some of the alcoholic beverages are served in nifty glasses too.

 

[LuLusApple]

I would say Ariels because you can order off the menu or do the buffet and get Disney Characters
Seems like more food choices.
I agree with others about not doing BB if you don't care for spicy food. The best stuff they have is kinda Cajun LOL

 

[LavenderPeach]

Yeah the volcano dessert comes with a lit sparkler on top of it! You can also purchase cups with flashing lights for the kids and some of the alcoholic beverages are served in nifty glasses too.

Actually, the RFC at DTD doesn't have a lit sparkler on the volcano. It's a stick with strands of silver mylar "shooting" off of it. It has sort of a sparkler effect without the fire. I think it must be some sort of disney policy or something that they can't have a lit sparkler there.

But, back to the original question.....
One of my new favorite sit-down places is Wine Country Trattoria. I really liked their lasagna. The other people in our party thought the salads were great and liked the meatballs too. DH was a little disappointed in his sandwich but everyone else really liked their food. My other new favorite sit-down place is Carnation Cafe. We went for breakfast so I don't know about lunch or dinner but the cinnamon roll french toast was SO good.

 

[bumbershoot]

Have you checked out the menus in the Disneyland section of allears.net or wdwinfo.com (which is the dis's info "side")?

What about storyteller's cafe for dinner?

We really enjoyed the food we had at dinnertime at PCH Grill, by the way.

 

[SilentFeline]

The best meal that my bf and I had where a PS was recommended was Carnation Cafe. We tried the loaded baked potato soup at the suggestion of many DISboarders, and it was absolutely delicious! I am not a big soup lover either, and I thought it was fantastic! Many other dishes that I saw looked divine as well. The line was pretty long but with a PS, we were actually seated about 15 mins early. I highly recommend this place.

 

[MoniqueU]

Our favorite id Goofys kitchen, We also like Carnation Cafe. Rainforset is fun too with yummy drinks. I love the atmophrre at BB but hate the menu. I also don't like the menu at Ariels. Loved the blue martini but I didn't want anything on the menu and they make you order so DH got two meals and didn't care for either one. I wish they would of just let me order enough drinks to be the eqiuvealent of an entree.

 

[Sherry E]

I think Carnation is a great place - don't get me wrong - there are several places that would be good to suggest for adults only or even teens only, or for smaller groups. IMHO, Carnation doesn't have a wide variety of choices. It is a nice place to eat with a very limited menu. A place like Goofy's has a huge buffet (bigger than any of the other character buffets) and it is a character meal with a mixture of furry and face characters. Rainforest Cafe has the great ambience which is appealing to all ages, I think, and a menu with LOTS of choices. So if you have anyone in your group who doesn't like a specific type of food, going to one of these places or like PCH Grill would be great because everyone would be able to find something to their liking. As I said in my earlier post, I am tempted to suggest Storytellers because it is a nice place and during certain busy times of year, they offer a (small) dinner buffet or ordering off the menu. I like it there, and I think you would enjoy it, but there are not tons of choices on the menu. It is good, though.

 

[hardingk]

Is the Carnation Cafe a counter service place or table service?

 

[Sherry E]

Is the Carnation Cafe a counter service place or table service?

Table service - and making a PS is highly recommended for whichever meal you choose to eat at Carnation, as the seating is limited (not many tables) and the line of folks waiting for tables gets very long at times. We waited about 45 minutes once just to be seated for dessert.

 

[hardingk]

Table service - and making a PS is highly recommended for whichever meal you choose to eat at Carnation, as the seating is limited (not many tables) and the line of folks waiting for tables gets very long at times. We waited about 45 minutes once just to be seated for dessert.

Thanks, good to know!

 

[kkmcan]

My number one top pick would be Goofy's Kitchen! you are getting a meal and an experience. Large selection at the buffet (we've only done breakfast), lots of character interaction and fun for everyone. We always spend an hour and a half to two hours there eating slowly, enjoying the characters and chit chatting, the kids do the dancing with the characters, adults hang out and drink coffee til the cows come home

We've done Blue Bayon twice and both times were very disappointing so we won't be going back. Very limited menu- unless you are a foodie, which I"m not, it will be very hard to find a basic entree. There's nothing my kids will eat there either. The cookie boat was cool and yummy but not worth the wait.

Carnation Cafe again has a limited menu and small portions (we tried to share and we ended feeling hungry and not at all satisfied.

My other top pick is Wine Country Trattoria. Sit outside if it's not too hot or cold and order a glass of wine. They bring out bread sticks which helped tremendously to tide us over until our meals came out. Dh and I shared the lasagna and a dessert and we were beyond full (well, considering the amount of breadsticks we ate too). The kids loved it when the HSM parade came by and everyone was happy and relaxed. We were more than ready to hit the rides again when we were done.

I agree that Rainforest Cafe is fun and has an extensive menu but we have one in Phoenix so I always feel I can go to one any old day.

Hope that helps you. ENjoy!

 

[fairykin]

For the money you spend at Blue Bayou.. I would recommend the Napa Rose. It is delicious, quality food. There is something for everyone.
The pumpkin fettucinni with the duck meatballs is sooo crave worthy it's what i'm getting when i go again.

They are great about splitting dishes and would really work with you if you had a specific taste in mind.

Napa Rose is where I'll be spending my eatting out money from now on.

We also like eatting at Plaza Inn, their fried chicken dinner is yummy and an adult and child can eat one dinner easily.

 

[Disneylvrforever]

My vote is for Storyteller's. It has a nice ambiance and menu. I love getting their buffet and their pasta & chicken dishes change frequently. And if you want a character meal, they also have a character breakfast that hosts Chip & Dale.