Best Disney California Adventure Restaurants RANKED! We Have Tried All. (2024)

Disney California Adventure has become the foodie's park at Disneyland. We are diving into the best restaurants at Disney California Adventure to share the breakout locations that you should add to your day at the theme park.

In this guide, we will offer our ranking of the top Disney California Adventure restaurants divided into quick service and table service, our favorites from each location, and our thoughts on what makes them stand out. Disney California Adventure is home to some of the best restaurants at the Disneyland Resort like Lamplight Lounge and the Carthay Circle Restaurant as well as the recently completed Big Hero 6-themed San Fransokyo Square dining area with several quick-service options.

We eat at all of the Disney California Adventure restaurants frequently so that we can provide you with the best guidance for your vacation. Keep reading for our list of the best Disney California Restaurants ranked! We have tried every restaurant at Disney California Adventure.

For restaurants beyond Disney California Adventure, see our overall ranking of the best Disneyland restaurants, our ranking of the best Downtown Disney restaurants, and the best foods at Disneyland.

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Best Disney California Adventure Restaurants Ranked

For this list of the best Disney California Adventure restaurants, we will be weighing a few different factors, including quality of food and standout menu items as well as ambiance, theming, and the overall experience provided. We will also be including special dining experiences on this list that are not offered in a traditional restaurant setting like the World of Color Dessert Party and the Festival Marketplaces for special events.

Below, we will share our top 3 table service recommendations and our top 7 quick service recommendations for the best Disney California Adventure restaurants.

Best Disney California Adventure Table Service Restaurants Ranked

Disney California Adventure is home to two of the best table-service restaurants at the Disneyland Resort with spectacular theming and food. Because of their popularity, reservations at these locations go extremely quickly, so you need to be ready to make them 60 days in advance when the reservation window opens up.

For our best tips on how to get Disneyland dining reservations, see our article on our top 5 tips for Disneyland dining reservations.

1. Lamplight Lounge

Lamplight Lounge is a table-service restaurant located in Pixar Pier that is themed to all things Pixar. Around the restaurant, you'll find a variety of Pixar drawings, artwork, and artifacts celebrating beloved characters and stories. The theming for this location is truly impressive and what makes it one of our top picks, as there are new details to discover around every turn!

There is both an upstairs and downstairs dining area at the restaurant, and one of our favorite aspects of Lamplight Lounge is the waterfront open-air deck that provides stunning views over Paradise Bay. A favorite spot of ours is the padded couch-style seating areas with tables in the middle that provide a comfortable place to enjoy your food and soak in the view. Mickey Visit's founder Gavin recently enjoyed this seating area during a trip to Disneyland with his 85-year old grandmother. The ambiance of this outdoor deck is truly beyond compare and a big reason it's one of our favorite dining locations at the resort!

Lamplight Lounge has a brunch and lunch/dinner menu offering gastropub cuisine. You've likely heard of their famous Lobster Nachos, and this is a favorite appetizer among guests. We also enjoy the Potato Skins here, and for Brunch, the Avocado Toast (which can also come as the New York Avacado Toast with New York Steak) or the Indulgent French Toast.

One of the most fun parts of Lamplight Lounge is the assortment of specialty drinks offered here that all have names inspired by filmmaking. You can enjoy drinks like “The Sequel,” “Over Budget,” “A Little Perspective,” and more. All of these drinks are also beautifully made so they are a visual treat as well! One of the specialty beverages is the Cinnamon Toast co*cktail which is perfect to enjoy with brunch.

Lamplight Lounge is also home to one of the coolest secret spots at Disneyland: a secret dining room known as “The Office!” This secret dining room is located behind a vault door and seats up to 13 people. There are black and white sketches of Pixar animators on the walls as well as games that you can take down and play, and you can even enjoy a private patio with views of the Incredicoaster launch! While you can't reserve this room, you can ask if it's available when you check in with a larger party and see if you get lucky, and the room is sometimes offered as a surprise for guests.

You can see our full review of Lamplight Lounge for everything you need to know!

2. Carthay Circle Restaurant

Carthay Circle Restaurant on Buena Vista Street is an upscale table-service restaurant that is the most elegant dining destination you will find at Disney California Adventure. The restaurant is inspired by the original Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, where Walt Disney's first feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered. The design and decor of the Carthay Circle Restaurant beautifully capture the grandeur of the Golden Age of Hollywood and contain rare artifacts and references to the early Disney era.

The beautiful design of the restaurant is sure to take your breath away—see the pastoral scene from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs painted on the ceiling of the main dining room with chandeliers below.

In addition to the indoor seating offered at Carthay Circle restaurant, there is also outdoor seating on the open-air terraces overlooking Buena Vista Street.

Carthay Circle Restaurant offers a menu courtesy of Chef Andrew Sutton, who is the Culinary Director of the award-winning Napa Rose. The Signature Thick Cut Pork Chop is the star of the show and our favorite item—it's moist and immaculately seasoned, and it falls right off the bone. Lighter eaters could even share this dish between two people and have plenty to enjoy!

If you are looking for a lighter meal, we recommend trying the Carthay Circle Lounge, which is a perfect place to enjoy a drink and some appetizers like our favorite Moroccan Roasted Chicken Meatballs.

You can see our full Carthay Circle Restaurant review for our experience dining here!

3.World of Color Dessert Party

While this is not technically a table-service restaurant, the World of Color Dessert Party in Paradise Gardens Park is still a sit-down experience that will allow you to enjoy premium reserved seating at the show as well as a plate of sweets and drinks. This is a popular option with visitors as it is the only one that offers seated viewing for the show.

The dessert plate includes a selection of desserts and cheeses (see the picture below for the cute treats!) as well as an assortment of beverages and a World of Color co*cktail. During Christmas at Disneyland, the dessert plate features holiday-themed treats like a Mickey gingerbread cookie.

We think the World of Color Dessert Party is worth the splurge if you are planning on seeing the show. See our thoughts on the experience here in our full review of the World of Color Dessert Party!

Best Disney California Adventure Quick Service Restaurants Ranked

Disney California Adventure has a great variety of quick-service restaurants across the parks for guests who are looking for a delicious grab-and-go meal. San Fransokyo Square, the dining area that was recently rethemed to Big Hero 6, has a few of our favorites that we will list below.

Most of the below locations (except for the Festival Marketplaces) offer mobile ordering, which allows guests to use the Disneyland app to order ahead and select a return window to pick up food. Because these are all popular choices for visitors during their visit to Disney California Adventure, we recommend putting in your mobile order as early in the day as possible so that you don't end up with a return window that is later than you'd like.

1. Flo's V8 Cafe

Flo's V8 Cafe is located in Cars Land, one of the best themed lands at the parks. Flo's V8 Cafe is straight out of Radiator Springs from the Cars movie and is a Route 66-inspired diner that serves classic American comfort food. The outdoor dining area modeled like a gas station is a fun place to sit when Cars Land is all lit up with neon lights at night, and you can even get a view of the Radiator Springs Racers cars whizzing by if you face the attraction.

Flo's V8 Cafe has some standout items that we love including Ramone's Low and Slow Club, Flo's Famous Fried Chicken, and the milkshake offerings. This quick-service location offers something that everyone in your party will enjoy, and you can't top the theming.

Flo's V8 Cafe is the perfect place to soak up the ambiance of Cars Land and enjoy a great meal! We consider this to be one of the best quick-service restaurants overall at Disneyland.

2. Pym Test Kitchen

Another one of our favorite quick-service locations in Disney California Adventure is Pym Test Kitchen, located in Avengers Campus. This fun location offers “size-defying fare” as Ant-Man and the Wasp have led a team of research chefs in creating a menu with innovations large and small. The theming and concept of this quick-service location make it a fun choice, and inside the restaurant, you can watch as pretzels travel on a conveyor belt through a quantum tunnel on the ceiling turning from regular-sized to big.

Our favorite items truly capture the fun theme of Pym Test Kitchen producing “inventive-sized” food that is extra big or small, like the ginormous Quantum Pretzel (pictured below) and The Not So Little Chicken Sandwich (a huge chicken cutlet on a small piece of bread). Look how fun the chicken sandwich is!

The fun presentation of these items, along with the quality of the food, make this a great choice if you are looking for a quick and easy meal in Avengers Campus! Pym Test Kitchen serves a breakfast menu as well as a lunch and dinner menu. If you're planning on visiting this area of the park during your next visit, see our guide to Avengers Campus for everything you need to know!

3. Smokejumpers Grill

Next on our list of favorites is Smokejumpers Grill located in Grizzly Peak, a popular aviation-themed quick-service location that offers a menu of American classics and recently added breakfast items.Smokejumpers Grill offers “Pilot Classics” like burgers, chicken, salads, and plant-based options, and it's one of our favorite places to mobile order a meal at the park.

We especially like the Grilled Chicken Salad and the Chipotle BBQ Bacon Double Cheeseburger here as well as the milkshakes offered. One of the recent seasonal milkshake offerings, the Raspberry Cheesecake Shake, has received rave reviews from visitors and is one of the best new seasonal menu items we've tried recently. See the shake below!

The convenient location of Smokejumpers Grill right off Buena Vista Street, combined with its filling and delicious offerings, makes it one of our top quick-service picks at Disney California Adventure.

4. Festival Marketplaces

While the Festival Marketplaces don't fall under a single quick-service restaurant, they are a crucial part of Disney California Adventure during special events that occur at the park throughout the year like Lunar New Year, the , the Festival of Holidays, and even Pixar Fest.

These Festival Marketplaces are located around the park and offer portion-sized tastings of various foods related to the special event. For many visitors, getting a Sip and Savor pass to try different marketplace offerings throughout the day is their go-to choice for meals at Disney California Adventure during festivals.

The Festival Marketplaces often feature returning favorites, from the Beef Brisket Slider at Winter Sliderland during the Festival of Holidays to the Mickey-shaped Macaron made with SNICKERS bar pieces from Nuts About Cheese at the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival. Each year, there will also be a wide variety of inventive new menu items to try from the marketplaces as well.

While some foods at the Festival Marketplaces are better than others (see our recent reviews of the Lunar New Year foods, Disney California Adventure Food and Wine foods, and Festival of Holidays foods), we always find that this is a really solid and rewarding option for food if we are visiting during a special event. There is so much to try, and the format of the Sip and Savor pass makes it convenient for you to split portions with other members of your party so you can explore as many different offerings as possible. I've found that some of the best foods I've ever had at the park have been from Festival Marketplaces.

See our most important tip for ordering from Festival Marketplaces to keep in mind during the festivals!

5. Lucky Fortune Cookery

Lucky Fortune Cookery, located in the recently reimagined San Fransokyo Square, is a quick-service restaurant offering Asian cuisine. When we first tried the new menu offerings here for the opening of San Fransokyo Square, we really enjoyed the Karaage-inspired Crispy Chicken Sandwich and the Baymax Macaron and these have been some of our favorites since. Another favorite of ours is the Teriyaki Chicken, which is a long-time menu item at Lucky Fortune Cookery. See the Beef Birria Ramen from the location below!

San Fransokyo Square provides plenty of outdoor seating that is not too far away from the character meet-and-greet where you can see Hiro and Baymax from Big Hero 6. The area is filled with fun details throughout as you can see in our photo tour of San Fransokyo Square.

You can see our full San Fransokyo Square food review for our thoughts on everything we've tried!

6. Corn Dog Castle

No list of the best Disney California Adventure restaurants would be complete without Corn Dog Castle, the quick-service location in Paradise Gardens Park where you can enjoy this Disneyland food staple.

This fun medieval-themed stand offers Original, Hot Link, and Cheddar Stick corndogs. Corn Dog Castle is an option that never disappoints, and it's one that we have enjoyed consistently over the course of several Disney California Adventure trips for a snack or a meal!

7. Cocina Cucamonga

Also located in San Fransokyo Square, Cocina Cucamonga is one of the best Disney California Adventure restaurants that offers Mexican food like street-style tacos as well as a selection of specialty drinks. Our favorites at this quick-service location include the QuesaBirria, which is extremely popular with visitors, and the Tacos Dorados de Papa.

A new item that was introduced during the opening of San Fransokyo Square that we also really enjoy is the San Fransokyo-style Street Corn (pictured below with the QuesaBirria), which can be enjoyed with a meal or by itself as a delicious snack.

Cocina Cucamonga also often offers some seasonal items as part of the festivals that take place in the park throughout the year, like the Strawberry Horchata, which is a recent offering for the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival. We recommend trying some of these seasonal items as they become available!

There are so many great options for dining in Disney California Adventure, with each restaurant on our list of favorites offering a unique experience and delicious food. Whether you decide to dine at a table-service restaurant or enjoy one of the park's quick-service restaurants, be sure to give these locations a try during your next vacation!

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