Downstairs at Lamplight Lounge - inside or outside? And why?

[UnpokemonMom]

Hi, everyone - Thanks for the feedback! Sorry to hear about the bad experiences, but glad to hear about the good ones. Seems very similar to other online reports (i.e. ranges across the board). Will report back our own (hopefully good) experience!

 

[UnpokemonMom]

I'm pretty sure the sun set in the same location when it was Ariel's/the Cove

 

[Manapua]

This restaurant is horrible. We had a reservation and were seated promptly downstairs. It went downhill from there.

No one came for quite a while until a woman came by and started collecting our menus. My wife started to order a drink assuming she was a server, but the woman said she doesn’t take orders, she just collects menus. I didn’t know restaurants even had such a job. We had to ask if we could keep our menus at least until we’ve had a chance to order. Weird.

Eventually our sever came by. He was friendly and took our order. Much later he came by with a tray of drinks and grabbed one and asked “whose is this?” It’s kind of hard to tell what a drink is when it is held above you, especially when the drinks are kind of unique with crazy names. He then turned to the table next to us and asked the same question and they also gave him a blank stare. Eventually the drinks between our table and theirs got sorted out, but he clearly had no idea who ordered what.

More time passed and another woman came by and asked if we were going to order any food. I think she was politely implying that if we weren’t going to eat, we should finish up our drinks and leave instead of just sitting there, so they can use the table again. I explained we ordered a full meal including an appetizer and she left. Again, weird.

A server brought out a plate of lobster nachos to yet another table, but they hadn’t ordered it. We then told her we were still waiting for our order so she left them with us. A few minutes later a server placed down an order of potato skins that we didn’t order and then took them away confused. They also screwed up the entrees in a similar fashion, with food being brought incorrectly to random tables and our 4 y/o having to wait quite a bit longer for his food.

My burger was like $22, way over cooked, and frankly a rip off even by amusement park standards. I have no problem paying over $20 for a good burger (like the one at Carthay Circle), but this one was more of what you would expect from a CS place like Galactic Grill. Our older son’s burger was ridiculously small even by slider standards and much smaller than other kids meal burgers.

Then the check came. Just under $200 for a burger, spinach salad, 2 kids meals, and 3 nonalcoholic drinks?!?! When I glanced at the total, I told the waiter this could not be correct. He said sorry but it was correct. I then looked at it more closely figuring we were brought the wrong check just like they did with every other item. It was our bill but the prices were crazy including $87 for the salad. I finally got the waiter to agree the bill was wrong and it was corrected.

In summary, they were slow, confused the drink, appetizer, and entree orders (good thing we didn’t order desert), screwed up the bill, overpriced, with mediocre food (only the lobster nachos were good).

 

[smartlabelprint]

Done, for both Lamplight & Storytellers. I did mention that while the decor was new, I'm pretty sure the sun set in the same location when it was Ariel's/the Cove and putting us at a table that was in the shade for 20 min...then sun, was probably something they should have known, regardless of new paint & wallpaper.

That’s a good point. They need to hear that a quick overlay isn’t what people are looking for. They make shades that come down as a wall. It would just be an investment.

 

[Hootenany]

I'm not sure if any of you watch/listen to the DisUnplugged shows, but Pete Werner seemed to have also had some of the same issues with Lamplight Lounge. I did ask to speak to a manager about our experience and the "team lead" came to talk to me. She said that she would relay everything to the manager. I will follow up with an email to Disneyland. I hope they work things out soon- the restaurant is too amazing to be anything but Disney's best!

 

[cmarsh31]

I'm not sure if any of you watch/listen to the DisUnplugged shows, but Pete Werner seemed to have also had some of the same issues with Lamplight Lounge. I did ask to speak to a manager about our experience and the "team lead" came to talk to me. She said that she would relay everything to the manager. I will follow up with an email to Disneyland. I hope they work things out soon- the restaurant is too amazing to be anything but Disney's best!

I did but hoped a week or so later, it would be better! However, my DH disagreed with Pete on one aspect - the burger at Lamplight was much better than the Wagu burger at Storytellers!

 

[gottalovepluto]

This restaurant is horrible. We had a reservation and were seated promptly downstairs. It went downhill from there.

No one came for quite a while until a woman came by and started collecting our menus. My wife started to order a drink assuming she was a server, but the woman said she doesn’t take orders, she just collects menus. I didn’t know restaurants even had such a job. We had to ask if we could keep our menus at least until we’ve had a chance to order. Weird.

Eventually our sever came by. He was friendly and took our order. Much later he came by with a tray of drinks and grabbed one and asked “whose is this?” It’s kind of hard to tell what a drink is when it is held above you, especially when the drinks are kind of unique with crazy names. He then turned to the table next to us and asked the same question and they also gave him a blank stare. Eventually the drinks between our table and theirs got sorted out, but he clearly had no idea who ordered what.

More time passed and another woman came by and asked if we were going to order any food. I think she was politely implying that if we weren’t going to eat, we should finish up our drinks and leave instead of just sitting there, so they can use the table again. I explained we ordered a full meal including an appetizer and she left. Again, weird.

A server brought out a plate of lobster nachos to yet another table, but they hadn’t ordered it. We then told her we were still waiting for our order so she left them with us. A few minutes later a server placed down an order of potato skins that we didn’t order and then took them away confused. They also screwed up the entrees in a similar fashion, with food being brought incorrectly to random tables and our 4 y/o having to wait quite a bit longer for his food.

My burger was like $22, way over cooked, and frankly a rip off even by amusement park standards. I have no problem paying over $20 for a good burger (like the one at Carthay Circle), but this one was more of what you would expect from a CS place like Galactic Grill. Our older son’s burger was ridiculously small even by slider standards and much smaller than other kids meal burgers.

Then the check came. Just under $200 for a burger, spinach salad, 2 kids meals, and 3 nonalcoholic drinks?!?! When I glanced at the total, I told the waiter this could not be correct. He said sorry but it was correct. I then looked at it more closely figuring we were brought the wrong check just like they did with every other item. It was our bill but the prices were crazy including $87 for the salad. I finally got the waiter to agree the bill was wrong and it was corrected.

In summary, they were slow, confused the drink, appetizer, and entree orders (good thing we didn’t order desert), screwed up the bill, overpriced, with mediocre food (only the lobster nachos were good).

They tried to charge you $87 for the salad?! That place is freaking mess. I’m terrified to think of what kind of disaster is going on behind the scenes in the kitchen there!

 

[Manapua]

They tried to charge you $87 for the salad?! That place is freaking mess. I’m terrified to think of what kind of disaster is going on behind the scenes in the kitchen there!

Yep. I wish I had taken a pic of the original bill.

 

[cmarsh31]

They tried to charge you $87 for the salad?! That place is freaking mess. I’m terrified to think of what kind of disaster is going on behind the scenes in the kitchen there!

What is their thought on the kids' slider?? It's not even half a portion of food and my DD is far from a big eater!

 

[JKalai]

I was there this past Saturday and also sat outside on the water downstairs. Everything was great including our server and the food.

We had a reservation and were placed right up against the water with no gnats or bugs to be seen. We didn't order any of the entrees, but 3 of the apps (Lobster nachos, wings and potato sliders) and two drinks. Bill came out to $80 before tip. Me and the GF knew it was going to be a bit pricey as we were following the media with the opening of Pixar Pier and it was... so no surprise there, but I think we would have gone to Carthay Circle for not much more.

The only negative we both had is that we were seated in those low lounge couches with the low tables and it was VERY uncomfortable to eat off of. I can see what they were trying to go for with that area and it would have been great if we were having just drinks, but the position the seat has you in while eating is pretty much hunched over a table that's barely higher than your knee. If we go again, we will definitely sit on a regular table.

 

[S. Lopez]

Just a reply for the positive. 2 of us went on Saturday afternoon, reservation for 12:50. We arrived a few minutes early and I asked to be seated outside (it was a warm day, not too hot), we were seated within 5 minutes. We sat along the railing facing Incredicoaster, so plenty of shade. The waitress was very nice and extremely helpful, she suggested a drink (which was amazing). We received our drinks & appetizer quickly (we ordered the potato skins and for drinks we had the Over Budget and The Last Word). For lunch we split the chicken sandwich - and we also shared the donuts for dessert. All the food came out at a decent pace and everything tasted great (especially the donuts). The only negative, it's expensive. For the food I listed, our bill came to $75, without tip. I enjoyed the experience and would definitely go again. And not a bug to be seen, though plenty of ducks that like to beg for some scraps.

 

[YayforMickey]

I was excited to get a reservation in August, but after seeing that the World of Color platform is back up with a blue tarp around it, I'm feeling less inclined to keep the reservation. We were hoping for a water view table, but the views in the entire pier area are significantly worse when the platform is raised.

 

[BriannaRuth]

I was excited to get a reservation in August, but after seeing that the World of Color platform is back up with a blue tarp around it, I'm feeling less inclined to keep the reservation. We were hoping for a water view table, but the views in the entire pier area are significantly worse when the platform is raised.

Thanks for mentioning this. I've been trying to get an August reservation for a while without success, thinking I'd like to be up there for the view as well ... hadn't even thought about this. Now I won't worry about it.

 

[jetskigrl]

DH and I ate there Saturday evening for his birthday and it was just OK. They originally seated us at a table with a sofa and two chairs outside on the patio and DH asked if we could please have a table since we were there for dinner. He has bad knees and was really uncomfortable with the idea of eating a meal bending over those low coffee tables. And it is probably silly but it bothered me a bit that the sofa and chair cushions were dirty (not surprising being outside but seemed strange that they were so dirty already when it hasn't been opened very long). The CM that sat us asked if we had a reservation and we said yes. She came back a few minutes later and moved us to a table inside.

Our server was fine and the food was delivered correctly and tasted good. Plenty of lobster on the nachos but surprisingly, not much cheese, LOL. We still enjoyed having them again.

But we both decided that we really didn't care about eating a meal in the downstairs area again. We would have no problem with the lounge type seating if we were just there for drinks, but it definitely wasn't conducive to eating a meal. So we will just stick to the upstairs area for drinks and appetizers.

 

[j9isawesome]

We ate there twice (with reservations both times) on our last trip. The first time was at dinner & we were sat out outside in the direct sun on a hot day awkwardly at the corner of a larger crowded shared bar height table with lots of loud strangers & no space for our food. It was not an enjoyable experience at all until the sun went down and they would not allow us to be seated elsewhere. When I asked for inside on the next day (because I’d much prefer the cute decorations & AC) we were told they can’t honor requests like that because the indoor seating is too limited. We were seated outside again but at least it was a cooler day, in the shade as this was early lunch time, at our own bit of the outter bar with a view of the Incredicoaster. So not bad but there were plenty of empty tables inside so it was a tad disappointing. I was polite, I asked at check in, I even had my birthday button on and I still got nothing but nopes. *shrugs* May you have better luck than we did.

 

[StarlitNight05]

Thinking of cancelling my reservation next month... it's kind of at an odd time (3:50) so I was on the fence as it is. The place honestly sounds like a hot mess and not necessarily worth the high price tag for such a variable experience.

 

[gillep]

We just ate here on Thursday. We had a reservation but got there about 30 minutes early and they had no issue seating us right away. We were seated outside at the bar which wasn't an issue, we were however seated in the only seats that the sun was rapidly encroaching on, we asked if we could move over two seats and they had no issue with that. It was in the 90s when we were there but our seats at the outside section of the bar were very comfortable, we were not hot and there were no bugs at all. We split the nachos with chicken, sushi, and donuts, and it was all very good. We each had two drinks and they were excellent. We would go back.

 

[Jkpark]

Interesting to read all of these reports. I've experienced the gnats at Disneyland - but not while I'm eating - walking at dusk on our last trip (late June/early July) you could see them in masses by all of the lights. You saw people swatting them away. Luckily I wasn't trying to eat at the time.

I thought it was odd checking in at Lamplight Lounge that your party, when you have a reservation, cannot wait inside in the AC/out of the sun. They told me I had to wait there for when they call me (no texting me?) but my family had to wait outside - was just very non-Disney to me.

When we were leaving I asked a CM about the different seating options. She said those couches outside downstairs were intended for walkins as an alternative to the bar and upstairs, and you would get the more limited menu there, too. Disappointing to hear they are seating dinner reservations there.

 

[JKalai]

When we were leaving I asked a CM about the different seating options. She said those couches outside downstairs were intended for walkins as an alternative to the bar and upstairs, and you would get the more limited menu there, too. Disappointing to hear they are seating dinner reservations there.

Wow. We had a reservation and were seated outside on the couches with the full menu. GF actually preferred to sit outside as she loves to stare at the Fun Wheel and we are fairly easygoing but those couches are definitely not meant to have a full meal on.

 

[Kirbie]

This restaurant is horrible. We had a reservation and were seated promptly downstairs. It went downhill from there.... In summary, they were slow, confused the drink, appetizer, and entree orders (good thing we didn’t order desert), screwed up the bill, overpriced, with mediocre food (only the lobster nachos were good).

The only negative we both had is that we were seated in those low lounge couches with the low tables and it was VERY uncomfortable to eat off of.

Between these and all the other experiences everyone is reporting, I will be cancelling my reservation for next month. Which is a shame because I was so excited to eat here! But not if it means uncomfortable seats (either by being in direct sunlight or low couches) and rude, disorganized staff - and to top it all off ridiculously overpriced food - I will be cancelling. Paying guests shouldn't have to work out the kinks for the restaurant. Especially since there used to be a restaurant in this building just a few months ago.