Restaurant "Must Do's" and "Must Skip"

[fly girl]

During my research I have sadly not read a lot of good stuff about dining around the Disneyland Paris Resort. (Such a shame given that France has such delectable food!)


So any advice on MUST GO and MUST AVOID places? Sure, it is all personal preference, but I'd love to read your experiences. What snack or meal did you love? What did you think was really bad?


Merci beaucoup.

 

[Danauk]

My favourite places to eat are:
Bistro Chez Remy - great food and the theaming in the restaurant is also excellent.
Inventions character dinner (in the Disneyland Hotel) - lovely food, relaxed atmosphere and great character interaction.
Walts (on Main Street) - I have always enjoyed my meals here and the theaming of the restaurant is amazing. Each room is themed to an area of the park and it has many pictures of Walt.

 

[fly girl]

My favourite places to eat are:
Bistro Chez Remy - great food and the theaming in the restaurant is also excellent.
Inventions character dinner (in the Disneyland Hotel) - lovely food, relaxed atmosphere and great character interaction.
Walts (on Main Street) - I have always enjoyed my meals here and the theaming of the restaurant is amazing. Each room is themed to an area of the park and it has many pictures of Walt.

Awesome! Thank you for sharing.

 

[DLRPWonders]

I agree with all the above and would add Blue Lagoon to that list.
It's a fantastic restaurant - great atmosphere, amazing food, you look over the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

If you like characters, I would change the character dinner to the Sunday character brunch. During the dinner it's just your standard every day characters (mostly it's a selection out of Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, Dale, Tigger and Gepetto). The Sunday brunch however has a different theme every week. There will still be standard characters like Mickey, Minnie or Goofy but they will have special costumes that they won't wear anywhere else on the resort. The costumes are in line with the theme of that week. There will also be special characters that never come out (as meet 'n greet characters) like The Aristocats, The Three Little Pigs, Jaq & Gus etc. This way you still have the relaxed atmosphere, the amazing food and great character interaction, but you will also meet characters that you don't see anywhere else.

 

[giuly09]

There is no trip to DLP without a stop at Annettes Diner in the Village.
TBH not as good as it used to be buu one of my fave anyway.
In our next trip we are going to try Remy as it looks lovely from outside
I would love to try the Sunday Brunch too as we could not go there last time but my mum is not that happy about it as the selection of food at Inventions was not the best ever for dinner....

 

[cdsmiler81]

Depends on your budget, but here's my very personal views!:

High budget:
Inventions buffet dinner (we didn't do the brunch, due to timings - the dinner is a little cheaper and a good range of characters - food great too!).
Walt's - best meal we've had in DLP. Beautiful

Lower Budget:
Hakuna Matata - best 'fast food' restaurant in the park - not open Wednesdays and Thursdays though. Gorgeous chicken.
Annette's - I am NOT a big burger lover, but I LOVED the burgers in here! So much so we changed our plans and ate here twice last trip!
Earl of Sandwich - great Disney Village cheap meal!! Lovely fresh hot sandwiches, and more!! Had been dying to try here for a while and it didn't disappoint!

Others - these are mixed reviews - basically places I WOULD try again, but have plus and minus points:

Cafe Mickey - cheaper character meal, food fine but not outstanding. You can be clever in here and share pizzas - we've always done the set menu as we've budgetted for it, and it's fine, if the portions are a little small. (Pizzas are big though!) Would go again if budget didn't stretch to Inventions!
King Ludwigs - had 2 amazing meals here in March, really different menu and tasty, and they have a happy 'hour' from 5 til 7 every day I believe. But went again in October and unfortunately were there the same time as a huge group and we were half ignored. But would try again as the food was good.
Lucky Nugget - Lovely interior but had a disappointing meal in here (in September 2012 - nothing awful, just overcooked and not inspiring - it's 'fast food with table service'), but have seen some people raving about it on Twitter recently so maybe it's improved.
Silver Spur Steak House - Similar interior to Lucky Nugget and food was pretty good all around. Not top of my list, but a great option for an evening meal INSIDE the park during those months where the park closes a bit earlier.
Auberge - great for meeting princesses. Lovely character interaction with (for us) 3 princesses, one prince and 2 of cinderella's mice. Food was good too as long as you don't mind fancier food, but it was a bit of a luck element too. DH had the beef which was amazing, I had chicken which was 'meh'. Dessert was disappointing too, but they made a lovely effort with DD's birthday even though we didn't order cake - they put a candle in her pudding! DD is a good an adventurous eater, and we're foodies, so with a Princess mad girl it was great to do. But for overall better value and food, if we were looking in this budget again we'd do Inventions (unless we create another little princess mad girly in the future!). Oh, and SO much more civil than queueing for hours at the Pavillion for a Meet and Greet!! lol
Buffalo Bills - I loved this. Loved the show and loved the food (tex mex type things) - but if you don't like that type of food, it's not really worth the money - DH doesn't like BBQ sauce type flavours, or chilli, or tortilla chips..... so I did well out of his meal!!! lol Plus they have refillable drinks....
Rainforest Cafe - I enjoyed it in here, loved the theme, but a bit over priced for what you get I think.
Planet Hollywood - like Rainforest cafe really, but I didn't like the feel of the place so much, quite loud, get nagged by photographers, but slightly better value food wise.
Blue Lagoon - Loved it in here, but if you're not a fish lover, there isn't much for you!! SO I was fine, unsurprisingly, DH wasn't! lol Worth a visit though - beautiful setting.


Heard good things about:

Toad Hall - apparently really good fish and chips.
Cafe des Cascadeurs - lovely, cheap, fresh burgers in an American style diner car - very good reviews but never been open when we've been there typically!!

Would avoid (personally!):

Restaurant des Stars - very 'meh', and staff were rude in there. Granted, others have a great a experience in there, so maybe worth a try as it's the only buffet restaurant in Studios. Dunno what it's like since Remy moved out though! lol
Colonel Hathis - Bit of a mixed bag - nice to have lasagne, pizza and that type of thing on offer (rather than just burgers) but the lasagne was a bit overcooked, but the pizza was ok (DH wasn't keen, but it was better than my lasagne! lol


Will stop now - this has gotten very long. Ultimately, make good use of the DLPGuide menus, and compare the places you fancy to reviews, and go from there.

Hope that helps!!

C x

P.S. Honourable mention to Restaurant en Coullisse - typical boring burger and chips fast food place, but always done us well (get in there before midday) and if you are clever the children's meals are more than big enough for an adult!! Great fall back on a budget, especially if you're in the Syudios all day and don't want to venture out to the Village.

 

[fly girl]

If you like characters, I would change the character dinner to the Sunday character brunch. During the dinner it's just your standard every day characters (mostly it's a selection out of Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, Dale, Tigger and Gepetto). The Sunday brunch however has a different theme every week. There will still be standard characters like Mickey, Minnie or Goofy but they will have special costumes that they won't wear anywhere else on the resort. The costumes are in line with the theme of that week. There will also be special characters that never come out (as meet 'n greet characters) like The Aristocats, The Three Little Pigs, Jaq & Gus etc. This way you still have the relaxed atmosphere, the amazing food and great character interaction, but you will also meet characters that you don't see anywhere else.

Oh boo, we won't be there on a Sunday but that does sound special! I love seeing the rare character. And not having to wait in line, PRICELESS.

When we went to MNSSHP at MK I was not willing to wait 3 hours to meet the 7 dwarfs. Anything more than 30 minutes is too long for me.

 

[fly girl]

There is no trip to DLP without a stop at Annettes Diner in the Village.
TBH not as good as it used to be buu one of my fave anyway.
In our next trip we are going to try Remy as it looks lovely from outside
I would love to try the Sunday Brunch too as we could not go there last time but my mum is not that happy about it as the selection of food at Inventions was not the best ever for dinner....

Annettes will definitely be a contender!

Remy seems to get positive reviews, I think that is on the list too.

Thanks, giuly09!

 

[fly girl]

Depends on your budget, but here's my very personal views!:

High budget:
Inventions buffet dinner (we didn't do the brunch, due to timings - the dinner is a little cheaper and a good range of characters - food great too!).
Walt's - best meal we've had in DLP. Beautiful

Lower Budget:
Hakuna Matata - best 'fast food' restaurant in the park - not open Wednesdays and Thursdays though. Gorgeous chicken.
Annette's - I am NOT a big burger lover, but I LOVED the burgers in here! So much so we changed our plans and ate here twice last trip!
Earl of Sandwich - great Disney Village cheap meal!! Lovely fresh hot sandwiches, and more!! Had been dying to try here for a while and it didn't disappoint!

Others - these are mixed reviews - basically places I WOULD try again, but have plus and minus points:

Cafe Mickey - cheaper character meal, food fine but not outstanding. You can be clever in here and share pizzas - we've always done the set menu as we've budgetted for it, and it's fine, if the portions are a little small. (Pizzas are big though!) Would go again if budget didn't stretch to Inventions!
King Ludwigs - had 2 amazing meals here in March, really different menu and tasty, and they have a happy 'hour' from 5 til 7 every day I believe. But went again in October and unfortunately were there the same time as a huge group and we were half ignored. But would try again as the food was good.
Lucky Nugget - Lovely interior but had a disappointing meal in here (in September 2012 - nothing awful, just overcooked and not inspiring - it's 'fast food with table service'), but have seen some people raving about it on Twitter recently so maybe it's improved.
Silver Spur Steak House - Similar interior to Lucky Nugget and food was pretty good all around. Not top of my list, but a great option for an evening meal INSIDE the park during those months where the park closes a bit earlier.
Auberge - great for meeting princesses. Lovely character interaction with (for us) 3 princesses, one prince and 2 of cinderella's mice. Food was good too as long as you don't mind fancier food, but it was a bit of a luck element too. DH had the beef which was amazing, I had chicken which was 'meh'. Dessert was disappointing too, but they made a lovely effort with DD's birthday even though we didn't order cake - they put a candle in her pudding! DD is a good an adventurous eater, and we're foodies, so with a Princess mad girl it was great to do. But for overall better value and food, if we were looking in this budget again we'd do Inventions (unless we create another little princess mad girly in the future!). Oh, and SO much more civil than queueing for hours at the Pavillion for a Meet and Greet!! lol
Buffalo Bills - I loved this. Loved the show and loved the food (tex mex type things) - but if you don't like that type of food, it's not really worth the money - DH doesn't like BBQ sauce type flavours, or chilli, or tortilla chips..... so I did well out of his meal!!! lol Plus they have refillable drinks....
Rainforest Cafe - I enjoyed it in here, loved the theme, but a bit over priced for what you get I think.
Planet Hollywood - like Rainforest cafe really, but I didn't like the feel of the place so much, quite loud, get nagged by photographers, but slightly better value food wise.
Blue Lagoon - Loved it in here, but if you're not a fish lover, there isn't much for you!! SO I was fine, unsurprisingly, DH wasn't! lol Worth a visit though - beautiful setting.


Heard good things about:

Toad Hall - apparently really good fish and chips.
Cafe des Cascadeurs - lovely, cheap, fresh burgers in an American style diner car - very good reviews but never been open when we've been there typically!!

Would avoid (personally!):

Restaurant des Stars - very 'meh', and staff were rude in there. Granted, others have a great a experience in there, so maybe worth a try as it's the only buffet restaurant in Studios. Dunno what it's like since Remy moved out though! lol
Colonel Hathis - Bit of a mixed bag - nice to have lasagne, pizza and that type of thing on offer (rather than just burgers) but the lasagne was a bit overcooked, but the pizza was ok (DH wasn't keen, but it was better than my lasagne! lol


Will stop now - this has gotten very long. Ultimately, make good use of the DLPGuide menus, and compare the places you fancy to reviews, and go from there.

Hope that helps!!

C x

P.S. Honourable mention to Restaurant en Coullisse - typical boring burger and chips fast food place, but always done us well (get in there before midday) and if you are clever the children's meals are more than big enough for an adult!! Great fall back on a budget, especially if you're in the Syudios all day and don't want to venture out to the Village.

Walt's was the one restaurant I was pretty set on. I'd much rather spend more for a delicious meal than spend less and be unsatisfied.


We are staying at Disneyland Hotel so by all the advice I have been given it looks like we will go to EMH, then back to the hotel for our breakfast around 9:30am. Then have a light lunch and a nice sit down dinner. I'm thinking Walt's and Remy's.


And what a bummer! We are there on Wednesday and Thursday, no Hakuna Matata.


Thank you for all your advice, cdsmiler81! Decisions, decisions, decisions...

 

[fly girl]

I agree with all the above and would add Blue Lagoon to that list.
It's a fantastic restaurant - great atmosphere, amazing food, you look over the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Blue Lagoon - Loved it in here, but if you're not a fish lover, there isn't much for you!! SO I was fine, unsurprisingly, DH wasn't! lol Worth a visit though - beautiful setting.

Oh yes, Blue Lagoon. How could I forget that?! We are all fish lovers so I am sure we would be happy.

Oh no, I am in quite the conundrum! I think we just need another day at DLP!

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Café Mickey is now a set menu so you can know longer share pizzas in there - re Cdsmillers post

My favourite table restaurant is Walt's, fast food Hakuna Matata and Café ds Cascadeurs and I don't do characters or buffets.

Really don't like Annettes would prefer to go to McDo, Caseys is really unpleasant too

Colonel Hathis and Toad Hall get a mention and EoS depends on who is making your wrap in my experience

Best thing to do is to check which restaurants will be open late in the park as you talk about dinner but in mid March the last sitting could be around 16.00

 

[fly girl]

Café Mickey is now a set menu so you can know longer share pizzas in there - re Cdsmillers post

My favourite table restaurant is Walt's, fast food Hakuna Matata and Café ds Cascadeurs and I don't do characters or buffets.

Really don't like Annettes would prefer to go to McDo, Caseys is really unpleasant too

Colonel Hathis and Toad Hall get a mention and EoS depends on who is making your wrap in my experience

Best thing to do is to check which restaurants will be open late in the park as you talk about dinner but in mid March the last sitting could be around 16.00

Ha! Like us, we are not fans of character meals or buffets either. Character meals are once in a blue moon for our dd. We have found (based on WDW and DL) food at character meals are sub par. Although I would plunk down the cash for the rare character Sunday brunch mentioned earlier by DLRPWonders.


We are going in early April. The website has Disneyland Park closing at 9:30pm and Studios closing at 6pm. I wonder when the last seating for dinner at Remy's would be?


Our dinner front runners are Walt's, Remy's, and Blue Lagoon. (one has to get cut )


As we are staying at DLH we are following the advice of hitting EMH then going back for a late breakfast. Therefore, lunch will be light.


Looks like Hakuna Matata is closed the days we are there (Wed/Thur) so that's out.


Thinking Toad Hall and Café des Cascadeurs seem to be my front runners.

 

[cdsmiler81]

When are you arriving? Are you arriving the night before? And what time on your last day do you go? How many park tickets will you have (eg, how many days access to the parks?) What dates are you there?

We might be able to find a clever way of incorporating everything!

C x

 

[kizzabel]

I am another vote for Bistrot Chez Remy. It was beautiful! Also DLH breakfast is great so having a kids lunch would be an option - they are plenty big. I like the kids menu at Cafe Hyperion but it was just burgers and the like.
We really enjoyed RFC but would have to agree with C it's a bit overpriced.
The Croques in Market House Deli are also worth a mention. Perfect cheesy toasty goodness! And only €6.99!

The Lucky Nugget is a nice option for fast food but in a sit down setting with live music. Plus the berry sundae is unreal good!

 

[Sparkly Pooh Bear]

We love The Steakhouse in the village. One of the few places that provides proper good food for babies and great service too.

Wants is hit and miss, imo. Had a fab meal there once followed by two average meals in previous years. Would never miss a trip without visiting Annette, best milkshakes ever.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I have a trip coming up and these are the places i am planning to enjoy -

Walt's
Bistro Chez Remy
Steakhouse in the Village
Plaza Gardens
Restaurant de Stars
possibly Agrabah or Blue Lagoon

 

[giuly09]

Annettes will definitely be a contender!

Remy seems to get positive reviews, I think that is on the list too.

Thanks, giuly09!

You're welcome when will you be there? It seems your countdown is similar to mine

 

[fly girl]

When are you arriving? Are you arriving the night before? And what time on your last day do you go? How many park tickets will you have (eg, how many days access to the parks?) What dates are you there?

We might be able to find a clever way of incorporating everything!

C x

We are arriving early morning on April 8, and leaving the evening of the 9th. 2 full days in the parks.

Since we are at Disneyland Hotel breakfasts are already set. I think we are pretty much set on Chez Remy and Walt's for nice dinners.

Lunches are still the undecided factor. We love fish and chips so Toad Hall sounds like one. I'd like to try Annette's but I don't know about leaving the park. Seems like a hassle for lunch. But then again I'm unsure how far of a walk it is.

 

[fly girl]

You're welcome when will you be there? It seems your countdown is similar to mine

April 8th and 9th. When are you going?

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Lunches are still the undecided factor. We love fish and chips so Toad Hall sounds like one. I'd like to try Annette's but I don't know about leaving the park. Seems like a hassle for lunch. But then again I'm unsure how far of a walk it is.

Annette's is in Disney Village which is next to the parks. You don't have to leave the "bubble" to go there and it's like 5-10 minutes walk away from the gate(s) depending which park you are in.