It is definitely a good spot for no lines. I wish they had some seating, though. The benches nearby are okay, but I don’t know, I just like a good table. 😂 Boardwalk isn’t too far away though.
Love your videos! Our top place always is Carthay Alfresco Lounge where the menu is completely different than Carthay Circle. I have eaten several dishes at Carthay Circle and some have been excellent but they are inconsistent and their menu is small so I agree it’s not worth it. Carthay Alfresco Lounge is amazing - Bao Buns - chicken Meatballs - Vietnamese twice cooked beef - Kofta potatoes - Strozaprertti pasta are all fantastic. It is expensive - yes - but it delivers on quality like no other restaurant in either park. We even place this above Napa Rose. I otherwise think your rankings are perfect - except I guess I haven’t ordered the right things at Pyms - I will try more of the menu there. Thanks for the great content as always! Special mention to Lamplight Brunch which has some exceptional dishes.
@@SoCalDisneyDad Yes - I'm curious to see what you think. I will say to avoid the Chicken Breast and the Crab Cakes are lower on our list (good not great) -- and Salmon is usually excellent but it depends on the preparation (sauces, etc.) and we order it medium rare (otherwise Disney usually overcooks fish). The dishes I mention above are our favorites - and we do enjoy the filet mignon beef skewers also. The portions are small for the price - so it's not a value restaurant.
Try the best item in the park and Award Weiners will climb on your list --- Asada Fries!!! Had them 5 days in a row and everybody asked me where to get them.
😂🤣 I take it both are higher on your list? I think they are both good, it’s just hard to rank these ones compared to Disneyland. As I said in the beginning, anything below 6 on my list could easily all share the same number.
Generally speaking, I refuse to order pasta when I am eating at the park. I am not saying they aren’t good options, but I refuse to order anything that I would normally make and eat at home… especially when I am dining at Carthay. I can’t justify paying over 20 bucks that I know I can make for less.
Fair enough. We usually go by that policy too, but I’d rather have the kids eating pasta than chicken tenders because at least pasta comes in different preparations. Chicken tenders are chicken tenders. At least in the park. There’s no BBQ or buffalo (which I might actually eat).
thanks for sharing these. I have a question about the lamplight lounge, if we don't have a reservation, how does it work? do we just order during the day through mobile order? is it at a certain time? is there a queue?
@@Tangled20244 Lamplight is a table service restaurant. So you sit and have a waiter and everything. You need a reservation. Without one, you join their walk up list if available. It’s not always available. So check with the hostess when it opens. You can also join the list via the app when the restaurant opens as well. But I feel like you still need to be relatively close to the restaurant in order to join.
I know I'm weird, but i NEVER found the appeal of eating soup in a breadbowl at disney lol I also dont like Pyms! My favorites are corndog castle & lamplight!
That’s what I’m here for! Waiting for someone to get mad at me for the Carthay ranking. 🤣 I’m all good with it, though, I know I hold an “unpopular opinion” there.
Love that you are dedicated in providing these guides however after many attempts over decades at trying to enjoy mediocre, high priced, carb loaded meals at both Disney parks - I rarely buy anything anymore - other than a pretzel or an ice cream. Had breakfast at Flo’s V8 at ROPE DROP one morning and it was stone cold, the bacon fat congealed on the plate and looked as if it had been sitting out for hours - disgusting. Have experienced sooooo many bad meals like Flo’s that I go out of the park for meals now. I do agree that Pyms is interesting- two of us couldn’t finish the giant pretzel but the choc bar was so sickeningly sweet one bite was too much. Of course these are just my experiences and opinions but you asked for us to comment so I have put my two cents worth in! Thanks for sharing- always enjoy your vlogs 😊
@@SoCalDisneyDad I don’t mind IHOP but not the one directly opposite the main gate on South Harbor, the one just up past Wahlgreens on South Harbor as it’s cleaner and quieter - also depends on the meal time. Breakfasts were smaller this last time around but not too bad - came out hot and cooked to order. I have also had some nice lunches there but I tend to order soup and salad at that time. I like Panera, Cheesecake Factory at Garden Walk, PF Changs, pizza Press. Mimi’s is ok for dinner but the last breakfast we had was dismal and that’s being kind. Bubba Gumps used to be a family favourite but the last visit in May was not good at all - we wondered why it was so quiet at the time but that the meal and service were so bad was enough explanation. I also enjoyed Firehouse subs when we were at Universal City Walk and Buca di Beppo was pretty good. McCormick and Schmidt were better than Tony Roma. In Downtown Disney I always enjoy Earl of Sandwich for a quick lunch. Wanted to try the new burger place there last May but it was so busy we didn’t get a chance- maybe next time.
I kind of wish they did the Mickey Mouse birthday cake a little better at the sit-down places...it's a little disappointing compared to the rest of the food if you go for a birthday especially if you got to lamplight.
Great review. I try to time my visits around special food events, so I don't typically get the uhh...best way to say it? Standard fare. But your rankings seem pretty fair for the food offered. I did find myself visiting Pym's more than any other place because the food is entertaining and novel.
I usually mostly go for the seasonal stuff too. I feel like the “standard fare” as you put it, is mostly there for the people who only eat burgers or chicken tenders, etc.
Number one, in my opinion, is Lamplight Lounge Brunch. It's soooo delicious! Number two, Carthay Circle Alfresco dining. I can't eat pizza, pasta, hot dogs and greasy foods because they all cause me digestive issues so I'm happy with healthier options even if it costs more. 😋
Had Lamplight Lounge Brunch last May and food was so burnt they comped our meals. May not have cost anything materially but was unpleasant enough to want to avoid it again. Have had so many experiences like this also around the parks without being comped that we go off property for our meals now.😊
@@donnamortensen959 That's terrible luck! I've been to Lamplight Lounge so many times for brunch and I've NEVER had a bad experience. I get the thick French toast with the fresh fruit and nut brittle. It's soooo good, and enough for two to share. The coffee is always freshly made and I've tried several of their drinks and have liked them all. I've also tried the lobster nachos but prefer the breakfast food. What did you order may I ask?
@@pixiepinkcrystalsrosetta7027 we ordered the brussels caesar and some mocktails. The drinks were fine but the Brussel sprouts were charcoal. We decided not to risk ordering anything else - due coeliac issues we are limited in options - french toast sounds delicious but they don’t have a gluten free version.
I personally prefer Disneyland. I find I rarely eat at DCA. The only two places I really like to eat over at DCA are PYMs and Lucky Fortune. There’s at least one good item on each menu, but the rest aren’t really anything special. Where I can order just about anything from Rancho, Bengal BBQ, or Jolly Holiday and it’s all fantastic. So there’s a lot more choices.
I’m so sorry, PYM’s test kitchen is the worst restaurant I’ve eaten at in all of Disney parks 😅 just my opinion I know a lot of people don’t feel the same! And that’s okay!
First of all, how dare you…falafel slaps and Shawarma Palace deserves better 😂😂 for real though, great video! In defense of Shawarma Palace, as a vegetarian I always appreciate when the veggie option is something other than just the impossible-meat version of the other menu offerings. Maybe it’s just a me-thing, but I’m always paranoid about a restaurant accidentally giving me the real meat version, which I don’t have to worry about if I can order something (like falafel lol) that’s not trying to be meat. Like, I’m vegetarian for a reason and I find it off-putting to feel like I’m eating meat. Basically I’m saying that the veggie option being falafel makes up for the place only having 2 menu options 😂😂 there’s frequently only one veggie option anyway, so it’s all the same to me lol
I hear ya! And that’s an awesome reason for loving the falafel. I did just have the Breakfast Sha-warm-up for the first time this week, enjoyed it, but it was Impossible meat, substitute eggs and cheese. So I get it. Disney does that with like 80% of its vegan options. It’s all impossible this or that.
I didn’t have one on the Disneyland video because of some audio issues, so I removed it from this one as well just to have them be stylistically the same. I’m also trialing to see if my retention rate is higher skipping the intros.
I could definitely see this. It could have easily been there, but it was hard to arrange my top 2, and ultimately the Potato skins counted against Lamplight, which is just a minor ding, but it gave me the reason to have a clear #1 for me.
@@SoCalDisneyDad I should mention that we love the Potato skins at Lamplight because we always order extra sauce and that makes a huge difference. The sauces are spectacular but they give you so little in standard presentation.
I’ll admit I started this video got to number 7 and stopped watching , to be fair I was at work and had to stop to do something , but I’m back to finish now , hope that doesn’t mess with the statistics in anyways , cuz I know you can see that per video you mentioned it previously
I can’t necessarily see one person. And I’m sure that happens all the time. It’s an average over all views. I’m glad you went back and finished though. Thank you!
@@ReezA.MP3 My average is generally about half of the video. So there’s people that start the video, and after about 10-15 seconds they stop watching. Only about 65% are still watching at 30 seconds. This is pretty standard across all of RUclips. But of course this drives the average down. Watching the whole video is always the best case scenario. But life happens. Sometimes dinner is ready in the middle of watching something. Something else I haven’t covered is Session Duration. This isn’t necessarily a visible metric on my end, but on RUclips’s. They reward channels that cause binging, be it on my channel or just in general. If you go on to watch 2-3 more videos, RUclips likes that you stayed on the platform. It’s more money for them. When a video causes a user to quit the platform, RUclips factors that in as “this video was a turn off, we don’t want that.” But of course RUclips also knows that life happens, and won’t punish a video from the behaviors of a single person, or even a dozen. It looks at the big picture as well as channel history. If a channel makes a poor video, RUclips realizes it could be time of day or day of the week. And will try again later. I’ve actually had videos take off 3 months after posted them. I wouldn’t concern yourself too much. I just share these details because you seem interested. The best things you can do is like, comment, and watch the whole video when you’re able. And if things come up, no biggy. Thank you! I appreciate you!
I have no idea. Grew up in Pennsylvania, but had my accent drilled out of me in Speech classes in College. Didn’t move to San Diego until I was 27. My in-laws moved to America from England in their 20s and they still sound British. 😂 So I’m not sure how much accents change to adapt to where you live. Lingo, for sure. But I have no idea on the accent thing.
Poultry Palace is so slept on , the line is never long , fresh chicken everytime , it’s one of me and my gf’s fave spot
It is definitely a good spot for no lines. I wish they had some seating, though. The benches nearby are okay, but I don’t know, I just like a good table. 😂
Boardwalk isn’t too far away though.
Love your videos! Our top place always is Carthay Alfresco Lounge where the menu is completely different than Carthay Circle. I have eaten several dishes at Carthay Circle and some have been excellent but they are inconsistent and their menu is small so I agree it’s not worth it. Carthay Alfresco Lounge is amazing - Bao Buns - chicken Meatballs - Vietnamese twice cooked beef - Kofta potatoes - Strozaprertti pasta are all fantastic. It is expensive - yes - but it delivers on quality like no other restaurant in either park. We even place this above Napa Rose. I otherwise think your rankings are perfect - except I guess I haven’t ordered the right things at Pyms - I will try more of the menu there. Thanks for the great content as always! Special mention to Lamplight Brunch which has some exceptional dishes.
We want to put the Alfresco Lounge on our to-do list for this year as we’ve heard this a few times now.
@@SoCalDisneyDad Yes - I'm curious to see what you think. I will say to avoid the Chicken Breast and the Crab Cakes are lower on our list (good not great) -- and Salmon is usually excellent but it depends on the preparation (sauces, etc.) and we order it medium rare (otherwise Disney usually overcooks fish). The dishes I mention above are our favorites - and we do enjoy the filet mignon beef skewers also. The portions are small for the price - so it's not a value restaurant.
The Carthay Circle bone in pork chop. The best thing I’ve ever eaten at Disneyland, let alone any theme park ever.
You aren’t lying about Pym Test Kitchen. The “not so little chicken sandwich” IS sooooo yummy
It’s a good one! That’s what I usually eat there.
Try the pretzel. Heavenly 🤤
Carthay Circle has a different menu at the cocktail lounge downstairs, the food was delicious.
Try the best item in the park and Award Weiners will climb on your list --- Asada Fries!!! Had them 5 days in a row and everybody asked me where to get them.
SIR!!! The ranking of Shwarma and Cozy Cone is criminal! However, I will forgive you this one time because how awesome your channel is!
😂🤣 I take it both are higher on your list?
I think they are both good, it’s just hard to rank these ones compared to Disneyland. As I said in the beginning, anything below 6 on my list could easily all share the same number.
Generally speaking, I refuse to order pasta when I am eating at the park. I am not saying they aren’t good options, but I refuse to order anything that I would normally make and eat at home… especially when I am dining at Carthay. I can’t justify paying over 20 bucks that I know I can make for less.
Fair enough. We usually go by that policy too, but I’d rather have the kids eating pasta than chicken tenders because at least pasta comes in different preparations. Chicken tenders are chicken tenders. At least in the park. There’s no BBQ or buffalo (which I might actually eat).
I work in San Fransokyo and was happy and surprised to see you rank our restaurants so high 😊 my personal favorite has always been Lucky's
About Flos V 8 Cafe. A question about the Ramones Low and Slow Club; was the sandwich Hot, Lukewarm, or Fresh?
I haven’t ordered that item, so I couldn’t say for certain.
Appreciate your reviews. Interesting and helpful. Hoping to secure a Lamp Lighter reservation one of these days. !!!…😋
The cozy cone that has the Mac and cheese with bacon it’s not that bad to me at least in my opinion it’s your opinion if don’t like it that’s fine
thanks for sharing these. I have a question about the lamplight lounge, if we don't have a reservation, how does it work? do we just order during the day through mobile order? is it at a certain time? is there a queue?
@@Tangled20244 Lamplight is a table service restaurant. So you sit and have a waiter and everything.
You need a reservation. Without one, you join their walk up list if available. It’s not always available. So check with the hostess when it opens.
You can also join the list via the app when the restaurant opens as well. But I feel like you still need to be relatively close to the restaurant in order to join.
@@SoCalDisneyDad thank you! 😊
The Pym Kitchen has the candy bar back on the menu
I know I'm weird, but i NEVER found the appeal of eating soup in a breadbowl at disney lol I also dont like Pyms! My favorites are corndog castle & lamplight!
You need to try the beef skewers from the Carthay Lounge. They are mighty tasty.
Someone else just mentioned the Lounge as well. We are going to potentially try to visit within the next month or so.
Hey great vid today getting reallt close to my visit!!!
Thank you!
Haha I always love your friendly honesty! Thanks for the content. 😊
That’s what I’m here for! Waiting for someone to get mad at me for the Carthay ranking. 🤣
I’m all good with it, though, I know I hold an “unpopular opinion” there.
Love that you are dedicated in providing these guides however after many attempts over decades at trying to enjoy mediocre, high priced, carb loaded meals at both Disney parks - I rarely buy anything anymore - other than a pretzel or an ice cream. Had breakfast at Flo’s V8 at ROPE DROP one morning and it was stone cold, the bacon fat congealed on the plate and looked as if it had been sitting out for hours - disgusting. Have experienced sooooo many bad meals like Flo’s that I go out of the park for meals now. I do agree that Pyms is interesting- two of us couldn’t finish the giant pretzel but the choc bar was so sickeningly sweet one bite was too much. Of course these are just my experiences and opinions but you asked for us to comment so I have put my two cents worth in! Thanks for sharing- always enjoy your vlogs 😊
And I greatly value your input! So thank you!
What are your favorite places to eat outside the park?
@@SoCalDisneyDad I don’t mind IHOP but not the one directly opposite the main gate on South Harbor, the one just up past Wahlgreens on South Harbor as it’s cleaner and quieter - also depends on the meal time. Breakfasts were smaller this last time around but not too bad - came out hot and cooked to order. I have also had some nice lunches there but I tend to order soup and salad at that time. I like Panera, Cheesecake Factory at Garden Walk, PF Changs, pizza Press. Mimi’s is ok for dinner but the last breakfast we had was dismal and that’s being kind. Bubba Gumps used to be a family favourite but the last visit in May was not good at all - we wondered why it was so quiet at the time but that the meal and service were so bad was enough explanation. I also enjoyed Firehouse subs when we were at Universal City Walk and Buca di Beppo was pretty good. McCormick and Schmidt were better than Tony Roma. In Downtown Disney I always enjoy Earl of Sandwich for a quick lunch. Wanted to try the new burger place there last May but it was so busy we didn’t get a chance- maybe next time.
Thank you!
I kind of wish they did the Mickey Mouse birthday cake a little better at the sit-down places...it's a little disappointing compared to the rest of the food if you go for a birthday especially if you got to lamplight.
I read some reviews. It doesn’t sound promising. I don’t think I’d even waste the $50 for the channel’s sake.
Too bad.
Great review. I try to time my visits around special food events, so I don't typically get the uhh...best way to say it? Standard fare. But your rankings seem pretty fair for the food offered. I did find myself visiting Pym's more than any other place because the food is entertaining and novel.
I usually mostly go for the seasonal stuff too.
I feel like the “standard fare” as you put it, is mostly there for the people who only eat burgers or chicken tenders, etc.
I had the schnitzel when I went to Carthay Circle I though it was pretty good but far to expensive for the portion size
March 12th we'll be there can't wait
I agree with you about Carthay Circle. It is way too overpriced without giving value. I avoid it now.
I love the lobster nachos!
Thank you for another good food video
Number one, in my opinion, is Lamplight Lounge Brunch. It's soooo delicious! Number two, Carthay Circle Alfresco dining. I can't eat pizza, pasta, hot dogs and greasy foods because they all cause me digestive issues so I'm happy with healthier options even if it costs more. 😋
I need to try the Alfresco. We’ve never actually eaten there.
Had Lamplight Lounge Brunch last May and food was so burnt they comped our meals. May not have cost anything materially but was unpleasant enough to want to avoid it again. Have had so many experiences like this also around the parks without being comped that we go off property for our meals now.😊
@@donnamortensen959 That's terrible luck! I've been to Lamplight Lounge so many times for brunch and I've NEVER had a bad experience. I get the thick French toast with the fresh fruit and nut brittle. It's soooo good, and enough for two to share. The coffee is always freshly made and I've tried several of their drinks and have liked them all. I've also tried the lobster nachos but prefer the breakfast food. What did you order may I ask?
@@pixiepinkcrystalsrosetta7027 we ordered the brussels caesar and some mocktails. The drinks were fine but the Brussel sprouts were charcoal. We decided not to risk ordering anything else - due coeliac issues we are limited in options - french toast sounds delicious but they don’t have a gluten free version.
Just curious about which park you would rank overall as having the better food ???
I personally prefer Disneyland. I find I rarely eat at DCA.
The only two places I really like to eat over at DCA are PYMs and Lucky Fortune.
There’s at least one good item on each menu, but the rest aren’t really anything special. Where I can order just about anything from Rancho, Bengal BBQ, or Jolly Holiday and it’s all fantastic. So there’s a lot more choices.
Great video
Thank you!
I’m so sorry, PYM’s test kitchen is the worst restaurant I’ve eaten at in all of Disney parks 😅 just my opinion I know a lot of people don’t feel the same! And that’s okay!
First of all, how dare you…falafel slaps and Shawarma Palace deserves better 😂😂 for real though, great video! In defense of Shawarma Palace, as a vegetarian I always appreciate when the veggie option is something other than just the impossible-meat version of the other menu offerings. Maybe it’s just a me-thing, but I’m always paranoid about a restaurant accidentally giving me the real meat version, which I don’t have to worry about if I can order something (like falafel lol) that’s not trying to be meat. Like, I’m vegetarian for a reason and I find it off-putting to feel like I’m eating meat. Basically I’m saying that the veggie option being falafel makes up for the place only having 2 menu options 😂😂 there’s frequently only one veggie option anyway, so it’s all the same to me lol
I hear ya! And that’s an awesome reason for loving the falafel. I did just have the Breakfast Sha-warm-up for the first time this week, enjoyed it, but it was Impossible meat, substitute eggs and cheese. So I get it. Disney does that with like 80% of its vegan options. It’s all impossible this or that.
Woah wheres the intro
I didn’t have one on the Disneyland video because of some audio issues, so I removed it from this one as well just to have them be stylistically the same.
I’m also trialing to see if my retention rate is higher skipping the intros.
@@SoCalDisneyDad either way love your videos!
@@Jules-rk1sp Thank you!
#1 is Lamplight
I could definitely see this. It could have easily been there, but it was hard to arrange my top 2, and ultimately the Potato skins counted against Lamplight, which is just a minor ding, but it gave me the reason to have a clear #1 for me.
@@SoCalDisneyDad I should mention that we love the Potato skins at Lamplight because we always order extra sauce and that makes a huge difference. The sauces are spectacular but they give you so little in standard presentation.
@@disneylandlux I’ll have to try asking for that. Thanks.
I’ll admit I started this video got to number 7 and stopped watching , to be fair I was at work and had to stop to do something , but I’m back to finish now , hope that doesn’t mess with the statistics in anyways , cuz I know you can see that per video you mentioned it previously
I can’t necessarily see one person. And I’m sure that happens all the time.
It’s an average over all views.
I’m glad you went back and finished though. Thank you!
Ah yes sorry I meant I wasn’t trying to ruin the average for you in total , love the vids !!
@@ReezA.MP3 My average is generally about half of the video.
So there’s people that start the video, and after about 10-15 seconds they stop watching. Only about 65% are still watching at 30 seconds. This is pretty standard across all of RUclips. But of course this drives the average down.
Watching the whole video is always the best case scenario. But life happens. Sometimes dinner is ready in the middle of watching something.
Something else I haven’t covered is Session Duration. This isn’t necessarily a visible metric on my end, but on RUclips’s. They reward channels that cause binging, be it on my channel or just in general. If you go on to watch 2-3 more videos, RUclips likes that you stayed on the platform. It’s more money for them.
When a video causes a user to quit the platform, RUclips factors that in as “this video was a turn off, we don’t want that.”
But of course RUclips also knows that life happens, and won’t punish a video from the behaviors of a single person, or even a dozen. It looks at the big picture as well as channel history.
If a channel makes a poor video, RUclips realizes it could be time of day or day of the week. And will try again later.
I’ve actually had videos take off 3 months after posted them.
I wouldn’t concern yourself too much. I just share these details because you seem interested.
The best things you can do is like, comment, and watch the whole video when you’re able. And if things come up, no biggy.
Thank you! I appreciate you!
You sound like the Yellow Productions vlogger. Must be a San Diego accent?
I have no idea. Grew up in Pennsylvania, but had my accent drilled out of me in Speech classes in College.
Didn’t move to San Diego until I was 27. My in-laws moved to America from England in their 20s and they still sound British. 😂
So I’m not sure how much accents change to adapt to where you live.
Lingo, for sure. But I have no idea on the accent thing.