Napa Rose
Napa Rose is located in Disney’s Grand California Adventure hotel and is known for its award-winning wine list and exemplary service. The food has a lot of inspirations from California’s fresh, farm-to-table qualities. This is arguably Disneyland’s premier restaurant that many, including some of my local family and friends, visit just for the food. I wanted to try this out to see how it compared to New York City.
Ambiance & Service
In our trip to Disneyland in 2019, we made a reservation here a month in advance on a Monday night thinking there will be a lot of people. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), there was practically no one in here. The dining room was pretty sparse.
However in our trip to Disneyland in April 2023, the room was fairly full. Unfortunately, they sat us to the right of the entrance in the bar area. The ambiance was not as great as our previous trip, so we made extra efforts to focus on the food. The service though was pretty good, albeit our particular waiter tried a bit too hard with their corny jokes.
Food
The bread selection was great. I loved the sourdough a lot, and how it all came out pretty hot.
The grilled diver scallop was good too. Scallop was cooked nicely.
I don’t quite remember the pasta with braised beef except that it was really good. The noodles had a lot of bounce and was cooked perfectly al dente.
Both salads for me were unmemorable because after all they are just salads.
The mushroom chowder seemed pretty grotesque to me because I hate mushrooms. But for those that liked mushrooms, I can say it was very mushroom-y.
The seafood cioppino wasn’t quite like a cioppino. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it more than the mushroom chowder. The seafood in this was all pretty fresh and tender with no fishiness within taste.
The prime new york steak was cooked perfectly at a medium rare temperature, but I recall that I didn’t like the green onion sauce on top.
The duck seemed a little sad. It was literally like a few pieces, but it was pretty good as well.
The filet mignon was decent for what it was. I definitely prefer the sauce that covered this over the green onion sauce.
The berkshire pork loin wasn’t very good because it was very dry or overcooked. The guest told me it got better as you got closer to the center, but agreed that the outside wasn’t tasty.
I can’t recall anything about the desserts except they were all pretty good. The chocolates all had a perfect sweetness to it. I can’t remember much of the white logs in the other picture except that this was obviously not chocolaty at all but more fruity flavors.
April 18, 2023 - The below is a followup visit
The Napa Passion ($17 - right) came with X Fusion, Parrot Bay rum, pineapple juice, and strawberry puree. This was surprisingly very balanced and wasn’t heavy in alcohol at all.
The glass of Enroute Pinot Noir ($28 - left) came from Sonoma County the Russian River Valley. This was very good and a perfect match to all my courses throughout the night. I’ve marked this on my Vivino app as something I will look out for in a Pinot Noir. It was very well balanced in acidity, tannin, and smoothness.
This is the bottle of Enroute Les Pommiers Pinot Noir. I tend to use these bottle pictures and add it to my Vivino account for future reference or research.
The Focaccia ($18) came hot and fresh out of the oven with 3 separate dips. I don’t remember offhand what the 2 white dips were, but the red dip was basically sun dried tomato paste. As you can imagine, it was very powerful and flavorful of all those wonderful tomato flavors. The bread itself was delicious with the seasonings. If it’s a splurge night, definitely consider the bread.
The First Season Asparagus came with asparagus “panna cotta” and meyer lemon vinaigrette. This was my first course (out of 4) in “The Vintner’s Table” Spring prix fixe ($125). The asparagus was very delicious as best as it can be, and it was the epitome of California’s farm to table.
The Grilled Spanish Octopus ($24) came with potato fava and green garlic puree. The octopus was cooked perfectly, and the garlic puree was fantastic.
The Warm Bone Marrow Custard came with an oxtail marmalade and spring ramps. This was my second course (out of 4) in “The Vintner’s Table” Spring prix fixe ($125). The oxtail marmalade was incredibly rich and fatty, but it had really excellent and balanced flavors. It was strange to me how little bread they give you as scooping it a spoon was just too concentrated for me. Luckily I had some remaining focaccia bread, and I used that. Even then I was for certain worried how my stomach would behave later.
We were all given a complimentary cucumber lime sorbet with mint palette cleanser. This of course tasted exactly what it says, and for obvious reasons, it works well to reset your palette before the main entrees.
The Pan Roasted Veal Chop came basted in chili miso butter and lemongrass roasted carrots. This was my third course (out of 4) in “The Vintner’s Table” Spring prix fixe ($125). This was arguably one of the best things I have ever eaten. The veal chop was so very soft at the touch of the knife, and it was incredibly flavorful in whatever concoction this was supposed to be. The steak was extremely juicy and had a really great balance of all that salt, spicy, tangy, oily flair that I just cannot describe in words concisely. This was not available via a’la carte, and I specifically sprung for the prix fixe menu for it. I was not disappointed, and this can easily best most steak dishes in NYC easily. I would definitely recommend this if you are as big of a fan of veal chops as I am. Veal chops are one of those things where very few restaurants cook it well, but when they do it’s amazing. Whoever cooked and prepared this dish here in Napa Rose has completely overachieved my expectations.
The Pan Seared Beef Filet Mignon ($62) came with braised beef cheek ragout and a cabernet jus. The filet mignon was cooked a perfect medium rare, and just about everything about this was very delectable.
The Raspberry Pistachio Sunshine Tart came with coconut sorbet and raspberry coulis. This was one of my table’s fourth and final course (out of 4) in “The Vintner’s Table” Spring prix fixe ($125). This all tasted really good as expected giving you a very fruitful and light dessert that wasn’t excessively sweet.
The Brazilian Itakuja came with double fermented passion fruit chocolate crunch bomb. This was my fourth and final course (out of 4) in “The Vinter’s Table” Spring prix fixe ($125). I’m not sure what about this was Brazilian, but the bouncing back and forth between the chocolate crunch and passion fruit was very delightful. It’s bold flavors in both, but when you bring it together, it becomes very balanced between the tart and sweet notes.
Lastly, they gave us some complimentary chocolate brittle to close the night. This was pretty good and albeit very rich. I could only eat a small piece before thirsting for some milk.
Final Verdict
Compared to New York City, a lot of the prices here were cheaper for a “luxury” dining experience. For my first visit, I was surprised that the food was still pretty good for that price point, and I’d definitely come back when I dine at Disneyland again. And when I did come back the second time, I was completely blown away. We highly recommend Napa Rose if you are visiting Disneyland and desire a nice restaurant experience, or even if you want to get an idea of what good food tastes like.
Yelp Jabs
It was one of the best meals of my life. After 1,500 reviews, and over 5,000 photos on Yelp, I just don’t have anything else to add :)
I can’t say that this wasn’t good, but this dinner was not even close to the best meal of my life. I don’t think this Yelp Elitist has a full palette after 1,500 reviews and 5,000 photos. A prime example not to take a Yelp review semi seriously.
Didn’t actually eat here, but we did come for drinks.
Can you imagine if this Yelp Elitist rated this restaurant poor for the drinks? Well at least they were honest in their review.
Revisions
- Apr 18, 2023 - Added second visit with food pictures.
- Feb 25, 2019 - Initial revision.