Blue Bayou Review – Disneyland
Blue Bayou is quite possibly the most famous restaurant in Disneyland. If you’ve ever ridden the Pirates of the Caribbean, you’ve seen it as you glide through the first part of the ride. I’ve heard many people remark that they’d love to eat there someday, and I’m here to tell you, do it! Plan for it on your next Disneyland trip, because it really is a great experience.
Blue Bayou – Disneyland vs. Disneyworld
One big difference between Disney World and Disneyland is the comparable lack of sit down restaurants in Disneyland. For those who really enjoy a nice meal in a restaurant, there just aren’t as many choices. And as such, I think a lot of people just go with the flow and eat the quick service options. But if you are someone who really enjoys good food, Disney theming in your surroundings and nice place to cool off while you eat, you will like Blue Bayou.
Blue Bayou Reservations
Scheduling a reservation is a must. If you’ve booked your vacation with me, this is one of the things I’ll take care of for you, of course. But just showing up hoping for a table? Unless it’s a super low season, I wouldn’t chance that. When we arrived for our reservation, there was a line of people trying to get in for lunch and all of them were told there were no openings.
Inside, the restaurant is set to a nighttime Louisiana theme, along the bayou, complete with hanging paper lanterns and fireflies over the water. If you are lucky enough to get a table along the railing at the water, you’ll see the boats drift by as well.
The menu is definitely higher priced that your quick service options, but the food is also substantially more interesting and higher quality. The menu was just recently updated, including new (delicious) sweet potato biscuits in the bread bowl. We had to request a refill of them to keep everyone at our table happy!
Blue Bayou Menu
The most famous menu item is the Monte Cristo Sandwich. Ok, now I realize that doesn’t sound very fancy. But this is unlike any I have seen. And it was AMAZING. Seriously, my husband and I both ordered it and we were talking about it all day, that’s how good it was. It was almost like eating a beignet sandwich, it was so fluffy and crispy all around! It came with two dipping sauces, raspberry and vanilla bean, which were a perfect compliment to the flavors of the sandwich. It came with a spear of fruit, too. It wasn’t just like grapes and strawberries, either, it was interesting fruit! And, it was preceeded by a really delicious (and nicely presented) salad.
You may think this looks big enough to share, and you’d be right. The only downside of this restaurant is that there is a split plate fee of $15, so sharing may not be worth it to you.
And, of course, I’ve always got kids in mind when eating at restaurants. The kids menu here was a nice departure from the constant mac and cheese or chicken nuggets found at the quick service locations in Disneyland. My daughter had the baked chicken and pasta, and my son had a steak. Yes, the kids menu has steak! He loved it. You can see that the kids meals also came with a nice portion of grapes. Not shown here is the appetizer for the kids which is included in the price, which was a nice plate of carrot and celery sticks with ranch dressing.
The only slightly negative note I had regarding Blue Bayou was that service seemed very slow. So to that end, do plan on using this restaurant as a nice, cool break in your busy Disneyland day, and don’t book it at a time when you hope to rush off to do something else. Give yourself time to enjoy the ambiance and the delicious food!
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