Top Restaurants and Food Guide for California Adventure Park

Below is a quick reference list of our favorite restaurants and food inside California Adventure Park. We have not tried every item on every menu. We do our best to sample a lot. Below is the food that we’ve tried and can recommend as our favorites.

This list is for inside the California Adventure Park only. Check out our other posts.

We also have a post that ranks every Table Service Restaurant across all locations and 3 posts about ranking all Quick Service Restaurants:

We don’t have a fixed number of recommendations for each category. We include the restaurants and foods that we recommend, and that’s not an even number for each group.

Best Table Service Lunch/Dinner

Carthay Circle Lounge (Buena Vista Street) – Moroccan Roasted Chicken Meatballs, Bao Buns, Strozzapreti Pasta, Vietnamese Twice-Cooked Beef Lettuce Wraps, Malai Kofta Potato
Lamplight Lounge (Pixar Pier) – Charbroiled Cheddar Burger, Potato Skins, Tuna Tataki Salad

We don’t include Carthay Circle Restaurant because we find the Lounge to be much better. It’s a totally different menu.

Best Quick Service Lunch/Dinner

Lamplight Lounge Boardwalk Dining (Pixar Pier) (join walk up list on App) – Everything is excellent. Nachos, Tacos, Sliders, Wings. This is not the same menu as Lamplight Lounge downstairs which is Table Service.
Pym’s Test Kitchen (Avenger’s Campus) – Pepper Particle Pasta, Humongous Taco Salad, Choco-Smash Candy Bar, Reactor Melt, Quantum Pretzel
Aunt Cass Cafe (Sanfransokyo Square) – Clam Chowder in Bread Bowl, Turkey Pesto Club

Best Quick Meals for Kids (or Adults) who Like Basic Foods

Kid’s Pasta at Lamplight Lounge Boardwalk Dining on Pixar Pier (join walk up list on App)
Kids Meals Subatomic Chicken Sandwich or Grilled Cheese from Pym’s Test Kitchen at Avenger’s Campus
Chicken tenders from Smokejumper’s Grill or Flo’s V8 Cafe in Cars Land
Pasta from Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta at Paradise Park
Kid’s Mac & Cheese from Flo’s V8 Cafe in Cars Land
Creamy Mac & Cheese in Bread Bowl from Aunt Cass Cafe in Sanfransokyo Square

We didn’t mention any hamburgers because the Quick Service burgers in the Park are not high quality. If you must have a hamburger then Hungry Bear, Galactic Grill, and Red Rose Tavern serve them. Downtown Disney has good quick service hamburgers. The GCH Craftsman Grill at the Grand Californian has a great hamburger but it’s more than $20.

Best Quick Service Breakfast

Breakfast Burritos or the Breakfast Sandwich from Smokejumper’s Grill in Grizzly Peak. Our favorite burrito is the Chorizo, but their Classic Breakfast Burrito is also good.
Cinna-Pym Toast 2.0 from Pym’s Test Kitchen in Avenger’s Campus
Mickey-Shaped Waffles and an Affogato and maybe a milkshake from Schmoozies on Buena Vista Street
Cheddar Cheese Stick or Hot Link Corn Dog from Corn Dog Castle in Paradise Gardens
Impossible Breakfast Sha-warm-up at Shawarma Palace Cart in Avenger’s Campus
Cappuccino Cart on Pixar Pier has a seasonal Breakfast Burrito that’s usually good. The Smokejumpers burritos are better.

Best Table Service Breakfast

Lamplight Lounge Brunch on Pixar Pier is only available on Fridays-Sundays
For Character Breakfasts, there is nothing in the Park but the Disney Hotels have some options.

Best Sweet Snacks

Warm Chocolate Chip Cookie from Jack-Jack Cookie Num Nums on Pixar Pier
Ice Cream from Ghirardelli Fountain and Chocolate Shop in Sanfransokyo Square
Churro Toffee or Chocolate-Covered Marshmallow Wands from Bing Bong’s on Pixar Pier or Trolley Treats on Buena Vista Street
Non-Dairy Soft Serve from Adorable Snowman Frosted Treats on Pixar Pier
Choco-Smash Candy Bar from Pym’s Test Kitchen in Avenger’s Campus
Churros from Churro Carts – there are many specialty toppings and dips offered which change often. Different carts have different options. So this is a pro thing that locals do – they try all the specialty Churro toppings and dips. The Disneyland App has the menu for each cart. They always have a plain one though, so you don’t need to check menus for that.
Caramel Popcorn from the Popcorn Cart near Carthay Circle on Buena Vista Street
Grapes and Pineapple Spears from Fruit Carts (Fillmore’s Taste In (Cars Land), Fairfax Market (Hollywood Land), Mortimer’s Market (Buena Vista Street)

Best Savory Snacks

Quantum Pretzel with a few orders of Beer Cheese from Pym’s Test Kitchen in Avenger’s Campus
Popcorn from Popcorn Carts around the Park
Chicken Shawarma Wrap from Shawarma Palace in Avenger’s Campus
Chili Con Queso from Cozy Cone Motel 3 in Cars Land
Bacon Mac ‘n’ Cheese from Cozy Cone Motel 3 in Cars Land
Cheddar Cheese Stick, Corn Dog, or Hot Link Corn Dog from Corn dog Castle in Paradise Gardens
Potato Bites and Beer Cheese Sauce from Pym’s Test Kitchen in Avenger’s Campus
Mickey Pretzel (plain, cream cheese filled, or jalapeno cheese filled). We prefer plain because the cream cheese is on the sweet side. Available at Bayside Brews in Paradise Gardens.

Best Salads and Vegetarian Meals

Always confirm plant-based foods using Disney menus.

Humongous Taco Salad from Pym’s Test Kitchen (has chicken) in Avenger’s Campus
Impossible Victory Falafel from Shawarma Palace in Avenger’s Campus
Cheddar Cheese Stick from Corn Dog Castle in Paradise Gardens
Soba Noodle Salad from Aunt Cass Cafe in Sanfransokyo Square
Cobb de Ville Salad from Flo’s V8 Cafe (has meat on it) in Car’s Land

Best Alcohol

Carthay Circle Lounge on Buena Vista Street, but you need a reservation or to join the wait list for dining
Lamplight Lounge on Pixar Pier – place walk-up orders in Boardwalk Dining area or eat at Boardwalk Dining or Lamplight Lounge Table Service downstairs
Pym’s Tasting Lab in Avenger’s Campus – our favorite is the X-Periment and R&D Martini

Best Coffee

Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Cafe on Buena Vista Street is a Starbucks, but they don’t accept mobile orders

We don’t enjoy Joffrey’s Coffee which is what’s served throughout all other locations in the Park.

Where to Go if Everything’s Busy

Always check what’s Available Now on Mobile Order
Our best secret place is the GCH Craftsman Grill in the Grand Californian Hotel which is connected to the Park – warning though – it is expensive but it’s high quality
Studio Catering Co in Hollywood Land is tucked away and the menu changes often with the season, but they usually have a good, creative burrito of some sort
Shawarma Palace in Avenger’s Campus has Chicken or Falafel wraps that are technically snacks, but are very satisfying, and it’s a quick cart location which is usually not busy
Corn Dog Castle in Paradise Gardens has a small menu and good Corn Dogs and the line usually moves fast
We don’t love the Chicken Drumstick Box at Poultry Palace on Pixar Pier but it’s usually a short line (they have Turkey Legs too which we don’t love)

Summary

This does not cover seasonal food. There are so many dishes that come and go with different seasons like Halloween, Christmas and other times.

These are our opinions and yours may be different, of course. We have not tried every menu item at every restaurant. We only include our favorites based on what we’ve tried.

Thanks for reading this and please check out our full website for lots more content. We at the Bippity Club wish you the very best and hope you enjoy awesome food at Disneyland!