Carthay Circle Restaurant — Restaurant in Anaheim

A very un-magical experience. Let’s start with the fact that we waited 25 minutes at the pedestal in front waiting for the app to give us the second notice to go our table because no one told us while we were standing there that you have to check in inside and not with the app. Even when I asked to use the restroom saying we were still waiting for our table, the woman at the pedestal didn’t say anything about having to check in inside and just directed me to the restroom. It wasn’t until I let them know we had be waiting a long time did they tell us to check in inside. It was my daughter’s 16th birthday, and she was so excited to eat inside the beautiful restaurant with her friends and had put in a lot of effort getting the reservation months in advance for all of us only to be escorted through the main room to a side room that could have been any place in the park. Then, when we wanted to order the fancier drinks on the menu, we were told they were taking 15 minutes, and the waiter tried to talk out of our orders telling me I should order wine instead. We said we would wait, and the drinks actually came much faster than he said. We were also accommodated for a vegan version of the pasta special, but when we asked if one of the girls could have an adult size of a children’s item and look at that menu, we were told, “no, only 12 and under.” Then, we were condescendingly directed towards appetizers or the soup for each of us to eat, telling us they were less expensive, or we could split a meal! I explained it was not the price or money, happy to pay an adult price, but the fact that she liked simpler foods and didn’t care for the adult menu. We had no problem at other Disney restaurants accommodating her throughout our trip, but he said his manager wouldn’t let him, strict policy. At that point, I decided there was no way I was ordering the steak because they didn’t deserve that kind of business from me. We said we needed a few minutes more than to order, and he told us, “well, the food is taking 30 to come out of the kitchen once you order (more like 40 minutes btw!)” When he came back, we ordered her the pasta special which she absolutely hated and kept looking over her shoulder at a boy clearly over 12 behind us eating Mac n cheese. So, I called the waiter over and explained this isn’t working, and she hates the pasta (which was brownish gray because cooked with portobello mushrooms and had a ton of squash vegetables in a fancy sauce—just the worst for a picky eater). I explained she wasn’t eating for what was supposed to be a special birthday dinner. I asked if should could please just get the Mac n cheese. He tells me he’s sorry, but there is no Mac n cheese. I incredulously said we just watched the boy behind us eat it, so whatever that pasta was is what we would like. He says, “oh, well, that was the pasta with the cheese sauce.” Seriously?! I said, “that is what we would like to order.” Then, he finally agreed to ask his manager. He left and came back and said she could have that pasta, but by then, the rest of us had all finished our food. And, the birthday dinner was pretty much ruined. Plus, none of the food was that great or memorable, just okay, not even the bread everyone raved about online, except my daughter really enjoyed that pasta special. We also watched a table send back their pork chop and some really angry families visibly not happy with how long the food was taking . This is definitely not the quality of Blue Bayou food, which is where we usually eat but was being refurbished. Our lunch at Cafe Orleans was much better and service impeccable. The chocolate dessert my daughter ordered was definitely the best part of the meal. The waiter brought it with a little candle, lit it and walked away, which we thought was nice until just minutes later he returned with a special little ice cream birthday dessert with actual numbered candles on it for the age of the child across from us and stayed to sing happy birthday with the other family! If you want a magical birthday or even a great meal,...

Cocktails (5/5): I had the Carthay Manhattan while she had the Pisco Sour. Being in a Disney park, I never anticipated their cocktails would be so... potent. I'm glad to say that that mouse hasn't disappointed us in the booze department, because man o man my Manhattan tasted like it was pure liquor and not watered down at all! Even after the high ball ice cube melted all the way down, I had every drip of my drink tasting just as delicious as the first! The lady that took our drink orders said that the Carthay Manhattan is by far the best Manhattan she's ever had and highly recommends it, and I have to say, I'm 100% in agreement with her!

Carthay Signature Fried Biscuits (5/5): Although most of the menu gets rotated out throughout the months, these heavy fried bad boys will always be on top of the menu. Each order gets you 7 golf balled sized bread filled with gooey melted cheese with bits of bacon and jalpeno inside. If you want, lather up these things with the provided side of apricot honey butter; but to be honest, I loved it already without it! The only downside to these things are they get really heavy and will ruin your appetite if you don't pace or limit your self to just a couple. Be weary and take some of them home if it's just two people in your party... but don't worry, they're still just as good if you pop the leftovers into a toaster oven!

Fire Cracker Duck Wings (3/5): We were both disappointed with this starter, especially with all the pictures and recommendations of people saying to try it out. The nice thing is, you get 7 wings in an order so coughing up $14 for this dish really isn't too bad of a deal. Personally, the moment these things landed on our table, I felt like they had the same smell of buffalo wings hot sauce. It has a bit of a kick to it ("a bit" being subjective since the two of us couldn't agree on if it was spicy or not), and you definitely can sense the Sriracha hot sauce. Maybe this dish would have been mind blowing and exquisite to us if we weren't Asian and knew that duck wings could be made to be so much better than this.

Chilled "Del Pacifico" Shrimp on Hot Gorditas (4/5): All I have to say is "wow!" Just reading the description of this dish on the menu caught our attention and we started drooling the moment it was in front of our faces. I don't know what exactly the Gorditas are made out of or how they were made, but I know for a fact that I wished there was more than just 3 of these things that came in an order! Such a simple idea and concept, but so amazing from the crunch and flavor.

Grilled Angus Beef Ribeye (3/5): Ever since we celebrated our first anniversary at the California Grill Restaurant at the Disney World resort, we have had very high expectations when we get any steak from a Disney establishment. I'm disappointed to say that although the presentation of this entree was beautiful, the taste and texture of the steak itself was a let down. In fact, I felt like the potatoes outshone the steak which says something in my opinion... you don't want to go to a concert or show and having the highlight of the evening to be the opening acts instead of the headliner don't you? shakes head But to be fair, I'm fairly certain that the cut of the steak has a role into why we didn't feel like it compared to the filet mignon cut we had at California Grill. Even though we ordered this Ribeye rare, it still came out to look medium-rare throughout the meat with the exception of the thicker middle parts of the steak.

Warm Dulce de Leche Marshmallow Turnover (5/5): After looking through the menu while in the queue for California Screamin', we both agreed that the Marshmallow Turnover was THE dessert to get for our first visit to Carthay Circle. Unfortunately, the ice cream wasn't made out of popcorn, but that sure didn't prevent me from eating (and almost licking) every last drop of syrup and melted marshmallow...

We make it a habit to dine at Carthay Circle when visiting Disneyland/DCA. The first three times were fantastic, from the service to the atmosphere and food. This time was a different story, and has unfortunately soured our desire to return.

The girl working check in was rude, short, and surprisingly unhelpful for what is supposed to be a finer dining restaurant. Unfortunately I didn't think to get her name. We arrived for our 4PM dinner at 3:45, as the Disneyland app said we could check in early. She informed us that there were two separate restaurants now, and we would have to wait until 4 to check in at the other desk personally, despite having checked in on the app and with her. She instructed us to wait outside until that time. Less than 5 minutes later, an employee informed us that our table was ready, and took us in to be seated downstairs. Each previous time we have eaten at Carthay Circle, they have seated us downstairs and taken our drink order until our table upstairs was ready.

Not a minute later, as we were reviewing the menu, the girl from check in came up to our table, and told us, "I can't have you sitting here." She informed us that this was a separate restaurant and we didn't have a reservation for both tables. As my wife began to inform her that we were seated by an employee, she interrupted and told us that that employee had "made a mistake seating us here." OK, no problem, but it probably should have been apologetic instead of accusatory. We didn't know that the Lounge had split off into a separate restaurant, and we certainly didn't decide to seat ourselves there. I should also mention that every table downstairs was empty except one or two.

After checking in (for the third time,) we waited outside for our table to be ready, and discussed whether or not we really wanted to chance the rest of our anniversary dinner with such poor service. We decided to stay for our meal.

I'm glad we did, as both the gentleman who sat us and our server Tina were decent. The food and drinks were great, save for my porkchop being undercooked for my taste. I'm sure it was prepared correctly, and my wife enjoyed the fish as well as the mashed potatoes.

Our previous visit had two drinks each for a total of four, and an appetizer along with the two entrees and mashed potatoes. This time we only got two drinks, two entrees, and the mashed potatoes for about the same total cost. We noticed the drinks had increased to $19+ from $14/$15. Quite a price increase, but I wouldn't have minded had the experience been the same.

The food and drinks are worthy of four stars, even at an increased cost. Unfortunately the poor first impression and bad attitude of the check in girl negatively influenced our meal. I see in other reviews that people have had a similar experience, so I can't just chalk it up to a bad day as I...