TerryLFred

My husband's family is coming from out of town in December and is going to spend the day at California Adventure and we wanted to meet them for dinner. We love Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen at Downtown Disney, but it may be a little pricy for them. Are there any other restaurants close by that would be good for a group of 13 people that has reasonable prices?

trippinkpj

There's a casual italian place at Downtown Disney, but I forget the name. House of Blues is another option.

POlson

We like Storyteller Cafe in the Grand Californian.

laurenzo

Rainforest Cafe might be a fun place

TrvlMaven

Ditto for Rainforest--lots of options and nice setting. Can accomodate groups--book ahead.

mlgb

The Rainforest Cafe is no bargain and the food is not so good.

If you don't mind meeting them inside Cal Adventure (and paying the hefty entrance fee), Wine Country Trattoria is reasonable and quite good, you can reserve ahead thru the Disney Dining line. Storyteller Cafe is conveniently close to Cal Adventure, It's pretty good,but again no bargain unless you share the huge portions, and the service can be slow.
You can browse most of the menus on-line at http://allearsnet.com/dlr/din/dining.htm

If you have any questions on any of the Disney-operated restaurants, including those in the hotels, I have been to all of them, just ask!

don76

You might try the chicken dinners at Knotts berry Farm which is nearby.
The meals are great ,in my opinion, and are very reasonabley priced.

They also have a senior special between 3 and 5 PM for folks over 60.


If interested,enter Knotts Berry Farm on the web and click Mrs Knotts chicken dinners.

ssm

DO NOT waste you money at Rainforest Cafe. As someone else pointed out, the food is not that great (actually, its pretty bad), the lines horribly long and the wait staff less than efficient.

Probably one of the more reasonably priced restaurants in the resort is Tortilla Jo's :

http://www.patinagroup.com/tortillaJos/

But frankly, you are probably better off going out of the resort, if possible, for better values.

BTW, the italian place is Naples Ristorante. It is okay but I personally did not find it that great of a value... then again, nothing in that area is a bargain!

laurenzo

I have also eaten at Naples Ristorante and was not too impressed. I recommended Rain Forest Cafe because it is fun for those who have never been. I have always had good service at a RFC and the menu selctions is pretty large. They are not inexpensive, though. Nothing on Disney property is. You may want to head down Harbor Blvd. to Mimi's Cafe or somewhere like that.

TerryLFred

Thanks everyone for your input.

I sent the link that mlgb posted to the family. They all voted for RFC (safest menu for the kids), so that's where we're going. It's not my first choice, but I'm not going to push it.

I was really looking for ideas off the Disney property (like laurenzo mentioned) because it seems all the restaurants at Downtown Disney are on the expensive side. But they picked it so that is what we'll go with. I figure I've given them the opportunity to check out the menus and prices so when the bill comes, they shouldn't be too surprised.