The Disneyland Restaurants Bracket -- Round 3

We’re down to the Sweet Sixteen of the Disneyland restaurants bracket, which means, among other things, that we’re down to two matchups a day.

And that also means I’m going to reveal my selections for the Sweet Sixteen in this here post. Let’s go.

Day 1

(1) Napa Rose vs. (4) Cozy Cone Motel: Sometimes, the pairings just aren’t fair. Nothing against the Cozy Cone Motel. It’s gotten very far! But this has to go to Napa Rose.

(6) Hungry Bear Restaurant vs. (2) Cafe Orleans: So, both of these restaurants have elements I enjoy. When it comes to the atmosphere, I think you could almost — not quite, but almost — call this a draw. Yet even if I did call this a draw from that side of things, the actual food makes this an easy choice. Give me pommes frites any day of the week. Cafe Orleans it is.

Day 2

(1) Carthay Circle Restaurant vs. (5) Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe: The first three matchups, to me, are all going to the high seed. I like Jolly Holiday well enough, but I would give this to Carthay Circle for its background music alone.

(3) The Tropical Hideaway vs. (2) Goofy’s Kitchen: Finally, we come to a lower seed winning. The Tropical Hideaway is just about everything I want from a Disney eating spot. The food is good — Dole whips alone are to die for — but the atmosphere is also killer. You get a great view into the Jungle Cruise from the seating area, along with an Audio-Animatronic talking bird (Rosita, of course). I like Goofy’s Kitchen well enough, but the atmosphere is hectic and uninspired. I vote for the hideaway.

Day 3

(1) Blue Bayou Restaurant vs. (5) River Belle Terrace: This is a tough selection. As you can tell by this point in the overall bracket, a restaurant’s atmosphere and theming goes a long way for me. With that in mind, of course, you’d likely think this was easy. Blue Bayou, right? Not every restaurant can claim to be placed at the start of the best theme-park attraction in existence. But there’s something delightful to me about how River Belle Terrace is perfectly placed at the corner of three different lands, sharing space with Adventureland, New Orleans Square, and Frontierland. And yet…overpriced though it may be, only one of these restaurants has ever served a Monte Cristo sandwich. Blue Bayou wins.

(3) Lamplight Lounge vs. (2) Carnation Cafe: I’ll be real with you and admit that this is a very tough selection for me too. On one hand, we have an original Disneyland restaurant, something that Walt Disney enjoyed himself. The history of Carnation Cafe is hard to ignore, and even though the current iteration is different from the version that existed in the 1950s and 1960s, the food is solid and the ambience is quite effective. But I’m giving this — by a hair — to Lamplight Lounge, for two reasons. One, I think the food and alcoholic beverages there are quite good, and getting to eat on Paradise Pier itself adds something to the experience. Two, having also dined at Ariel’s Grotto, the character-dining restaurant that Lamplight Lounge replaced, I can tell you that the redesign was a massive success. So the Lamplight it is.

Day 4

(1) Storytellers Cafe vs. (4) Bengal Barbecue: This could be an all-Adventureland quarter of the Elite Eight, but not in my voting. I like Bengal Barbecue well enough, but Storytellers Cafe perfectly captures both the mood and the food of the DCA area (I’m including the Grand Californian Hotel here, because the restaurant in question is a stone’s throw from the Grizzly Peak section of the park) so well that I can’t deny its power. And man, I tell you, that corn chowder is to die for.

(3) Carthay Circle Lounge vs. (2) Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar: Just because this won’t be an all-Adventureland quarter of the Elite Eight doesn’t mean I’m giving Trader Sam the cold shoulder. I like the CCL well enough, but Trader Sam’s is a triumph of theming, of food and drink, and of overall spirit.