California Grill is located inside Disney’s Contemporary Resort on the very top floor, with stunning views of the Magic Kingdom and a pre-fixe menu of elevated California-inspired dishes. California Grill is a Disney Signature Restaurant and does not accept the Disney Dining Plan.
The décor is a nod to the 1970s architecture and style of the rest of the resort, featuring an open kitchen, natural wood tones, and mid-century lighting. The biggest draw to California Grill is the floor to ceiling windows with a one-of-a-kind view of the Magic Kingdom, making it perfect for watching the fireworks. In fact, even if your dinner reservation does not line up with the timing of the nightly fireworks, you can still come back up to the restaurant’s outside viewing area. Just remember to bring your dinner receipt.
As mentioned, California Grill is a pre-fixe menu with a set price of $89 plus tax and gratuity for adults and $39 for children ages 3 – 9. You can only order a la carte from the bar.
We started our dining adventure with California Grill’s signature cocktails. Ryno chose the Newgroni made with Monkey 47 Gin, Stirrings Pomegranate Liqueur, Aperol Liqueur, yuzu, and mint
for $18. Unfortunately, the pomegranate overpowered the Aperol, yuzu, and mint, which would have made it more unique.
I went with the Ancho Rancho Spicy Margarita for $17 and made with Patron Anejo Tequilo, ancho reyes chile liqueur, lime juice and agave nectar. To me, this was a standard spicy margarita. It had enough of the peppery flavor from both the tequila and chile liqueur but was not very spicy.
Craig selected Sonoma Maple Bourbon Old Fashioned for $19 and made with Sonoma Distilling Co. Bourbon, vanilla maple syrup, Angostura bitters and luxardo gourmet maraschino cherries with an orange twist. This was a good old fashioned, but the vanilla maple flavor was super subtle.
The meal begins with a complimentary bread service of French bread rolls, sea salt butter, and house-seasoned olive oil and sundried tomatoes.
Since California Grill is a set three-course meal, we all started with a variety of appetizers, including California Grill’s famous sushi. Ryno had the Cascade Roll made with tuna, hamachi, salmon poke, mango, shallot, yuzu-avocado puree, soy gel. He thought the presentation was great and the sushi was super fresh.
I had the Spicy Kazan Roll made with crab, shrimp, scallops, tuna, and fireball sauce. The sushi was well prepared and had plenty of the crab, shrimp, scallops, tuna. I would get both mine and Ryno’s sushi again!
Jackie selected the Sonoma Goat Cheese Raviolo made with basil-saffron pasta, tomato broth, mushroom ragout, and fennel. This is a classic California Grill dish and for good reason! Jackie commented on both the tender pasta and the creaminess of the goat cheese. This was a winner!
Craig went with the seasonal Rapini Pizza topped with broccoli rapini, candied bacon, piquillo pepper coulis. This wood-fired pizza had great flavor from both the candied bacon and the pepper coulis. In comparison to the other appetizers, this may not have been the biggest standout, but still very good.
On to our main course! Ryno had the Plancha-Seared Sea Scallops accompanied by carnival cauliflower, cauliflower puree, frisee salad, marcona almond vinaigrette. Unfortunately, this was a miss for Ryno. The portion size was small and the scallops had a sort of grainy texture making them far from the best scallops he’s had.
I went with another classic and an entrée I’ve had before – the Oak-Grilled Filet of Beef served with roasted onion cream, potato pave, charred caulilini, cabernet veal jus. I ordered my filet medium-rare and it was cooked perfectly. The onion cream base added a nice flavor and this was of course a super filling dish.
Jackie chose the Cast Iron-Grilled Pork Tenderloin plated with goat cheese polenta, mixed mushrooms, grilled asparagus, mustard greens, zinfandel glaze. The tenderloin was delicious and paired perfectly with the goat cheese polenta. This dish took a strange turn when one of the three pork medallions was actually pork belly. This was not listed on the menu in the restaurant but was online. Jackie would have preferred the option to request three pork tenderloin medallions instead of the pork belly option.
Craig selected the AAA Ahi Tuna served with bravas papas, olive tapenade, charred citrus, chorizo-saffron emulsion, fennel and radicchio salad. The ahi tuna was perfectly prepared and the combination of flavors from the citrus and chorizo-saffron was incredible. This was a standout dish Craig would order again!
At this point, we’re obviously very full but still very excited to try dessert! Jackie went with the White Chocolate Cherry Crème Brûlée made with almond chiffon, dark chocolate crémeux and served with almond crunch, morello cherry gel, and blood orange segments. This was delicious and had the cherry and orange was subtle in the right way. The white chocolate base was a little hard to cut through but otherwise a good option.
I chose the Valrhona Chocolate Ganache Torte made with dulcey ganache, passion fruit gel, whipped vanilla bean panna cotta, passion fruit sponge cake and topped with honey tuile. This dessert was the biggest disappointment at the table. The chocolate ganache was very dense and I didn’t get any of the other flavors listed in the description. It basically was like eating a chocolate bar.
Ryno had the Strawberry and Pistachio Mousse Cake – a strawberry mousse, roasted strawberries, pistachio cake, basil cornflake crunch and garnished with yuzu and strawberry gel. The portion size was small but the the mousse was delicious. The other ingredients were simply garnish so the flavor of the basil cornflake crunch and yuzu was very subtle.
Craig had the winning dessert – the Peanut and Banana Torte made with shortbread, peanut ganache, caramel, nut crumble, and caramelized Bananas. This was incredible and we only wish there had been more of it! The banana flavor was fresh and balanced out the peanut, ganache and caramel.
Time for our scores! Ryno gave the ambiance a 7 since our window seats were very warm during our early dinner, food preparation and presentation an 8, quality of taste a 6 for the lackluster cocktail and not great scallops, service a 5, and cost a 3 since the experience did not live up to the expensive price for a total score of 2.9 out of 5.
I gave the ambiance a 10 for the incredible view of Magic Kingdom and the ability to have a super unique fireworks viewing, food preparation and presentation a 10, quality of taste an 8, service a 4 for our disappointing interaction with our not-so-friendly server, and cost a 7 for a total score of 3.9 out of 5.
Craig gave the ambiance an 8 since he would have preferred to sit on the side of the restaurant closest to the open kitchen, food preparation and presentation a 9, quality of taste a 9 for the memorable ahi tuna and peanut and banana torte, service a 6, and cost a 6 for a total score of 3.8 out of 5.
Jackie gave the ambiance a 9, food preparation and presentation a 9, quality of taste an 8 but would have scored higher had the menu correctly listed the ingredients of her entrée, service a 6, and cost a 5 for the set pre-fixe menu for a total score of 3.7 out of 5.
There’s no doubt our group had very mixed reviews of California Grill despite its iconic reputation. To see more of our experience and learn about California Grill, be sure to watch our full dining review!
