I’m so excited to finally be writing this review. This is one of my very favorite restaurants in Disneyland (are you surprised that I love a steakhouse?), and in terms of history and excellent food, it’s a must-do.
Atmosphere
Located in the Disneyland Hotel, Steakhouse 55 has been around for eons, though not always under its current moniker. Until about five years ago, the place was known as Granville’s, named for the wife of Disneyland Hotel creator Jack Wrather — who himself is a very complicated and interesting part of Disneyland history. And history has always been made here.
Photo of Walt
The Steakhouse 55 Lounge and Restaurant feel like they’re from another era — classic Hollywood glamour can be felt throughout the place. Big names and big deals could — and still can — be found here from time to time.
Lounge
Steakhouse 55 Dining Room
Blown-up black-and-white photos on the walls depict VIPs from classic film days, and you can’t help but get the feeling that these walls have heard some fascinating discussions about the state and future of the Walt Disney Company.
Steakhouse 55 Tables
For those of us who grew up with Disney World and didn’t have access to the history of Disneyland, this place is kind of like a shrine.
Eats
Steakhouse 55 has updated their dinner menu since we ate there, but luckily everything we ate is still on the docket! Here’s the menu we had when we were there…
click image for larger version
As you can see, the classic steakhouse necessities are all here. This is a meat and potatoes kind of place — which you know I love! We started with a gorgeous loaf of bread, and things only got better after this…
Bread
My husband had a caesar salad — you’re not surprised — but the topping and cheese crisp were interesting additions!
Caesar Salad
I dove right into my favorite steak — the bone-in rib-eye — as soon as I saw it on the menu. And I special-ordered those potatoes gratin as well! Both were delicious. I like my steak slightly fatty (I know, I’m strange), so this rib-eye was perfect. The potatoes gratin had a fantastic, strong flavor — very hard to get in a cheese dish these days. For some reason, restaurants keep shying away from strong cheeses. As far as I’m concerned, if they’re going to be cooked, you’ve gotta go stronger or you don’t taste anything!
Bone-in Ribeye
Chef's Potato Stack Au Gratin
We also ordered the filet mignon with the Yukon Gold garlic mashed potatoes. Both winners again. The filet was stunning — perfectly cooked and extremely tender!
Filet Mignon
Yukon Gold, Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Next up: desserts!
click image for larger version
click image for larger version
I snapped up that “Bonita” Velvet Chocolate Bar, also named for Wrather’s wife. I’ve recently been gravitating toward flourless chocolate cakes and this was no mistake. The depth and richness of this dessert was phenomenal. Plus — the added bit of ganache (or whatever it was) in the middle of the chocolate bar took it over the top. A lovely dessert. I loved that it was presented in the shape of a bar of gold.
My husband ordered the creme brulee and was very impressed as well.
Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee
Overall
The words I would use to describe this restaurant are strength, simplicity, and history. Nothing’s flashy here. They do things very well and don’t see the need to be brash or in-your-face with decor or menu. Service is excellent. It’s a reliable restaurant — and you just don’t find that often enough these days.
What do you think about Steakhouse 55? We’d love to know if you agree or disagree with our review. Let us know in the comments section below!
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
The potato stack au gratin looks delicious.
And for a steakhouse, the prices really aren’t that bad. I might need to go there once again.
It must be the caveman in me, but my mouth is definitely watering! This is classic–the kind of place my parents would have gone to for a night out forty years ago (when dinner out at a nice restaurant meant you were probably going to see a steak on your plate) and, for my money, that is quite a compliment . I’m one of those WDW people on the East coast, so I can only dream of a visit. And, you’re definitely not strange: fat is a flavor enhancer of the first order, and any steak worthy of the name should have some! And while I’m at it, let me also say that you’re right about cheese: the stronger the better!
My husband and I went to Steakhouse 55 during our anniversary trip to Disneyland last October. We both loved it. We both went with the prix fixe menu and loved everything about it.
I personally loved the cheesy crisp on top of the Caesar salad and I remember these wonderful sauces that came on the plate with the tart for dessert. And of course, the steaks were wonderful.
We’d definitely go back to this restaurant. The atmosphere was amazing and I loved the decor. All the black and white photos! I loved it!
OH MY! Everything looks so lovely!! I can’t wait to try it out!!…and now I’m hungry…
Photo of Walt? You’ve got my attention. 😉
For a high-quality steakhouse, they definitely have the menu choices perfected to suit to most every need. I know the steakhouses here usually only have, well, steak on the menu with no other quality choices if you don’t like steak.
I tend to find it funny that steakhouses usually resort to potatoes for side dishes, but it does fulfill the carbohydrate and protein balance when eating a steak. Or everything just goes better with potatoes…
How big was the Crème brûlée? It looks like they may have browned it a bit too much.
I LOVE Steakhouse 55. I had the Prime Rib; it was the best steak I’ve had. Seriously.
The night we were there, service was slow. Real slow. Something was amiss in the kitchen. The waitress kept apologizing for it; we ended up getting 25% off our bill plus free creme brulee for dessert. We weren’t planning to have it but glad we did; it was delicious! Ours had some cookie/sugar sculpture surrounding it also.
If there’s a place I need to go back to in Disneyland, it’s Steakhouse 55.
I absolutely LOVE this restaurant! We’ve never eaten there for dinner though…only breakfast, which was amazing every time we went! We really loved the simplicity of the food there and the prices were very reasonable considering that there were 8 of us and the only other option was Goofy’s Kitchen (which is REALLY fun too albeit pricey)! Thanks for writing this review, AJ! When we make it out to Disneyland again, we’ll definitely have to try dinner there! It looks deelish!
We dined here on our trip to DL 3 years ago. Had a great experience, and can’t wait to go back in December:)
Can you believe I grew up in the shadows of Disneyland & have NEVER been to ANY of the restaurants??Well except QS places in the park but this place looks like it could be a contender for our yearly steak date night ; ) I love old school places that feel like Sinatra should be singing by the piano!
The rib-eye is the greatest steak ever which god made for us true steak lovers. The ring of fat just keeps it so moist and it just has so much flavor. However, the picture I keep going back to is that bread. It just looks like a fantastic loaf of bread. I have been known to make a meal or two out of nothing but bread at home.
Do you thnk it is kid friendly? Do they serve lunch? Thanks for the great review.
Steakhouse 55 is our ace in the hole when we’re at Disneyland and want a really good meal without a reservation.
They also serve a dang fine breakfast—we ate there Sunday and were as impressed as ever. I just wish they did real hashbrowns instead of breakfast potatoes.
Steakhouse 55 has been one of my favorite restaurants since it was Granville’s, and it’s become one of my wife’s favorites, as well.
I’ve never had a bad meal there. Last time we went, I had the prime rib (as usual; I’m a creature of habit). My wife, a vegetarian, had the halibut, and after trying a bite, I began to seriously consider the possibility of going to a steakhouse and not ordering a steak. It melted in my mouth, and the flavor was fantastic. We also really love the crab cake appetizer.
Every time I’ve gone, I’ve seen families with kids, so it must be relatively kid-friendly. I’ve also been impressed that the kids are very well-behaved. We go to Disneyland expecting to see kids and families, but we expect a quieter meal at Steakhouse 55 or Napa Rose than, say, Storytellers or Goofy’s Kitchen. It’s nice to see families apparently preparing their kids to behave appropriately at a fine-dining restaurant.
Last time we visited Disneyland in April, we tried breakfast at Steakhouse 55 for the first time. What a revelation! It was only us and one other family that morning, and the prices were very reasonable. I had the eggs benedict (again, creature of habit), and my wife had either French toast or pancakes with bananas foster syrup. My eggs were fantastic, but, once again, I was jealous of her choice. It was every bit as satisfying as breakfast at Storytellers (our usual haunt) but quieter and less expensive than the buffet. Highly recommended!
I went to Steakhouse 55 on my honeymoon, and we left shortly after being seated. Although the hostess was very polite, the server took 15 minutes before even approaching our table and actually scoffed at us. Granted, we had just come from the park and were wearing shorts and t shirts, but it was disappointing to be treated so rudely after the server took so long to get to us in the first place, especially while on our honeymoon (and yes, we were wearing the pins that clearly identified us as newlyweds). The atmosphere was beautiful, and the pictures of Walt were breathtaking as a fan, but the service had us walking out the door before we even got to try the food.
@Krystina That’s a shame, that their service seemed so neglectful. My wife used to work in the fine dining industry, and I know that like with any job, some days are better than others. Some days, everything goes right. Others, there’s problems in the kitchen, or a server is having a bad day, or whatever. But the restaurants always charge the same, so it’s fair for customers to expect a consistent high level of service and a consistent level of quality in their food.
I do know there’s one server I’ve seen there since I’ve been going (almost ten years now), whose badge says he’s from New York or Boston or somewhere back east. He comes across as very stiff and reserved, and the first time I had him as a server, I thought he was pretty unfriendly. But when he was serving my dessert, he actually cracked some hilarious joke that I don’t remember, without breaking his deadpan persona. Having said all that, he never did anything that came across as scoffing; that sort of behavior is inexcusable.
That looks and sounds so wonderful!! I hate to say that we have never eaten at any of the hotels cause we really only get to go to Disneyland for sure once a year. Even though we live in CA it’s still kind of far (about 2 hours on a good day) just to have dinner and come back… though I will still try to convince Andy to do that someday, LoL!
Napa Rose gets so much attention, but I strongly feel Steakhouse 55 is the Disneyland Resort’s best restaurant.
Krystina, I’m sorry you had a bad experience. And Disney certainly won’t turn away the money.
But wearing shorts and tee shirts into the this type of restaurant is not advised, even within the Disneyland Resort area.
IMO, It’s not fair to those who are trying to have a special dinner. Kinda cheapens the experience.
I’m glad the server did the job the hostess should have done.
You need to write a review on steakhouse 55 breakfast
AJ, I couldn’t agree with you more. We ate at Steakhouse 55 last Thursday for my husband’s 40th birthday dinner, and it was as divine as I remembered from our meal there last September.
We both had the filet and the mashed potatoes, and it was great. The steaks are so well seasoned and perfectly cooked.
For Chandra, we did take our 2 boys with us when we ate there in September (at the time, they were 8 and 6 years old). There is a kids menu available, so clearly they are expecting that people will dine there with children. I made our kids change from t-shirts and shorts into polo shirts and khaki pants, to signal to them that we were going someplace special. Before we went, we discussed expectations about their behavior in the restaurant. During the meal, I took the opportunity to teach them some things about dining etiquette.
Everything went fine, and though my boys are generally well behaved, even I was impressed at how quiet and calm they were throughout the meal! Like anything else, you have to use your discretion based on what you know about your kids, their patience level, their age, etc., keeping in mind that this is one of the nicer restaurants at Disneyland.
Best place we have ever eaten. Never had a bad meal there. We go everytime we are at Disneyland. And then we discovered breakfast there. Dinner is fabulous but breakfast was put of this world. We would eat here for every meal if we could.
Goofy’s Kitchen had a 45 minute wait, it was approaching noon, and we were famished. There was a sign in the lounge for S55 that they were offering lunch in the lounge only. We tried the burger and fries.
I would put it in the top three burgers I’ve ever eaten. It’s not a regular thing as far as I know, but I’d drive fifty miles for that meal.
Curious… what is the dress code?
Yeah- how FORMALLY shall we dress for breakfast so as not to offend Jeff back in 2011, eh? Indeed!!
I noticed on the menu that the sides are separate.. are they individual or table-sharing sized?