Here at the Disney Food Blog, we take Disney food SERIOUSLY, and no matter how good we find a restaurant to be, we will always revisit to see if the quality holds. So come with us as we do just that at a Disneyland dining staple!

Disneyland Park is home to several popular attractions and, of course, some delicious restaurants. One of those restaurants is Plaza Inn! Located on Main Street, U.S.A., this restaurant opened with the park in 1955 (it was then called the Red Wagon Inn) and is still the only place in Disneyland Park to experience character dining. We recently visited our favorite Disneyland counter service location to see if it still holds up in 2024, and we have a lot to report!

While the breakfast service at Plaza Inn is known for its character dining experience and tough-to-get reservations, we wanted our review to be completely focused on the afternoon and evening dining options to give it a fair comparison to everything else Disneyland dining has to offer.

In the past, we felt this was hands-down the best quick service option at Disneyland. Has our opinion changed? Let’s take a look!

Atmosphere

Located near the end of Main Street, U.S.A. right in the heart of the park, Plaza Inn has that Victorian old-timey Disney charm Walt Disney’s original park is known for. It serves a luxurious breakfast buffet accompanied by a character dining experience and American quick service for lunch and dinner.

For lunch and dinner, guests can walk up to individual serving areas to select their preferred entrees before checking out at a few registers at the ends of the restaurant.

Plaza Inn has plenty of outdoor seating as well as some indoor seating in its dining room area. When we visited it was a bit busy, and finding an indoor table was tricky, but outdoor seating was plentiful.

An original landmark of Disneyland, this Victorian-themed restaurant also features authentic 19th-century interior furnishings, a stained-glass ceiling, a marble foyer, and gingerbread woodwork all from the St. James Park neighborhood in nearby Los Angeles. If you’re looking for upscale quick service, it doesn’t get much fancier than Plaza Inn.

Menu

Without a doubt, Plaza Inn is known for its chicken — said to be some of the BEST in all of Disneyland.

Plaza Inn’s entrees include chicken, fish, and pot roast meals in addition to some vegetarian-friendly dishes and kids’ meals. All lunch and dinner meals start at under $20.

If you’re interested in a dining package, Plaza Inn offers the “Magic Happens” Parade Dining Package, an all-in-one lunch package that includes access to a special viewing area for the “Magic Happens” Parade,  slow-cooked short rib with chimichurri, fried chicken thigh, pesto-infused mashed potatoes, roasted seasonal vegetables, dessert, and one beverage for adults, and fried chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, seasonal fruit, vegetable, dessert, and one beverage for kids. Plant-based options are also available, and prices are $55 per adult and $28 per child ages 3 to 9.

Eats

We went with some heavy hitters for the meal — the Chicken, Salmon with Lemon Butter Dill-Caper Sauce, and Key Lime Tart for dessert.

First, we started with the Salmon with Lemon Butter Dill-Caper Sauce for $18.99.

This salmon plate is served with rice pilaf and seasonal vegetables. The taste of the salmon stood out — so if you don’t like that flavor, you may be put off by this dish. That fishy flavor also bled a little bit into the sides. With that said, the most potent flavor and smell was the dill. That’s good or terrible depending on how you feel about dill. The dill cuts through the fish flavor nicely, but you won’t avoid that fishy aftertaste.

The salmon texture was quite pleasant, very light, and flaky. The dill sauce was also a bit tangy and gave a new dimension to the fish. However, we weren’t huge fans of the fish in bites without the sauce.

The rice was average and could use more seasoning, and the veggies (string beans) had better seasoning and tasted fresh. The serving size was also large.

Overall, the taste was better than expected for a quick-service restaurant and the price is somewhat fair for salmon. It may not have been a standout dish, and it probably shouldn’t be consumed by anyone who doesn’t like seafood, but it’s a solid entree.

Next, we tried the Chicken for $19.49. You may think nearly $20 for chicken is outrageous, but this entree is MASSIVE. In fact, we recommend sharing it, giving it even better value!

The dish comes with three pieces of fried chicken seasoned with distinctive herbs and spices and served with mashed potatoes and gravy, a buttermilk biscuit, and seasonal vegetables. 

The chicken skin was incredibly crispy with a tender and juicy interior. The texture was very pleasant with a classic homestyle flavor. We didn’t really have any complaints aside from the plasticware being unhelpful in carving the chicken up.

The mashed potatoes and gravy pack way more of a flavor punch than expected, boasting a slightly sweet and rich flavor that made a nice companion piece to the savory chicken. They were also very creamy and rustic — akin to a home-cooked meal. As for the biscuit, it was somewhat artisanal and very flaky. It tasted a bit dry but was improved by dipping it in the gravy.

We get why the chicken is the headliner at Plaza Inn and can still confidently recommend it. Tasty, hearty, and perfect for sharing, it really is some of the best chicken you can get at Disneyland and comes at a fair value.

While we don’t recommend eating this if you’re looking for something light, cheap, and/or healthy, chicken connoisseurs should give it a chance.

Finally, we finished our meal with the Key Lime Tart for $7.49. 

This dessert was SOOOO GOOD! It had a nice amount of citrus flavors and a really creamy texture. The quality of this dessert was very impressive. While it is undeniably tart (thus the name), no flavor truly overpowered another when mixed. The graham cracker offset some of the sweetness from the key lime custard and created a well-balanced texture profile. Similarly, the Chantilly also cut through the tartness, but there wasn’t a strong flavor from it otherwise.

The chocolate topping was white chocolate and slightly muted in taste, so we tried dipping it in the tart and got successful results. The chocolate and key lime went well together because of the chocolate’s lack of boldness.

Overall, you should probably avoid this dessert if you don’t like key lime or tart treats. We won’t lie — you may pucker once or twice because the citrus presence is real. For everyone else, this dessert actually may be a steal. After trying this, we thought the $7.49 price stage was actually too low. We can’t recommend trying this dessert enough!

Overall

Overall, Plaza Inn may be the best quick service you’ll find in all of Disneyland Park.

The prices are fair, the food is tasty, and the atmosphere is classic. There are better table service/fine dining/signature restaurants at Disneyland, but those will cost you at least twice as much, so if you’re on a budget but are willing to spend a little bit more for better quick service, Plaza Inn is a solid choice.

Nosh or Not?

Stop by Plaza Inn if…

• You want quick service with table service quality. To put it bluntly, the food here is elevated from standard theme park fare. Not many other quick-service restaurants come close to Plaza Inn’s quality.
• You don’t want to make dinner reservations. Aside from breakfast, Plaza Inn doesn’t allow reservations to begin with, so everyone is given the same opportunity to dine here.
• You’re craving good chicken. The key meal here is the chicken, and whether you’re an adult or child, you should get some of the best chicken Disneyland has to offer.

Skip this Disneyland landmark if…

• You’re on the tightest of budgets. It’s cheaper than many other table-service restaurants, but compared to other quick-service spots, it’s more expensive. In that regard, Plaza Inn is one of the more expensive quick-service restaurants at Disneyland.
• You want light fare. This restaurant does not skimp on portion size, but that means you might wind up buying too much food that inevitably gets wasted. We recommend eating here if you’re ready to share or have a monstrous appetite.
• You want something more unique. The food here is very good, but it is mostly standard American. With restaurants like Blue Bayou and Oga’s Cantina inside Disneyland, there are more unique dining opportunities close by.

Thanks for checking out Plaza Inn with us, and be sure to stay tuned here at DFB for all the latest Disneyland reviews, news, tips, and more!

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Have you eaten at Plaza Inn? Share your review in the comments below!