Just like I said in yesterday’s blog post, we had one especially exciting and special dinner on our trip to California – the Napa Rose Chef’s Counter at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. It was one of the most amazing dining experiences I’ve ever had at Disney or anywhere – and we vlogged the whole thing!
The experience seemed to be a pretty well-kept secret. For $100, you can sit at the counter overlooking the open kitchen of the restaurant, and the chefs of Napa Rose will prepare a 5-course meal of surprise dishes just for you. It seems too good to be true, right?? Well, it’s real – and it was one of the most delicious and special culinary experiences I’ve ever had.
Reserving the Chef’s Counter is a bit different than other Disney dining – first of all, there are only two seatings each night, and only twelve seats available at each. We chose the 8:00 seating over the 5:30 because the parks were closing relatively early the days we were there, and it allowed us to maximize our time. To book, we had to call the restaurant directly and make the reservation under only a name and phone number. There was no confirmation or email or anything, which is nerve-wracking for us planners! But it all worked out and we were seated quickly for our 8:00 dinner when we arrived.
First of all, it’s important to note a few things about the experience. We all opted for the full experience, the “Tasting Menu”, where the chefs bring out surprise dishes and you don’t necessarily know what you’ll get. You can also order off of the regular menu but like…why would you book Chef’s Counter and order off of the regular menu…? There’s also a wine pairing which we did not go for this time, but I think it’ll be on my radar for future visits!
Also, since the menus are individually suited for each person’s taste and the chefs can experiment a bit, this review isn’t really about the food but the experience as a whole. I guarantee you won’t get the exact same menu as we did, but I am *positive* that you will love it regardless!!
Anyway. Moving on to our meal here. There are three little groups of four seats at the counter – one near the beginning, by the salad and hot appetizer prep stations, one further down near the entree prep station, and one near the dessert on the side. We were seated at the first one, near the beginning. We were all SHOCKED (in a good way!) when we were led to our seats – which felt like we were literally right up in the kitchen:
It was incredible. The chefs were just…right there, in front of us, hustling and working their butts off and preparing delicious things right in front of us. I don’t think it can be overstated how dazzling this was. It felt like we were INSIDE Ratatouille.
Our server quickly appeared and explained the menu, and asked us all about our tastes. He asked if we had any allergies, extreme dislikes, or if we were opposed to trying raw fish, fancy meats, or other unusual things. We are adventurous eaters so we said yes to everything (except no onions for me)!
We were started off with some breads and an amuse-bouche of warm semolina with applewood bacon:
You know when you eat the bread at a nice restaurant and it’s really good, and you’re like “great. this bread is amazing. this meal is gonna be stupidly delicious”? That definitely happened here. We knew we were in for a treat after just the starters.
Speaking of starters – before long our first course was out! We all were served a seafood dish to begin. Some of the things we were served were from the regular menu so I was able to get a few more details, but some were a mystery so the descriptions are just what we can remember! Even just since we ate there (3 months ago) a lot of menu items have changed so we tried our best with the details here.
Ana got a grilled salmon with shrimp and a peppery sauce:
I got a SCALLOP!! I was SO excited to get this and as my very first course – I absolutely love scallops, could eat them every day, think about them all the time, etc. This is a sautéed diver scallop (meaning it was harvested by hand by a diver!??!!) with applewood bacon.
And Sarah got swordfish with pine nuts, tomato, and spinach:
Everything was SO GOOD. All of us shared bites of each others (obviously, we couldn’t go to a beautiful place like this and not share!) and somehow they were all amazing in their own way! My favorite was definitely my scallop though – so glad I got that one!
For our second course the category was cold appetizers.
Ana got what they called a Smiling Tiger Salad. It’s got mixed greens, tempura shrimp, and a coconut vinaigrette:
I was the “lucky” one who got raw fish 😝 It definitely wasn’t anything I’ve ever had before but it was great! It’s crudo, which literally means “raw” in Italian. It had lobster and tomato relish, and was surrounded in a thin sauce.
Sarah got oysters! Pacific fried golden oysters with ceviche:
Our second course was also a hit! I particularly loved that my and Sarah’s dishes were super unique and not anything we would normally have ordered. Ana commented that she loved hers because of all the different flavors, and that it felt really suited to what she likes. I think my favorite this time was Sarah’s oysters, but all of them were fabulous.
Next up was hot appetizers! And there are some wild ones here…
Ana had what they called a Dutch Baby. It was basically a big fried crepe with toppings! She had cheese, apples and duck confit on top:
I got chicken with potato gnocchis and a mushroom ragu – and I LOVE yummy sauces so I was really happy to try it:
And Sarah got another unique one! This is a house-made rabbit sausage with a fig on the side:
I honestly loved all three of these! Mine was the most simple of the three but it was cooked perfectly and the sauce was incredible. Sarah commented to the chef after the second course that she had gotten two things she’d never tried before with the swordfish and the oysters, and we guessed that he gave her the rabbit for the third course to try and keep the streak going! I couldn’t pick a favorite this time – I loved all of them!!
Next we had our “intermission” – a palate cleanser, if you will. It’s a cucumber lime sorbet:
I love eating at fancy Disney restaurants because they give you food to take a break from all the food. We got little sorbets like this at Club 33 as well as Palo on the Disney Dream!
For our fourth course, it was time to bring out the big guns – steak for everybody! At the beginning of the meal they let us know that they normally prepare the steaks medium rare, to which we all said “sounds good chef!” I normally like mine medium well, but I feel that in an environment like this it’s more fun to try things as the chef thinks they would taste the best. So here come our medium rare steaks…
Ana got the filet mignon topped with pomegranate and mushroom, with a potato on the side:
Mine was a rib eye, topped with bone marrow (?!!??) on top of a sweet potato puree and cauliflower:
And Sarah got a New York strip with a caper glaze, an onion sauce, and a bone marrow fritter:
You know what I’m going to say by now – they were all delicious! I liked mine the best, though Ana’s was right up there as well. I’m just a sucker for purees with my steaks, what can I say. All of them were perfectly paired and prepared, and we enjoyed them so much.
Once we finished our steaks, our lovely server asked if we preferred chocolatey or fruity desserts – to which we all immediately replied “chocolate”! While they cleared our plates we sat back and took in the activity of the kitchen, and kept up with all the goings on of the other tables in the restaurant. It was so fun to just sit there and watch the chefs cook – they were so talented and I could not believe the effort and attention to detail they put into making every single dish perfect. It was so cool to be seated next to what we guessed was the dishes’ final stop before heading out to the tables. Our chef de cuisine Gloria checked each dish individually to be sure it was perfect before having the servers take them away. This kitchen was a well-oiled machine and it was amazing to watch
Finally, it was time for our last course – dessert!!
Ana had a chocolate crème brûlée and caramelized bananas with a sort of rice krispy center? Unclear:
I got a chocolate mousse with a mango sorbet and the world’s tiniest macaron:
I mean look at this thing:
And Sarah got a “brookie” which is a brownie/cookie with salted caramel ice cream on top!
Okay – all of these were great, but that brookie was the best thing I’ve ever had in my life. I loved every bite!!! As expected, we all loved our desserts but the brookie was definitely the highlight!
Once we finished our desserts the kitchen was starting to wind down. We had been there for two hours at this point but we didn’t want to leave! But soon it was time to say goodbye to all our amazing chefs and thank them for everything – it was truly an incredible experience.
I don’t think enough can really be said about how much we loved the Napa Rose Chef’s Counter. Every single person was so talented and fantastic, and we felt like VIPs sitting up there at the counter. And honestly – for $100 a person, I think this is more than worth the money. The food was some of the best we’ve ever had and the experience itself was unlike anything we’d ever done before. We all left the restaurant completely blown away, most of all in awe at the expert chefs that we were lucky enough to have had prepare a meal for us. We are enormously grateful for everybody there – our chef de cuisine Gloria, sous chef Danny, the masterful chefs Ryan, Tom, Daniel and Nicole who prepared delicious things for us, our amazing server Dondi, and everyone else who helped make the experience what it was. In case it’s not obvious, this was one of my favorite experiences ever – not just in terms of Disney experiences, or meals, just one of my favorite things I’ve ever done, period. I cannot WAIT til we can get back over to Disneyland to eat at Napa Rose Chef’s Counter again in the future – I highly recommend it!! (But don’t book every seat because I still want to be able to go again! 😎)
Whew! That was a whirlwind. In short – I think it’s obvious we had an amazing time at Napa Rose!! I look forward to going again (and maybe getting the wine pairing next time!) I hope you enjoyed this review and the video – and if you did, be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel! Only a few more of these California posts left now 😢 can’t wait to tell all the rest of the details! thanks so much for reading and watching and I will see you next time!
xo,
