Blue Bayou Restaurant reopened in New Orleans Square at Disneyland Park after being closed for six weeks for refurbishment, and we revisited it for a review.
Our reporter Charly Shelton has a lot of thoughts on his dining experience in our YouTube video review, which you can watch below, and keep scrolling for photos and more information.
Construction walls currently line the bayou interior, blocking the usual view of Pirates of the Caribbean — which is still closed until July 1.
We stopped by for lunch, but the lunch and dinner menus are the same.
We got the seasonal mint julep, Hearts of Palm Escabèche, and Monte Cristo and Seasonal Salad.
Hearts of Palm Escab̬che Р$13
Peppers, Tomatoes, Olives and Cauliflower with Paprika Dressing
We didn’t know what to expect from this but were pleasantly surprised.
The bright vinegar dressing on the hearts of palm, cauliflower, and pepper salad was a perfect complement to the thick, creamy paprika dressing that was on the side of the plate.
This is a subtly spicy, unexpected dish that kept us guessing until the last bite.
Monte Cristo and Seasonal Salad – $29
Battered and Fried Turkey, Ham, and Swiss Sandwich with a Market Fruit Salad and Seasonal Preserves
This is as classic as the mint julep. It’s a long-time favorite that just feels like coming home after not visiting Blue Bayou for a while.
It is a ham, turkey, and swiss sandwich, battered and deep-fried and served with raspberry preserves and crème anglaise, and it’s just perfection.
It’s almost like eating a donut stuffed with cheese and meat, and slathered in jam.
Even without the view of Pirates of the Caribbean, this sandwich is worth a trip to Blue Bayou.
We heartily enjoyed this sandwich and will continue to revisit it as often as our journeys through the park will allow.
Mint Julep – $5.50
The seasonal mint julep was blood orange. You can get it with a glow cube for $8.50.
This is a fairly straightforward Disney mint julep. The addition of the blood orange is subtle, almost not present. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just doesn’t bring anything incredibly new to the already beloved classic julep. It’s served in a steel cup, which makes it feel more upscale than the one in a plastic cup outside the restaurant. We loved it, but the mint julep at Disneyland is always good and it just feels like a classic treat.
Overall
This restaurant is famous for being inside of a ride, and without the boats going by, some of the majesty is lost. The food is still spectacular and the service is immaculate, but the novelty of dining inside the attraction really did help soften the blow of the price tag. If you really want the full experience, wait to visit Blue Bayou Restaurant until Pirates of the Caribbean has reopened.
Do you agree with our review of Blue Bayou Restaurant? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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The last time we went to Blue Bayou we decided it would probably be our last. The service was awful, the food was “okay” at best. For the prices being paid, even with the view (ours was from a back corner and not good at all) it was far from worth the price.
Additionally, we recently had the Monte Cristo at Cafe Orleans and there was maybe one tiny piece of turkey in the entire thing. It was awful and another overpriced item we won’t be getting again.
I remember hearing that the Monte Cristo was only available for lunch, but now I see it’s available for both lunch and dinner. Can you confirm if this change is correct for now? We have a trip planned for end of August and I have a reservation for dinner! Help! Thanks for any clarification you can provide.
I’m honestly surprised to read such a good review. Let me first start by saying that Blue Bayou has always been my very favorite restaurant in all of the Disneyland resort. I’ve been so many times and I have so often defended the cost to more price conscious family and friends saying that, while it is expensive, the atmosphere, service, and taste of the food make it all worth it. I haven’t been to Blue Bayou since they did their most recent menu change. My best friend, who is just as big a fan as I am, and I had planned a one day trip to Southern California just to go to Disneyland because we’ve missed it. The first thing we did once we booked our reservation for the park was get a reservation for dinner at Blue Bayou. We were so very excited to eat there once again. The service was OK. Our waiter was very nice when he was there but he disappeared for very long periods of time and I often had to flag someone down for a refill. So that was disappointing. However, hands-down, the most disappointing thing was the food. They changed quite a bit of the menu so my main entrée is no longer there. However they still had the Blue Bayou salad, which is my favorite appetizer, and I decided to get the fillet for my entrée. Well, changing the menu apparently also meant changing the salad, even though the name remains the same. They replaced the cranberries and nuts with very large pieces of fig that just did not work for me at all. The pieces of fig were so large that sometimes it was all I could taste and there was no crunch element because the lettuce they use is spring mix, which is a softer lettuce, and that has never bothered me before because there had always been a different crunch element. With that gone, the whole salad is so disappointing and I honestly can’t imagine ordering it again. For the fillet, I ordered medium rare and it was not even close to medium rare. It was incredibly rare, to the point of Ral. I made the best of it because I could still eat it and I didn’t want to cause a problem but it was quite disappointing. The tomato sauce that comes with the steak and the potatoes does not fit in the dish at all and overall, the entire dish was not nearly worth the $52 they charge for it. I have never missed my surf and turf more. Overall, with two sodas, two entrées, and two appetizers, our bill was $185 without even ordering dessert. In the past, I have always considered this worth it. However, my best friend and I were so disappointed in every aspect of this last visit that we are going to book Carthay next visit and hope to find a new go to place. It makes me so so sad! 🥺