Christopher D.
Yelp
This review really pains me to write. As an avid Disneyland fan, my second time to Napa Rose left me feeling angry rather than celebrated on my birthday.
Let's start with ambiance. Napa Rose is outdated but still slightly charming. The main dining room is airy and beautiful, with tall ceilings, a large wine cellar, and an open kitchen. Unfortunately, the outdatedness I mentioned often borders on unfinished/broken. The small outdoor patio sports an unlit fireplace and musty looking empty tables, the once lush view from the grand window now looks like a barren swamp, and the bar area of the restaurant now appears to be used for overflow dining room seating rather than bar seating. Some of my observations here are further exasperated by myriad of awards that adorn the walls of the restaurant--90% of which predate the Obama administration. It feels like the awards ended when Napa Rose stopped trying, which appears to be about a decade ago.
Moving on to the most disappointing part of the night, service. (To give context to this paragraph, Napa Rose is effectively split into two sections, the bar area to the left with a small patio, and the main dining room on the right.) We arrived promptly on time for our reservation and checked in digitally via the app. Despite being on time, we were told to wait for with our toddler at a table off to the side of the bar. After about 5 or so minutes, we were escorted just a few feet away to a table that appeared to be set up as a makeshift dining room overflow in a corner of the bar area. I looked around to see two other tables, one with about six couples, and one with a few toddlers. I assumed that we were seated in this rather undesirable corner because of our toddler--which in all honesty, I was okay with. Only later when I went to the bathroom did I see kids and toddlers strewn through the main dining room (which also had a bunch of empty seats) which left me wondering why we got seated where we did--especially for my birthday!
Compounding my frustration of the evening was the embarrassing table service. Once we were seated, we had to ask three people for a coloring book (despite them offering it when were seated) for our toddler. Further, it took nearly 20 minutes to place our order, and I don't think we received our first drink until nearly 30 minutes after our reservation time. My wife and I ordered the pre fixe menu with wine pairings--at $240 per person. And this brings me to my paramount point of criticism: $240 per person is Michelin-star-restaurant pricing but Napa Rose's service wasn't even passable for Applebees, let alone Disneyland, let alone Michelin standards. After placing our orders, we didn't start eating until nearly 45 minutes after our reservation time, which is when I started to get nervous. The website said "allow two hours for the full experience," which was after my son's bedtime, but acceptable, but now I was beginning to doubt we would finish in that time. After our second course, we waited 30 minutes for our third course. Let me remind readers--we ordered a pre fixe meal, so they knew exactly what was coming next. During this 30 minute wait, we (no joke) got to watch the floor manager eat his dinner at the bar and joke around with our waiters. Also during the 30 minutes, my wife asked our secondary waiter where the bathroom was to which he responded "I can show you, but I'm going to clear the plates first," which he did, and then on the way to the bathroom he stopped to show her the Chef's table which "is available for a fee." At this point, about an hour and forty five minutes into our allegedly two hour meal, received our main course. All said, the entire night was an embarrassment, and cast a bit of a pall on my birthday.
Moving to a few brighter items, food and drinks. The cocktails and wine pairings were really good, with one of my wife's cocktails being her favorite drink of the night. The food was awesome, with the duck being my wife and my favorite and the lamb I had being tremendous and not gamey at all. Even still, I was disappointed by the fact there was no included bread, no amuse bouche, and no small snacks to take home--all which are staples in menus of this price.
Rounding the review out, I will touch on price. At $680 pit the door, I was left feeling a bit robbed. The restaurant does not take the annual pass discount (for no apparent reason) so I paid full rate and I mustered up the kindness to give an 18% tip since at least our main waiter was quite kind.
All said, I wholeheartedly do not recommend Napa Rose. Despite really good food and drinks, the abysmal service, dated restaurant, and pricey menu make it hard to recommend. If this is the best they could do for a pass holder's birthday who ordered their most expensive menu, I would hate to see what service they would muster for others--maybe those are who they save the dusty patio for!
Ambiance: 2/5
Service: 1.5/5
Drinks: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Value: 1.5/5
Consistency: 2/5