Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante

Atmosphere- 3 stars- Located in the Frontier Land section of Disneyland this counter service location is quite a busy place so it can be hectic and hard to find a table. Service- 3 stars- employees are friendly but it’s hard to rank since it’s just counter service. Food- 3 stars- I got the chicken bowl which wasn’t bad. It was a decent sized portion and filled me up. For theme park counter service it not a bad place to rest and fill up.

Food was ok. I got the nacho fries, they were good, nothing special though, wife got tacos, again they were decent, but nothing out of this world, or above average. It does have a lot of shade to sit in, so if you need a break, and can find a nice spot in the shade, would say try em out. If you don't though, your not really missing anything either.

It is extremely difficult to find any seating inside. Not bad for the price of food and how mush you get. You go up and order then go sit and wait to be called for your food. I ordered the kids chicken taco plate for I did not want a heavy lunch. The rice and chicken was dry but as a taco it was alright. Maybe the normal sized plates taste better.

They should enforce a policy of no saving tables. I had to walk through the line with my child in a stroller, and no one knows with me but getting food for four. I got that and then went at the seating area and zero seats for available except for about six single people holding 4 to 6 seats each. Total selfishness. The layout of the restaurant does not make sense. Serving trays are at the entrance versus where you actually get the food. Utensils are before where you pay versus close to where you eat. For an absolute mess of going back-and-forth through one way single file lines to get what you need in this you have enough hands to carry everything at once. The food was decent, but in small portions. There was no very kid friendly option. Either a hard shelled taco or an over flowing cheese and bean burrito. And just OVERWHELMINGLY CROWDED. I thought Disney had attendance limits to make sure this wasn’t a riot like situation.

Somehow this always ends up being one of the better meals we have in Disneyland. I mean it's nothing crazy, but it's consistent, and consistently good. Plus, did you know Doritos were invented here? Look it up! Anyway, it's just a great standby for when no one can agree on what to get and you don't want to spend a long time looking stuff up or arguing about it, Rancho del Zocalo is always a solid consesus option.

Update 8/16/24: What can I say or add? It’s Disney, so bearable food that appeals to the masses is what you expect. Special menu for Fantasia show and we got the carne asada plate and shrimp taco plate. Weird “Korean” condiments on both. On the side for carne asada and on the shrimp tacos. “Kimchi slaw” and “kochujang” sauce. Salsa is extra and service is questionable as they don’t want to answer questions about their weird “Korean” toppings and lack of salsa for “Mexican” dishes. Probably still one of the better places to eat at Disneyland, but sure think they can do better if they wanted. The cashier is always great and we try to go to the same one. —— When at Disneyland, there are few really decent meals to be had. The chicken tostada salad is not the best, but it hits the spot when you want something that resembles a salad, but also feels like a cheat meal. I have yet to try anything else here, mainly because it won’t compare to so many great Mexican restaurants in So Cal, but seems to be a popular spot. I really like the self service drinks and hot chocolate here as well and staff is very nice and polite.

We had their nacho fries and their seasonal cream puff and " mexican hot chocolate" everthing was great!

My girlfriend and I each got asada fires. They were pretty good. Nice portions. The erk I had was between staff which in my opinion, was unfriendly. And no soda refills at a soda counter like mcdonalds. After hundreds of dollars, you'd think drinks at restaurants you pay to eat at would be free. Really, my only two complaints. Maybe I'm just high expectations in this situation. But then again, maybe I'm not. Nice shade spots for the family though.