Wine Country Trattoria Review
Wine Country Trattoria is a table service restaurant in Disney California Adventure at Disneyland Resort. This review features food photos, thoughts on the cuisine and ambiance, and whether this Disneyland restaurant is worth your time and money. As basic background, Wine Country Trattoria offers Disneyland Annual Passholder discounts, and also World of Color dinner packages.
It’s part of a larger area that used to be known as the Golden Vine Winery, but is now known simply as Pacific Wharf (which makes no sense, but whatever). Golden Vine Winery contains a craft beer counter and Alfresco Tasting Terrace, and also Blue Sky Cellar (which hasn’t been open for a couple of years, but hopefully will return with Star Wars Land on the horizon).
There are also actual grape vines on a little path through which you can walk. All in all, it’s a cute little area. It’s really too bad Disney California Adventure can’t do more with the Food & Wine Festival concept, because this area of the park has the potential to be a great hub for that, and could really come alive with a more adult event like that.
Now let’s take a look at Wine Country Trattoria itself…
Little placards around the restaurant get you hyped for the ‘spiritual’ experience of having California wines.
Unfortunately, the inside of the restaurant quickly kills that hype, as it’s a fairly bland room with a bunch of tables closely spaced to one another.
The outside seating is much better, and eating here in the late afternoon sun is reminiscent of virtually any outdoor scenes in 1980s or 90s movie set in Los Angeles. Seriously, go back and watch one if you don’t know what I mean–based on the lighting, it must have always been the pre-sunset golden hour in California back in those days.
Our meal started with focaccia bread and balsamic & olive oil for dipping. This bread was fairly good, but nothing that deserves rave reviews.
We also ordered Fritto Misto as a starter, which included calamari, mussels, green beans, and artichoke hearts breaded with pepperoncini aïoli. I have never met a calamari dish that I didn’t enjoy, and this was no different. Setting aside my bias for calamari, this was another good but not spectacular dish. Probably middle of the road as far as Fritto Misto goes.
As for the meal itself, I ordered the Osso Bucco. This slow braised lamb served with creamy polenta and seasonal vegetables was fall-off-the-bone tender. The meat was perfectly cooked and had a solid flavor. It wasn’t my favorite lamb dish ever, but I was not disappointed.
Maybe I’ve just become accustomed to Disney prices, but I also felt it offered reasonably good value for $20 flat. That seems about what you’d pay for a comparable dish in the real world.
Sarah wasn’t especially hungry, so she ordered the Caprese Salad from the appetizer menu. It was a fairly simple salad, but she thought the tomatoes were fresh and juicy, and the mozzarella and other ingredients had great flavor.
One of our friends at the meal ordered the Broccolini Aglio Olio, which she seemed to enjoy.
Another friend ordered the Shrimp Scampi, and he likewise thought it was good. The nice thing about these pasta dishes is that you’re able to choose your own type of pasta for the dish.
The table next to us sent us their bottle of wine, which (per the menu) was a $50 bottle. The thing is, this could have just as easily been a bottle of Two Buck Chuck or a rare $10,000 and I wouldn’t have known the difference. I am not a wine snob, and can hear those of you who are saying, “Sacré Bleu! This simpleton does not understand the qualities that separate fine grapes and fermentation from the weaker ones? Zut alors! I have wasted my time reading this inferior blog.”
No offense meant with the word “snob” (it’s meant as a synonym for aficionado in this case), wine snobs–I’m a craft beer snob. I just don’t “get” wine, and it really doesn’t interest me. This might mean I’m missing a big part of the appeal of Wine Country Trattoria.
Finally, a note on the World of Color dinner package. We did this package when they first started at Carthay Circle Restaurant (and were significantly cheaper), and even then it was not worth it. You can get just as good of a view by pulling a World of Color FastPass midday, and you don’t have to spend $50 on an overpriced meal that way. I cannot fathom why this dinner packages are so popular, given that they offer next to no advantage for seeing World of Color. In fact, I prefer using the paper FastPass, as it enables me to get a front row view. I highly recommend skipping the dinner package and just ordering a la carte at Wine Country Trattoria.
Overall, we liked Wine Country Trattoria and felt the dishes Sarah and I ordered offered reasonable value for money. I don’t know if I would feel the same way if I paid ~$20 for pasta, but no complaints from our perspective. I will say that I didn’t feel that there was anything standout about the experience. The restaurant is fairly plain, the service was adequate, and the meal–while good–wasn’t altogether memorable or something I now find myself craving as I write this review. It’s a good enough, safe Italian option, sort of like an upscale Olive Garden. The problem for me with that is that there are so many excellent restaurants at Disneyland Resort that “good enough” and “upscale Olive Garden” aren’t exactly words that inspire me to book future reservations. Unless you’re a wine snob, I’d probably dine somewhere else: like the all-around excellent Carthay Circle Restaurant.
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OVERALL SCORE: 8/10
Read our other Disneyland Resort restaurant reviews.
YOUR THOUGHTS…
Have you dined in (Disney’s) Wine Country? What did you order? Did you enjoy your meal? Have you tried the World of Color dinner package? Do you find this blog’s lack of wine knowledge offensive? Are you planning on eating here? Share your thoughts in the comments!
We booked dinner at the Wine Country Trattoria on 21 Feb 19. We were a party of eleven, 7 adults and 4 children, myself, my daughter, and my two son-in-laws ordered the rib-eye steaks. Our steaks were great but didn’t care for the stacked potatoes. My wife ordered the salmon w/dill sauce and was delicious. My other daughter ordered the shrimp fettuccine alfredo and she really liked it. The kids ordered pizza and it was ok. Overall our dinner was great, but it’s not one we would go back again. One positive note: our waiter Roberto was outstanding!
Not Military Friendly. We were denied service after showing our military ID’s and told our military ID’s were not a valid form of identification. We explained that military ID’s were federally issued forms of identification but they still denied service. We only brought our military ID’s because we had to show them at the gate in order to get into the park with our military tickets. This was the only restaurant we encountered that didn’t accept military ID’s as a valid form of identification.
I enjoyed our experience there. I thought the portions were really small for the WOC dining packages, but the meal tasted great. We’re Olive Garden people so I wasn’t expecting anything 5-star… For me the experience of sitting outside and feeling like I wasn’t even in a theme park was worth it. We felt like we’d left the park for a quieter local. The kids liked their food too (It’s pizza- and they aren’t picky, so that doesn’t really offer much help).
My one question: We’ve always done a meal package out of fear of not getting a good enough seat at WOC. The dining package had us front and center and it was stunning– I don’t know that I could handle watching it from father back because I felt fully immersed in the lights and colors– anyway– can you get good seats via the traditional fast pass without standing in line for 2 hours before the show starts?
Tom, I’m sad to say the food at Wine Country Trattoria is horrible! We booked the dinner package to watch the water show…….however due to our bad experience we ditched the show and all came home.
This was the absolute worst Italian food we had. My husband and I has the Oso Buco and our son had a pizza…..the meat dish was so dry it was like eating the back of a shoe, my son’s pizza was raw and thick pasty doughy crust…not cooked! We had pizza the day before at the little pasta pizza place off the ward which was 1000 times better.
We have eaten in a lot of high end restaurants even one of Gordon Ramsey’ S mishalen…..this by far was the worst ever even for a 3 star . I would rate this about a 1, if that! I did have the pleasure of mentioning our dissastifaction to the waitress and the manager and it was like I was dealing with and idiot. To them it’s all about shoving get more food into your face……sorry I would rather you compensate me the $200 buck for the crappie meal I had. I’m not use to shifty food or service and this place will never see my hard earned money.
My family and I came to California for a holiday and part of it was to enjoy a nice dinner and partake in watching the Color you world light show. So, I booked us dinner reservations at Wine Country Trattoria. It was the WORST ITALIAN FOOD I’VE EVER EATEN! Both my husband and I had Ouso Bucco with potatoes, and veggies….our son had a pizza, the pizza on the warf was way better and cooked! The meat dishes were dry, tasteless and veggies were disgusting. My son’s pizza was doughy and not cooked. I explained to the manager our dissatisfaction and all they offered was more food. We are not about to shovle down another meal just to satisfy these people. Sorry but where we come from back in Canada where both my husband and I have eaten many times at a Michelan restaurants have we ever been unfairly treated. If we were not happy with a dish it was removed from our bill. This is a rip off deal and not worth the $150 bucks we ate for 3. PLEASE DON’T WA ID YOUR MONEY OR TIME.
My family and I came to California for a holiday and part of it was to enjoy a nice dinner and partake in watching the Color you world light show. So, I booked us dinner reservations at Wine Country Trattoria. It was the WORST ITALIAN FOOD I’VE EVER EATEN! Both my husband and I had Ouso Bucco with potatoes, and veggies….our son had a pizza, pltge pizza on the warf waa way better and cooked! The meat dishes were dry, tasteless and veggies were disgusting. My son’s pizza was doughy and not cooked. I explained to the manager our dissatisfaction and all they offered was more food. We are not about to shovle down another meal just to satisfy these people. Sorry but where we come from back in Canada where both my husband and I have eaten many times at a Michelan restaurants have we ever been unfairly treated. If we were not happy with a dish it was removed from our bill. This is a rip off deal and not worth the $150 bucks we ate for 3. PLEASE DON’T WA ID YOUR MONEY OR TIME.
Tom it has been a few years since eating at Wine Country Trattoria. I think your review is spot on. For me it has too long a wait for the quality of food. The Alfresco Tasting Terrace is however a solid gem. It is rarely crowded, tucked into an attractive niche balcony with views between Cars Land, Pacific Warf and Grizzly Peak. The food are definitely small plate appetizer type but two or three will make an adequate meal. The trio of filet sliders are really good. I like the wine options as they are not ones found everywhere and they all have a Disney connection. The craft beer choices while limited are good options and different from other Disney bars or restaurants. Give it a try next time through.
We got the WoC lunch there 2 years ago and liked it. It was late afternoon and beautiful weather. We sat outside, and a couple pints of Racer 5 later I really warmed to the place.
Apropos of nothing since you are a fellow craft beer guy, I just picked up a shorty keg of Wolf Among Weeds from Golden Road brewery in LA. Really good stuff. I’m glad LA is finally getting some good brewhouses.
As to why someone might opt for the WoC dinner package . . . I usually do it for when I’m spending most of the day in Disneyland, then head over to DCA for dinner and WoC. Hard to get a FP when you’re not in the park!
Your views on wine echo mine.
I found the Wine Country Trattoria to be one of the plainest, most generic Disney Dining experiences I’ve had in a long time.
Interestingly, the accompanying upstairs patio you mentioned, Alfresco Tasting Terrace (self seating, and separate from the main restaurant) offers one of the most unique places to enjoy appetizers, beer and wine anywhere.
“Hidden Gem” is often an overused term.
But it works perfectly here.
I’ve never been unable to find a table up there, even on the busiest of days.
One thing we enjoyed doing at the Trattoria was booking a 5:00 dinner, getting there a little early, and requesting an outside table by the stone wall so that we can have dinner and have a seat for the Pixar Play Parade. Food is OK, but view of the parade is great!
Agreed. We do this at least once every time we visit the Disneyland Resort. We usually end up getting two orders of the Fritto Misto because my two boys (5 and 8) DEVOUR it.
Ha, too each their own, I guess. Had that parade gone by during our meal, I probably would have liked the ambiance even less.
Good to know about getting just as good a spot for world of colour by getting a fastpass.
I guess people book the dinner because they don’t know this gem of information. We are going to be visiting from australia and I was going to get the dining package as I assumed it would give me the beest viewing spot.
given the falling Aussie dollare I really appreciate this insight.
Yeah, I wish I had done some research before booking the Carthay WoC dinner package. I assumed we would get front row. The view was nice, and elevated, and let us see the whole show easily, but it wasn’t front row. On the plus side, I guess we saved ourselves from getting super wet, unless they fixed that issue.
We also did the Carthay WoC dining package earlier this week. It was our first time viewing WoC. I’m really glad we did it, as I’m quite short, and without the elevated steps to stand on, I could envision WoC viewing to be either really difficult for me, or something that would require a lot of my time to wait in line for a front row spot, which would in turn get me wet. That said, I’m not sure we’d do the dining package again, but we were glad to do it once, and thrilled with the experience at Carthay Circle!
It’s pretty easy to get a front row spot for World of Color’s second showing during everything except summer season. The dining package view for World of Color is by no means bad, but I don’t consider it the best view, and you’re spending a lot on food for something you could get for free.
Thank you for your honesty regarding the dinner packages at Disneyland and DCA. I have been asked about the dinner packages and feel like I burst people’s bubble when I give them my answer: “don’t do it”. I am like you and recommend that they get the Fast Pass to get a good view of the World Of Color. I also suggest that they dine at the restaurants around Grand Californian and the Disneyland Hotel to get the most of their Disney Dinner Dollars.