REVIEW: River Belle Terrace Turns Table Service BBQ Joint at Disneyland
BY CONNER PURZYCKI
It was a rainy evening at the Disneyland Resort, so only the indoor seating area was being used. The space formerly held the ordering and pick-up area and some seating for the River Belle Terrace counter service restaurant that is now a thing of the past (but should come back in a few years).
I was able to get a reservation about an hour before and we were seated fairly quickly. The restaurant’s interior was barely even touched for the conversion to table service. All the stanchions were still in place forming the lines to the counters and display cases for bottled drinks and sides were still in place. The condiment stations just had covers over them.
None of the appetizers seemed appealing to us, so we just ordered our entrees. I got the ‘Fried Chicken Sandwich’ which was very good. It had a lot of different flavors mixed nicely, and gave a good kick thanks to the jalapenos. The sandwich was of a good size, so much so that I couldn’t finish it.
For a side you automatically get a small portion of baked beans (which were good), and you get to choose your second side. I went with the “seasoned” tater bites, which weren’t really seasoned and honestly were just ordinary baked tater tots. It seemed really odd to be served tater tots at a table service restaurant (or at Disney in general). We also tried the ‘Pulled Pork Sandwich’ which was very good. The meat was very tender and had a nice smoky flavor to it.
For desert we ordered the ‘Fried Cheesecake’, which I’m still deciding if I liked or not. It tasted like warm cheesecake, interesting nonetheless and should get points for being something you can’t order otherwise at the resort. We also had the ‘Butterscotch Pudding’ which was our personal favorite. For fans of Butterbeer in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, this pudding edges really close to the ‘Butterbeer Clotted Cream’ which is served at the Three Broomsticks, so obviously, it is highly recommended.
The service was good. There were an abundance of wait staff for the small seating area, and we were checked on constantly. The restaurant still was very clearly set-up to be a counter service location and will likely return to that someday, but for now it’s a pretty good little BBQ joint.