Taste
From the Menu, you have a choice between 6 different Main Entrée’s. You order your Entrée and your drink and then it’s off to the Buffet room. On one side is all your appetizers, ranging from Salads to Antipasta to Cold Shellfish. The Other side is breads, flavored olive oils and desserts.
The types of bread included flatbread, crackers and breadsticks and the olive oils were infused, so you’d have garlic olive oil, pineapple-citrus olive oil, saffron olive oil and so on.
The salads included chef’s, Cesar, and there was a special one, a cheese tortellini with little bits of steak in a creamy dressing. We all loved that one. I’d give it 4 1/2 HP. The rest of the food in general ranged in quality from ordinary to pretty good, but the sheer variety of options was outstanding.
As most everyone knows, Club 33 is the one place in Disneyland that serves alcohol. There’s a full service bar near the buffet, plus the staff will happily bring you drinks. Sean and I took advantage of this and ordered… non-alcoholic punch. A special fruit juices mixture that was delicious.The 6 entrée choices were...
Roast Monk Fish, Rock Lobster Bisque, Spiced Arugula Salad
Pan Seared Chateaubriand, Parsnip-Cipollini Onion Puree, Cabernet Demi
Organic Free Range Chicken, Truffled Mac & Cheese
Farmed King Salmon, Bloomsdale Spinach, Celery Root Jus
Colorado Lamb Chops, Apple Coffee Polenta, Lamb Mint Reduction
Fresh Pasta Three By Three: Goat Cheese Veloute, Mushroom Mariana, Short Rib Bolognese
I had the Chateaubriand because I’m a big fan of steak. It was good, but not even close to superb. The flavors were nice, but the meat was a little tough, a little chewy. I’ve had better. I’ve made better.
I also got to try the pasta, which was extremely underwhelming. The pasta was tough, and tasted anything but fresh. The Veloute was mostly tasteless. The mushroom marinara was better and the Short Rib Bolognese tasted best, but the sauce was sparingly handled so this was not a hearty bowl of pasta.
Around the Table, others enjoyed the Chicken and the Lamb Chops, but we all felt that the entrees were not as good as the appetizers and the Dessert Bar.
The Dessert Bar. Where do I begin? Like the Appetizer Bar, there’s such a huge selection of different treats – sponge cake, cheese cake, pie, torts, custard, crème puffs, coconut macaroons and 3 flavors of Pirouette cookies – that you’re guaranteed to fall in love with something.
For me it was the raspberry-chocolate boxes, a tasty sponge cake filled with raspberry jam and a thin chocolate wafer. I ate 3 of these which is saying a lot when you consider that I tried everything. (I’ve seen that they sometimes use blackberry which I bet is equally delicious.
The Coconut Macaroons are famous, and it’s easy to see why. Moist on the inside, dipped in delicious chocolate on the outside, they’re the 2nd best I’ve ever had. In fact I would give all of the desserts at least 4 Stars except for the crème puff, which was too dry and flaky.
Touch
And by this I’m talking about the special Disney touch. Just the sheer gall to have a restaurant with the reputation of specialness of Club 33. Afterwards, there’s a small gift cabinet with some exclusive overpriced souvenirs. Like Victoria & Albert’s over at WDW, It’s not the kind of place you want to go to over and over again. But it’s a definite once in a lifetime experience.
As for my wife who made it all happen. She’s working on getting us into Pixar.
Don't forget to listen to Chuck at the Disneyland Gazette. And if you want to read more about Club 33 from the outside, here is the previous DF'82 post.
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