California Grill?

[Mamma2004]

We are planning our first WDW trip. DH, DS (age 9.5) and I will be in one room, our dearest friends (and DS's Godparents) will be in another with their 7.5 y.o. DS. We have been trying to juggle the crazy Fastpass + system (ARGH!) with our travel agent's legwork for making dinner reservations. For some reason, she scheduled a 9pm dinner at the California Grill for ADULTS ONLY. We fully understand the importance of adult time, but this trip is likely a once-in-a-lifetime vacation for our families, and the children really are our focus. I just don't see the need to hire someone we don't even know to babysit so we can have a "night out". In truth, we can always hang out once the kids are asleep - we can have a glass of wine and chat, all without leaving the boys. Does that sound crazy??

Anyway, our reservation for dinner for four adults at 9:00 p.m. will need to be changed. Is the California Grill too fancy for even the most mature of children? If so, where do we absolutely *not* want to miss having a meal?

Thanks for any advice - we are trying to take care of this today because we leave the week of Easter!

[Octobermommy]

California grill is definitely not too fancy for kids. It's wdw. The only restaurant where you can't bring young kids is Victorias & Alberts.

I've taken my kids twice. The "sushi" dessert is adorable for kids. I don't know if they still have that or not though. There were kids of all ages there.

[jam224]

California grill is definitely not too fancy for kids. It's wdw. The only restaurant where you can't bring young kids is Victorias & Alberts.

Yeah, that. We took DD when she was 9 months old. They served her "baked sushi," aka Goldfish crackers, haha. Wonderful food, wonderful service. Saw the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the balcony. So cool! :)

[Mamma2004]

Thank you. Now we just have to hope there is room for two more at our table....at 9:00!

[brittone2]

It runs long and slower paced, so if you are going at nine I would plan to be there close to tWo hrs or more. I cancelled some later adrs there multiple times and we bumped up to firdt adr of the night at 5:05. We did sushi for everyone (except ds2 who had pasta), no apps, and we ran close to two hrs. The observation deck is nice ig dc get wiggly. We were there when several other families with kids under ten were dining and all of the kids were so well behaved. Our family enjoyed it. Reviews seem mixed since the remodel, but sushi reviews still seemed positive when I wad reading before our Feb. trip. Spicy kazaan and pork belly nigiri were great.

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[BunnyBee]

We always take our kids, but I make the reservations taking fireworks into consideration. It's a nice break to go watch them and stretch legs. 9pm would be the problem for our family. We would all be starving and exhausted.

I agree with it being mixed after the renovation. It was not as nice this time. The spicy kazaan roll is our favorite! It was slightly different somehow though. The pork belly nigiri was interesting. The pork entree is great--highly recommend it. We were underwhelmed by the overall experience this trip. Service was slow and uneven. We left before dessert and grabbed cupcakes from the Contempo Cafe.