Larger: Here.
We return to California Grill at Disney’s Contemporary Resort for Sunday brunch.
california grill brunch is the single most pleasant experience on walt disney world property, in my opinion. panoramic views. unlimited mimosas. great food. vibrant atmosphere. fun experience pic.twitter.com/iD1Cb9h58j
— josh (@easywdw) December 6, 2017
The website does not typically speak in absolutes, but I find myself deeming the brunch as the most pleasant experience on property. And I’m sticking to it.
I last reviewed brunch in October of 2016 when it caught me by surprise. Life is, after all, an expectations game. Expect one new post per year on this website and you might find yourself ecstatic when two appear. Expect four and you may have a bad time given the same two posts.
Wider: Here.
So with elevated expectations, I returned to see if the experience was as good as I remembered. And it was.
California Grill brunch is a buffet/table service hybrid.
Most importantly, your meal begins with a complimentary mimosa or specialty non-alcoholic beverage.
You’ll be handed one on the way to your table and then they’ll be replenished throughout the meal. I thought they were a little heavier on the juice this time around, but you can always have 14 instead of 12.
The Bloody Mary Bar is available at an additional cost.
Each runs $15-$17.
And they’re probably worth it as a cast member affixes a shrimp to the celery stalk.
Peppers, olives, cheese, and meat along with pickles and shrimp.
I think you’d have to go bacon and shrimp.
The friendly, vibrant atmosphere is part of what makes the California Grill brunch experience so fun and carefree. You’ll enjoy live music throughout the meal.
And it’s virtually impossible to beat the sweeping, panoramic views.
You can head out to any of the observation decks at your leisure.
You can also bring your brunch receipt back to the second floor check-in podium before the fireworks and they’ll let you up to watch the show from the restaurant’s famous balcony.
As a reminder, you check in for the restaurant on the second floor, just up the escalator.
There. Valet parking is included with brunch if you’re parking yourself.
Back to what we’re really here for – the food.
The House-made Charcuterie spread with Napoli Salami, Serrano, Wagyu Sausage, Venison Terrine, Pork Belly Rillettes, Dijon Mustard, Zellwood Pickles, Sweet Onion Jam, and Sweet Drop Peppers is superb.
Toscana Salami and Prosciutto.
A number of accompaniments.
Tillamook Cheddar, Barely Buzzed Beehive Cheese, and Point Reyes Blue. So good.
A couple of tasty sushi options are on the buffet, including this California Roll with Jumbo Lump Crabmeat.
Typically, this sort of thing would get an eye roll (sushi pun) from my uppity brain, but there is quite a bit of real crab involved and the ingredients are fresh and flavorful. A similar roll at dinner will run you $24.
Tuna and Salmon Nigiri – straightforward, but fresh, quality ingredients are used.
The Spicy Tuna Tekka Maki Rolls are probably my favorite – there’s a pleasant mild spice to the sauce and the cucumber adds a nice crunch to each bite. Very good.
The “Shrimp Tempura Roll with Orange Drizzle and Mango” is a fruity take on your typical sushi with the shrimp providing a satisfying crunch and the sauces naturally sweetening everything up. A good choice if you’re not into the whole raw tuna thing.
The “Apple and Goat Cheese Salad with Golden Raisins, Asian Pears, Candied Pecans, and Apple Vinaigrette” continues the contemporary Asian theme with crisp greens, tangy cheese, crunchy nuts, and an acidic vinaigrette that helps bring out the sweetness of the apples and pears. It was every bit as good as a $16 salad that the restaurant would serve as an appetizer at dinner.
The “Soba Noodle Salad with Soba Noodles and Amazu-Ginger Vinaigrette” is another winner. It uses rice wine vinegar, which adds a pop of brightness to the zesty, spicy ginger sauce that’s used to sparingly coat the thin, nutty noodles. Very good.
We depart from the Asian influence with the “Bacon and Egg Salad – Greens, Frisse, Quinoa, Avocado, Cherry Wood Bacon Lardon, Pecrino Romano, Sherry Vinaigrette, Egg.” It’s a hearty salad packed full of stuff and covered with a mellow, complex vinaigrette. It’s also an opportunity to grab an egg if your brain feels like it needs a reminder that you’re at breakfast.
And another opportunity here with the “Deviled Eggs – Crispy Lardons, Spiced Aioli.” “Lardon” is a fancy way of saying chopped bacon, here adding a salty component with a rich pork flavor and without the heaviness of a larger strip. I’m not always in the mood for deviled eggs at 10am, but these have a nice creaminess to them with just a little bit of spice from the aioli.
lol no thx
The Raspberry Parfait is really good too with the cool flavors of the yogurt playing well with the raspberries and crunchy granola. Very refreshing.
A bad picture of bagels.
A worse picture of smoked salmon.
A particularly unappetizing picture of Smoked Cod Spread. You’re on your own with that monstrosity.
A better picture of the Hardwood-Smoked Salmon along with the accompaniments.
Yogurt with granola, strawberries, blueberries, and honeycomb.
California Grill makes a number of seasonal changes throughout the year – all of the salads are different than our original visit, for example. The sushi selections, deviled eggs, smoked salmon, and yogurt have been constant offerings since brunch began.
One other minor change from our original visit.
You’ll find the bread, including these gluten free scones, on the buffet line rather than delivered to the table.
Multi-grain Croissants and Cheddar Biscuits.
Sticky Buns and Guava Turnovers. These are among the best pastries I’ve ever had – fresh and flavorful. It probably makes some sense to put them out at the end of the buffet so fewer are wasted. With finite tum tum space, a lot of people are probably eyeing another bite of Lobster Benedict over the thought of a 9-grain croissant.
Overall, it’s a satisfying spread with plenty of stuff to tide you over until it’s time for entrees.
Here’s a reminder of what that portion of the menu looks like:
Only the Eggs Benedict and Grilled Hanger Steak remain from the original menu. One tip: you can order more than one entree, so if the Steak and the Lobster sound good…get both. The cast member operating the elevator on the way up to the restaurant suggested doing exactly that.
Here is said “Eggs Benedict – Two Soft-poached Eggs, Toasted English Muffin, Honey Ham, Classic Hollandaise,” which is available with Salmon or Lobster if you want to go in that direction. It’s a delicious, rich combination of perfectly-poached eggs in between the crispy muffin halves and the decadent hollandaise. There’s quite a bit of lobster meat in there too.
And the “Blueberry Pancakes – Local Blueberries, Vanilla Custard, Blueberry Compote, Warm Canadian Maple Syrup,” which is another incredible dish with pillow-y soft pancakes and deliciously bright fruit. Very good.
I’d suggest adding the “U-10 Shrimp – Gulf White Shrimp, Gruyère-Piquillo Pepper-Antebellum Grit Cake, Smoked Paprika Aïoli” to your order.
The portion size is on the small side, but the shrimp stand up nicely and the grits do a fantastic job of soaking up all the flavors from the mildly spicy, smoky aioli with a pleasant, creamy cheesiness of its own.
I went with the “Grilled Hanger Steak – Two Eggs Any-style, Chimichurri, Marble Potato Hash, Charred Red Onion.”
The beef is incredibly tender, cooked to a dark red medium rare here and topped with a thin, garlic-heavy chimichurri that gives it a little bit of a Spanish vibe. It tasted great against the piquant quality of the grilled red onions. And because I am incredibly basic, my scrambled eggs were very good as well with a pleasing buttery quality. I sometimes wonder how people get into different styles of eggs. I guess I’ll have to stop panicking and start ordering them a different way.
Don’t forget about the sides – the potatoes are simple and delicious with butter, salt, and pepper.
Sausage and bacon are up for grabs as well. The pork here is flavorful with a nice spice rub – obviously freshly made.
Overall, the entrees impressed and it’s nice knowing that basically everything is included for the $80/adult and $48/child price.
Dessert is a delightful assortment of goodies that I typically have boxed up for later.
The macarons in particular are fantastic and I love the brittle chocolate covered in fruit and nuts.
Coffee is included, so don’t be shy about putting in an order at some point during the meal.
One last look at the buffet line. It’s easy to pop up and grab a little of this and a little of that, unlike the more hectic scene of something like Crystal Palace.
Overall, California Grill brunch is an incredibly relaxing, incredibly delightful experience in a beautiful setting with attentive service and fantastic food. The hybrid buffet/entree setup means you’ll have delicious food in front of you just a couple of minutes after sitting down and it’s hard to beat a walkable, complimentary mimosa that’s constantly refilled. The pacing is perfect – both times I’ve been we ended up being there just over two hours, but it’s hard to get up from so much goodness.
Like most things Disney-related, it’s not an inexpensive proposition and those that don’t drink will find less value. Your typical Disney mimosa runs $10, so it’s relatively easy to get your “money’s worth” after putting three or four back. The steak entree is easily worth $30 compared to what you’d pay elsewhere, but there’s less value if you’re going to go the chicken or pancakes route. $48 for kids is also on the rough side considering most will eat just a couple of dollars worth of food. But I think it’s the perfect sort of thing for couples that enjoy sparkling wine and want to enjoy a serene experience in one of Walt Disney World’s most scenic locations. If you’re looking to add a splurge, I think California Grill brunch should be on most people’s short lists. I love it.
We’ll try dinner and $100 cocktails next.
We’ve done the Brunch at the Top once, and hands down it was one of my favorite dining experiences anywhere, even including places outside of Disney property.
Will say though the one time we went, I’m waiting on line for the charcuterie part of the buffet, and there is this older man ahead of me, and he’s struggling using the tongs to pull some pickles out of the jar. He gets frustrated and just slides his hand into the jar taking out what he wanted.
I’m standing there like O_O luckily someone on the line in the kitchen saw him do that and took the entire jar and threw it out and quickly replaced them.
I go back to our table, and tell my GF about what happened and she’s like no, no, no that couldn’t have happened. We both go back to the buffet line together, and there’s the old man about 2-3 people ahead of us. I tap her on the shoulder and tell her that’s the pickle plunderer and she lost it. She was expecting a little kid to shove their hand into the pickle jar, not a grown elderly man.
So outside of that, the meal was superb, and while dropping nearly $200 for brunch is kind of insane, the food was all top notch.
Couple that with the fact the two musicians on hand played a request for Heart Shaped Box it was surreal.
The horror!…hopefully you all retreated to your safe space for the rest of the day
I don’t get this comment at all…..
You don’t think it’s kind of gross for a grown adult to use their hands on a buffet to grab something, that isn’t an entire piece of fruit?
I’m with you Peter… that’s just nasty!! Thankfully someone from the kitchen noticed right away.
“Keith” is clearly trolling. Agree with you and Peter.
I did the brunch with my daughter, 13 in August. It was wonderful. Such amazing food and atmosphere. A truly wonderful day out with my eldest. I booked it because of your last review. Reading today’s has me wanting to book it again in August or April when I’m there.
Do they accept Tables in Wonderland?
Yes they do!
this may have just made my decision to do it!
We have gone to brunch at CG twice and are heading back in May. Definitely our favorite dining experience! The atmosphere is top-notch, the service is amazing and, as a vegetarian, I never get a side-eye for asking to have something modified. In fact, I could probably just have multiple rounds of the vegetable sushi and be completely happy. When you consider all the self-serve selections, the mix and match entree options, the delightful dessert plate, and the bottomless mimosas…there really isn’t a better dining option on property.
It’s nice to bear witness when photography transcends into multimedia art.
To wit: your finest work…. The image that accompanies this line, “Most importantly, your meal begins with a complimentary mimosa or specialty non-alcoholic beverage.”.
The emotions exuding from your stick figure scream “All your Mimosa are belong to us”.
This is what defines Brunch Nirvana..
Drop the Mic and walk away.
Does anyone know if the AP discount applies? I wasn’t sure if this is excluded as a ‘special event.’
Very much looking forward to this after both reviews!
I had recently read somewhere, that California Grills quality was slipping from what it once was. Your review does seem to indicate outherwise, which is a Good Thing!
I enjoyed the brunch there but my hand still smells like pickle brine.
I also found it very hard to wash off. But to me, that is the sign of a good pickle.
Yes, everyone knows the best way is to pick your pickle out of the jar yourself.
I don’t know why anyone would feel a need to even mention it.
Agreed. My sister and I did the brunch on January 14 and it was amazing! Word of warning to those afraid of spice, the crispy fried chicken thigh is much spicier than the description depicts. My sister ordered it and ate about half, following it up with some blueberry pancakes. I enjoyed the shrimp and a large portion of sushi/nigiri. Only downside was that the “mimosas” on that day were just white wine with flavored boba balls in the bottom, orange in our first ones followed by blueberry ones later. Great experience and the perfect special meal for our girls’ trip weekend.
What?! As you know, white whine with boba balls in the bottom is not a mimosa!
We were there the same day!
Our server told us we could have regular mimosas . I wish yours had done the same. I didn’t love the boba version and the server could tell. I would have been pretty tipsy if I kept drinking wine through a straw all morning!
This looks amazing!
Nice that they will box the desserts for you. We asked at ‘Ohana and the answer was no.
I’m guessing this isn’t on the dining plan?
Of course it is! And you get a bloody Mary included!
Really? Is it 2 TS credits? And you get a “free” Bloody Mary?
Wait I can just order any number of entrees? For the same 2 table credits as one entree??
Oh my word, this looks heavenly! I’ve always heard great reviews for California Grill, but most people highlight the dinner where you can view the fireworks. It is something I have always wanted to try, but after this review, I think I would much rather do the Sunday brunch. Will most definitely have to try for a reservation on our next trip. Thank you for the thorough review and the mouth watering photos 🙂
This was by far the best dining experience my wife and I have had in 10 years of visiting WDW. The food was superb and the service was out of this world. Only wish they would sit young children and their families together away from couples and adults only parties. I don’t think this is really a child friendly atmosphere and a screaming, ranting, pouting child almost ruined it for us. Thankfully, his frustrated parent left after a short time. The peace and quiet that followed was heavenly!~
Is the dress code the same at brunch as it is for dinner? We’ll be going in August if that matters.
We saw folks in park attire and then “dressy/business casual”
I have booked this for our August trip. I’m the only vegetarian in the party, is it possible to get some items made without meat/fish?
Definitey. And I will add that this brunch was one of the best dining experiences I have had ANYWHERE – but definitely the best (for me) at WDW
A few questions:
Are the Bloody Mary’s included on the new dining plans? (as the “specialty drink”, of course)
And am I understanding correctly that you can order multiple entrees per person? (For example, I order pancakes and eggs Benedict and my boyfriend orders steak and omelette).
Marys*
How I wish I was on the bandwagon with everybody else! The meals you describe (and that Josh described) sound lovely.
Sadly, my family’s “Brunch at the Top” experience was a disaster. Due to a server’s mixup (putting us at the wrong table and then huffing at us to go back to the reception desk because we were “the wrong people” even though they’d summoned us by name), there was no greeting and no welcome cocktail for us: just a busboy who, unsolicited, promised to get us a “children’s menu” for a meal that doesn’t have one, and a pretentious server who paused to extol the virtues of the water she was pouring us out of a plastic sports bottle. She then repeatedly disappeared into the kitchen for a series of 20-minute intervals. My Lobster Benedict was comprised of rubbery overcooked lobster, disgusting chunks of overcooked Hollandaise (reheated to the point where the egg yolks had hardened), and a raw English muffin with meat on one half but not the other. The advertised “potato hash” was missing from the plate altogether. I wasn’t just disappointed — I was embarrassed, as I’d talked it up to my family ahead of time and it was the biggest dud of any Disney dining experience we’ve ever had. Maybe it was just an “off” day for the restaurant, but I won’t ever be back to give them a second chance. At those prices, quality shouldn’t be a gamble.