This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the opening of Disney California Adventure. The second gate at the Disneyland Resort has undergone a lot of changes in the last quarter century, but one place that has remained much as it was all that time ago is the Grand California Hotel & Spa. It’s the resort’s premier hotel, which is home to the resort’s premier restaurant, the Napa Rose.
I’ve been missing the Napa Rose for the last several months as it's been closed since last March for a massive refurbishment. It’s a place to slow down from a busy theme park day and enjoy great food in a fine dining atmosphere. I was invited to preview the transformed dining room and menu at Napa Rose ahead of its February 6 reopening, and I can’t believe the best just got better.
The Brand New Napa Rose Is A Work Of Art
The Napa Rose has received a glow-up that I simply was not expecting, with an emphasis on the “glow.” The old Napa Rose was a brightly lit affair, with a fairly open floor plan. The new Napa Rose has lowered the light level, not so much that things are too dark, but in a way that makes the atmosphere of the restaurant feel far more intimate.
That intimacy is only enhanced by a redesigned floor plan. Wine has become a centerpiece of the design, with many of the Napa Rose’s 13,000 bottles now on full display. These displays also act as buffers between different parts of the dining room. This helps dampen the sound, so even a full dining room is never too noisy, nor does a full dining room even feel that full, since you can’t see all of it at once like you once could.
One of the great unsung talents of Walt Disney Imagineering is its lighting design. Whether you’re walking down Main Street U.S.A at dusk or watching the neon light up at Cars Land, lighting creates moods, and the Napa Rose is no different. Creative chandeliers and other lighting fixtures make the dining room truly shine.
The Napa Rose Embraces The Real California Adventure Next To Disney’s Second Gate
The Grand Californian Hotel & Spa is attached to Disney California Adventure, the second theme park of the Disneyland Resort. When the park first opened, it was designed to give guests a full California experience in one place, with different lands dedicated to different parts of the Golden State.
Over the last quarter-century, we’ve seen the park shift away from the focus on California to more of a focus on Disney, as more of the House of Mouse’s franchises and IP have entered the park. However, at the Napa Rose, the focus is still squarely on California.
The new cocktail menu contains a variety of drinks, each inspired by different parts of the state. Much of the menu is made from locally sourced ingredients. In much the same way a Disneyland attraction might transport you to the worlds of Star Wars or Marvel, the Napa Rose transports you from an Anaheim theme park to the wine country.
That’s not to say there are no Disney touches inside this fine dining establishment. The classic Hidden Mickey can be found throughout the interior. A series of stained glass accidentals, remnants from other projects, can also be found, which are made from glass used on various Disney Parks projects throughout the world.
The Napa Rose Menu Is Amazing, Because Of Course It Is
Wine is the driving force behind the new Napa Rose. In addition to it being all over the new restaurant as part of its new look, the Napa Rose wine collection also drove much of the new menu. In many cases, the dishes of the new prie fix menu were designed based on what would go well with certain wines. This is not to say that if you do get wine pairings with your meal, you’ll be drinking the same thing as everybody else. The staff has been trained and encouraged to choose wines based not only on the dish but also on the guest.
I may be burying the lede when it comes to the food at by only discussing it now,m but that’s because to say the menu at Napa Rose is exceptional goes without saying. Still, it should be said that Chef Andrew Sutton has team have done remarkable work. Sutton is in charge of all of Disneyland Resort’s most exceptional dining rooms, including the exclusive Club 33, the exceptional (and exceptionally expensive) 21 Royal, and Carthay Circle inside Disney California Adventure.
If you’ve never been to Napa Rose, I recommend it now more than ever. If you can’t stop long enough for the full dinner experience, grab a drink and a bite in the lounge and take it all in that way. It’s not to be missed.
