Blue Bayou, Disneyland’s most unique restaurant, reopens

When Blue Bayou opened on March 18, 1967, the same day Pirates opened, it made history. The ride and its restaurant were among the last projects Walt Disney personally oversaw, though they opened after his death in December 1966. At its debut, Blue Bayou was the first restaurant in the world to be built inside a ride.

I’ve seen the restaurant countless times, both from a dinner table and from a boat floating by, but every single time, I’m struck by its beauty. Blue Bayou is built to be the courtyard of a New Orleans-style mansion, so you see the facade of the home, then a patio with overhanging colorful lanterns and foliage, with a happy hum of diners and clinking plates and glasses adding to the sounds of the ride’s swamp.

The food, though, was a mixed bag. For every glowing review of what a memorable and delicious meal someone had, there’s another saying the atmosphere was the best part and the food left something to be desired. Still, before it closed for refurbishment, Blue Bayou was the most difficult table to get at Disneyland. People would employ complicated strategies and set alarms so they would be awake at 3 a.m., when inventory refreshed in the Disneyland app. But even if they could snag a table — and they often couldn’t — it would be 60 days from the date they booked. 

As of right now, Blue Bayou is open on a walk-in basis only. When I approached the employee managing the list, it was a busy Sunday when wait times throughout the park were high, and the second day of service after its six-week closure. Still, I was told I could walk in immediately with no wait. I decided to take a loop around the Disneyland Railroad first, since I wasn’t really hungry yet (I had anticipated a several-hour wait). When I went back, around 2:30 p.m., I waited less than five minutes before being seated at my table.

The interior looked like it got a refresh — colors seemed brighter, paint seemed fresh — but nothing was substantially changed. I asked my server what he thought was different, and he said some of the floor tiles had been repaired, but most of the changes he observed were behind the scenes, refurbishing service areas in the back of the house. 

The most striking visual difference is the wall around the dining room, blocking off the view into Pirates of the Caribbean. The ride is still closed for refurbishment, though on the Sunday afternoon I ate there, I didn’t hear any work noises from the other side of the barrier. (I did still hear crickets as though I was really in a bayou at dusk.) 

But here’s the meat and potatoes of the thing, quite literally: the food. I’ve had great meals at Blue Bayou, and more recently, so-so meals, but I hadn’t been back since before the park’s pandemic closure. That means I had never had a meal there where alcohol was on the menu. I sat down and ordered myself a glass of sparkling wine, which came in a delightfully throwback champagne coupe. Then I ordered a Blue Bayou salad with dehydrated strawberries and blue cheese, the chicken jambalaya, and a chocolate-coffee cake for dessert. 

The salad ($7) was just how I remembered, though now it’s served without nuts (previous versions had pecans). A light vinaigrette was all the fruit and cheese needed as a complement, and it was so good that, even though I knew I had two more courses coming, I ate the whole thing. 

I skipped the restaurant’s signature chicken gumbo — I had eaten it recently at Cafe Orleans — but went with a similar entree: the chicken jambalaya ($36). Rather than all of the ingredients cooked together in the traditional preparation, this jambalaya was a plate of spicy rice topped with a chicken breast, spicy andouille sausage and poached shrimp. None of the flavors, eaten on their own, were hitting the note of what I expected from a jambalaya — but once I started combining things into one bite, I got that mix I was looking for. 

The chocolate cake was the star of the show. I’m not just saying that because diners from other tables watched the server carry it to my table, and then asked me what I was having. The delicate layers of chocolate and coffee-soaked cake made an impressive display, especially served with fruit, edible flowers and sculptural tapioca bubbles. I thought the portion looked small, but I didn’t finish the whole thing because it was so rich. Then again, with the complexity of the ingredients, maybe the cake has to be small to be served for only $10, a relative bargain in Disneyland prices. 

Before this most recent experience, I had been in the “only go when you are taking people who haven’t been before” camp of Blue Bayou reviewers, but honestly, this experience was so pleasant that I’m looking forward to my next meal there. I’ll definitely try to walk up the next time I’m in the park — but if reservations come back, there’s still no way I’m going to wake up at 3 a.m. to get one.