so i guess youre saying the pomme frites are a step above the mcdonald's fry wagon?   ok  i'll give it a try this weekend.  thanks Roger

Thanks for the articles and pictures!!!  Seeing as I leave near WDW, I'll have to wait a while to try this restaurant.  That crab sandwich would have been my choice, too.  And at first I thought the Beignets were in the shape of a lamb...but they are Mickey shaped!  Thanks for making me hungry, Roger!!!  I'm jealous!

Sounds delish.  Thanks for the review!

Quick question for Roger, if he checks this...or anyone else who has been able to go.  My sister is vegitarian, which always severely limits where we can dine.  August will be our first trip back in 17 years.  From your picture of the menu, I didn't see anything vegi.  Is there a vegi option on the menu, or one available on special request?  Thanks for the great pictures and info!

For the vegetarian? Try the La Salade de Maison and the Three-Cheese Monte Cristo! I saw lots of folks enjoying both.

Bon Appetit!

In New Orleans, they say, "Laissez bontemps rouler!" (lay-zay bone-tonh rule-ay). Sounds like the food and beverage guy translated each word and strung them together rather than translating the whole expression.

Thanks for the nice remembrance of the Sara Lee restaurant (Cafe Orlean's name when I was busboy and waiter in the summer of 1976.)  The new menu has some familar dishes from the 70s--sandwiches, salads and desserts, mostly.  The pommes frites are a nice touch.  I'll bring my family back with waiter service.  

Is that why the asterisks are next to the "Laissez les bon temps...", Roger? Well, in any case, the new Cafe Orleans sounds pretty good - I'll be there next week and I'll have to give it a try.

I had the COMPLETE opposite experience at Cafe Orleans.  We never saw our waiter except to take our order and then when the bill came. We waited 45 minutes for our food. Normally if you're waiting that long your waiter comes to your table and apologizes for the long wait. He didn't do that. When the waiter took our drink orders I asked for a Mint Julep and our waiter told us they ran out (even though we saw tables STILL being served this drink while we were waiting for our own food). I only got one glass of Ice Tea out of the deal since no one came to refill. To get the bill we had to flag down three people to call our waiter out to us. I had the Monte Cristo sandwich and found it to NOT be worth the price they were charging for it.  I felt like I was at an overpriced Dennys.

I'm sure you're thinking that I must've been a jerk if Disney Cast Members treat me this way, but it was quite the opposite.  I'm a type of person that doesn't like to draw attention to myself and I'm one of those kids that "plays well with others".

I've a feeling that when this reviewer dines it was when management was trying to make the experience overtly exceptional so that they WOULD get good reviews by press, but I went during normal bussiness hours and I felt a little cheated by my experience at Cafe Orleans.

A couple of things...

What Gary said was ""Laissez bontemps rouler!" (lay-zay bone-tonh rule-ay)" and we all replied with the same in return.

The translation of the phrase "Let The Good Times Roll" (by Google's language tools) is the result of my writing the story after a long day at work, finishing at about 3 in the morning.

As for my review, I stand behind it, 100 percent. I was not invited to any preview, nor was the mangement visible in attendance during my dining experience. And for the record, I did dine during normal business hours.

If my experience had been anything along the lines of TicketMediaGuy's, you definitely would have read about it right here.

Cafe Orleans is also (now) a very pricey lunch and dinner experience.  It is also the home of the (now very expensive) Monte Criso Sandwich (in two forms of incarnation.)

Blue Bayou has also skyrocketed in price on their new menu...and there is little to no price variance there between the lunch or the dinner menu...and, the reserved dining thing is making it danged hard for the daily visitor to pop in and enjoy the experience of dining at either of those two restaurants...which I have heard a lot of people grumbling about as they were turned away.....

Btw  - that saxophone playng wolf...Tex Avery, anyone?  RED HOT RIDING HOOD?  

heh!

Went to Cafe Orleans this past Saturday armed with 11:30am (opening) Preferred-dining-made-at-the-Californian-whatever-you-do-don't-call-them-reservations. Waited in the surprisingly broiling sun to get in. "I'm sorry, we can't let people inside until we open at 11:30."  Computers down - reservations lost - except for friends of a cast member who got seated first. Finally seated at 11:40am - wouldn't have made a difference except for the heat.

Needless to say, I was not in a good mood to start with. I had studied the menu, so I had fair warning about the prices. The waitress did everything in her power to put me in a better mood. At that point, all I really wanted was air conditioning and a cold beverage. We ordered pommes frites (at $5) as an appetizer - yes they were worth $5, but you have to eat them while they're hot - and you should have 3 or more people at your table, or at least 2 hungry people to order them.

The cold beverages continued flowing - I was doing better.  Both the monte cristo and the crab salad sandwich were great - the crab maybe even better for the heat that day. Worth the price? I thought so, but I'm a tourist not a local. I would definately go there, sit down, and get those sandwiches for $15 a pop, than fight a line for a burger and fries that will be $8-$10.  When fritters and a Coke are $8, $15 seems ok for a sandwich - as long as it's good - and I was pleased with everything we ordered at Cafe Orleans. I know I didn't have the stamina to brave the mobs around the Blue Bayou.

I didn't remember Roger mentioning the pirate medallion given at this restaurant.      "It's free !"    (as long as you call a $30 minimum purchase free)  I think there will be 8, and I'm sorry I don't know the other restaurants you can get them at.

During the weekend, we also had breakfast and lunch at Carnation Cafe halfway up Main Street - both were good meals, fairly priced - much better than what I remembered.   At night - we lived at Tortilla Jo's. It's always been hard to find a good restaurant at Disneyland, but that seems to be slowly changing.

And Roger, I did take some pins (3) that I didn't want, to see if i could trade them. Well, three days, two pins carts, and countless laynard-ed people later, I came home with 20 new pins. Thanks a whole #$%^@* lot, Roger!

So help me, I swear I am not going to get interested in trains.

Ah, the lure of pins...

Glad to hear you enjoyed Cafe Orleans!

And I didn't mention the medallion cause I didn't get one. Hmmm...