TANGAROA TERRACE
ADDRESS: 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802
It had been at least eight months since the last time I took a trip to the Downtown Disney area, that visit being the time I went to Disneyland with my friends Nate and Ruby. So one weekend last month, I suggested to my friend Michele for us to head down that way to hang out in that area. She recommended for us to check out Tangaroa Terrace while we were there, since we were thinking of doing a late breakfast.
Located within the Disneyland Hotel grounds, Tangaroa Terrace is accessible even if you aren’t a guest at the hotel. It wasn’t too bad of a walk from the Downtown Disney parking lot and you weaved your way around the hotel’s pool area before you arrived at the entrance. My general impression is that it was like a fast-casual type of establishment, with food offerings that drew from Polynesian inspiration. There was some seating inside, but the majority was at tables out front.
You have to go inside to a little marketplace area to order your food before you take a number out to your table, where the staff will bring the food out to you. Their menu only has seven breakfast options to choose from, ranging between a breakfast burrito to pancakes to a traditional American breakfast combo of eggs, meat, and potatoes. But Michele had recommended that I try the Tangaroa Toast, which meant that I’d be putting my dairy sensitivity to the test, due to the citrus custard filling inside the toast. But it ended up working out okay.
I always find that whenever I’m in the Disney area, whether it was here in California or during my time out in Florida, it always felt like I was on vacation. Maybe that was because I had vacationed to these places with my family when I was younger, but it was always interesting to me I still had that same feeling, even though I lived within a 1.5 hour drive away.
Our Tangaroa Toasts did not take long for us to receive, as a staff member came over and brought out both plates from the kitchen. On initial glance, I felt like the toast was rather small and had been expecting more of the portions you’d get if you ordered French toast or something like that. You also only received maybe two or three strips of bacon as part of your plate; not sure if I was just a little more hungry that morning, but I had been hoping for a little bit more food.
The bread itself had to have been custom baked for the dish, since the size of it was a bit peculiar. The inside texture was similar to brioche, with the citrus custard providing a slightly tart flavor to the cinnamon sugar “crust” on the outside of the bread. There was guava syrup drizzled over top of the toast for additional tropical fruit flavor, along with some toasted coconut as well. It was definitely a lot of concentrated sweet flavors at once, but not to the point where it felt overloaded.
I think the thing that was still a bit of a let-down was the amount of food for what you paid. Sure, you do have the “Disney pricing” to be expected, but for $15, the plate that I got did not feel like it lived up to that. If I were a guest at the hotel and looking for a quick and convenient option for breakfast, Tangaroa Terrace would probably be okay. But if you’re up for venturing out, there are probably other alternatives where you would have both more options and larger portions for what you pay for.
Let’s now take a look at the Tangaroa Terrace Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Tangaroa Toast **
Brick toast filled with citrus custard, topped with guava syrup and toasted coconut, served with bacon. Pictured without whipped cream.
~><~
And finally, here are my rankings for Tangaroa Terrace:
Food: 4 / 5
The toast ended up being quite a few sweet flavors stacking on top of each other. The guava and citrus flavors did complement each other pretty well, and the bacon provided a savory flavor to help contrast with the rest of the plate.
Atmosphere: 4 / 5
There’s plenty of seating outdoors in front of the restaurant, enabling you to enjoy the California weather. You may hear other hotel guests having fun at the pool area, but I thought the setup of the plants did help to tone down the noise from that a bit.
Service: 4 / 5
The staff helping us out when ordering and also bringing out the food were very friendly, and our food didn’t take very long at all to come out from the kitchen.
Price: 3 / 5
Even with the “Disney pricing” consideration, I definitely did not feel like that plate was $15 worth of food. Had the toast portion been a little bit bigger, I would have been okay with that price point.
Overall:
15 / 20
(75%)
Categories: California, Restaurants
Chu On This 