Fresh after its opening, we had the chance to visit the brand new Great Maple Modern American Eatery at the Pixar Place Hotel (formerly Paradise Pier Hotel). The popular chain brings a fantastic roster of bites and sips and it makes a surprisingly awesome addition to the lineup for dining on property.
Here’s our review of everything we’ve tried at the Great Maple Modern American Eatery at Pixar Place Hotel.
The Location
The restaurant has street-level access so you can enter right off the sidewalk on Disneyland Dr. if you’re walking in from the parks. The hotel lobby also has a direct shoot straight to the restaurant leading to the same host/hostess stand. Reservations for this location are available both in the Disneyland app and on OpenTable — word to the wise, check both to snag your ideal time! They also accept walk-up guests.
This location also offers 3 hours of complimentary Hotel parking (with validation) for dine-in guests.
As its name would imply, the restaurant has a definite modern aesthetic yet at the same time a bit comfortable, too. It feels homey and warm with hanging plants, comfy seats, and calming shades of green, yet also a bit contemporary with gold accents, funky lighting fixtures, and glass garage doors that let in fresh air. To borrow a slang word thrown around the past few years, it may verge slightly on being a little cheugy but the overall end product is a space that is relaxing, cohesive, and well-executed.
Black and white portraits of Pixar characters — reminiscent of that Steve Jobs trademark style — dot the restaurant adding a small touch of the Pixar vibe for the hotel itself. While some of the portraits evoke a bit of obituary chic (RIP Helen Parr and Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl) others come across more artsy and stylish (hola, Miguel!)
The Food and Drink
This menu offers a wide variety of American dishes for all meals of the day. They have breakfast favorites like buttermilk pancakes, French toast logs, and chilaquiles. For lunch and dinner, there are salads, pastas, sandwiches, burgers, and main courses like ribeye steak, salmon and their signature Fried Chicken & Doughnuts. For dessert, they have their famous maple bacon doughnuts, seasonal doughnuts, and powdered sugar beignets.
They also have a wide selection of drinks, including cocktails, mocktails, wines, beers, and non-alcoholic beverages.
What We Tasted
We tried a few of the menu options available. Here’s a look at our thoughts!
Drinks
Great Maple offers a full bar with a range of options including signature cocktails and a whole section of zer0-proof mocktails. Here’s what we tasted.
Lavender Lemonade
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️⚫
Lavender Lemonade ($8) is pretty much what its name implies, it’s a good tart lemonade with a kick of lavender flavor that was perhaps perfectly balanced (a little lavender can go a long way) yet possibly also not quite lavender-y enough. Also, shoutout to the great glassware! One free refill is allowed.
Moroccan Iced Tea
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️⚫⚫
Moroccan Iced Tea ($8) is an iced black tea with lime juice, mint, simple and syrup. This one was honestly a little strange. It had a tart bitterness to it from the lime juice that was cut slightly by the simple syrup. Wish the mint would have come through more but perhaps the garnish was the only trace. One free refill is allowed.
Maple Bacon Old Fashioned
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️⚫
Maple Bacon Old Fashioned ($18) features a bacon-washed Bourbon, maple syrup, bitters, and garnished with a slice of skewered thick-cut caramelized bacon. Usually such an extravagant cocktail garnish is best with a Bloody Mary but it fits the brunchy vibe of the menu. The cocktail itself is a fun twist that’s worth a shot.
Entrees
Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch and Dinner are served all day and offer a great mix of flavors, textures, and options.
Hot Honey Fried Chicken Sandwich
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Hot Honey Fried Chicken Sandwich ($26) features Buttermilk Fried Chicken, topped with Cabbage Slaw, Hot Honey Aïoli, and Melted White American Cheese. The sandwich is great, the breading is perfectly crisp and the meat tender and juicy. We didn’t get much of a kick of the hot or the honey but the overall bite is still fantastic.
The meal includes choice of Fries or Field Greens with Champagne Maple Vinaigrette or you can substitute for Parmesan Truffle Fries ($5) or mini Caesar ($4) at an additional cost. Our server advised we could upgrade to the signature Portabello Mushroom Fries with a basil peto aioli and while pricy, they were totally worth the $9 upcharge. They are crispy and delicious and that basil pesto was fantastic — ended up putting some on the sandwich, too.
Soda Pop Baby Back Ribs
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
“This was a big hit at our table”
Soda Pop Baby Back Ribs ($32) features Slow Braised and Grilled half rack, Hot Honey Slaw, and White Cheddar Biscuit. This was a big hit at our table. The grilled biscuit was a great flavor complement and the slaw was a nice tangy accompaniament to the ribs which are the star. Tender and juicy, crisp and saucy. The ribs were fall-off-the-bone with a fantastic flavor.
Ribeye Melt
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️⚫
Ribeye Melt ($30) is available in limited supply because it features Griddled Ribeye accompanied by Aged White Cheddar, Pesto Aïoli, Red Onions, Arugula, Tomato. All the flavors here are about what you’d expect, the meat is cooked perfectly and all the fixings create a familiar flavor profile. The fries are fairly decent, as well.
The meal includes choice of Fries or Field Greens with Champagne Maple Vinaigrette or you can substitute for Parmesan Truffle Fries ($5), mini Caesar ($4), or Portabello Mushroom Fries ($9).
Lemon Shrimp Pasta
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️⚫⚫
Lemon Shrimp Pasta ($31) features Fettuccine, Shrimp, Toy Box Tomatoes, Parsley, Garlic Lemon Butter, White Wine, Chili Flakes, Shredded Parmesan. Overall, the flavors here are great but the dish felt like it was missing something — whether it was a side salad or a piece of gralic bread, it didn’t quite hit as a fully balanced meal on its own. Perhaps some more tomatoes and or a bitter green in the mix with the sauce could have also helped. Good dish, not great.
Chef’s Market Fish
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️⚫⚫
Chef’s Market Fish ($35) will change based on what the chefs are cooking up in the kitchen on our visit we had an arugula salad with a a beet risotto served with fresh seared Barramundi. It was perfectly fine although there’s many other dishes we’d opt for again before this.
Maple Pecan Crusted Salmon
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️⚫
Maple Pecan Crusted Salmon ($34) features salmon with a maple pecan panko crust, pearled cauliflower, seasonal vegetables, and charred lemon. There was a really nice subtle sweetness to the whole dish which helps pair it with the signature donuts for this location.
Side Caesar Add-On
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Side Caesar ($4 add-on) can be added to most entrees. It’s a straight forward Caesar, nothing much to say.
Dessert
Maple Bacon Doughnuts
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️⚫⚫
“The Maple Bacon Doughnuts were good, but not sure sure if they were $6-each-good”
Maple Bacon Doughnuts ($18) come in a set of three. As much as these were hyped, we were a bit let down by them. They were a bit drier than we were hoping, especially after our server telling us that they were made fresh to order. The maple glaze was decent but the bacon didn’t seem to add or do much. The Maple Bacon Doughnuts were good, but not sure sure if they were $6-each-good.
We had four at our table so we ordered one extra Maple Bacon Doughnut which was an additional $6.
More to Explore
Here’s a few photos from around the beautiful venue.
Final Thoughts
Here’s the total the damage of the bill for four adults; $183 before Magic Key discount. This is definitely not a bargain meal restaurant but it never pretended to be.
In our eyes, the vibes and food more than justify the cost. The only detractor is the inconvenience of getting here to begin with. We can definitely see ourselves eating here again, the only problem is do we see ourselves walking here to do it? TBD.
Hungry for More?
Check out the entire menu including the full list of drinks at our posting below.
MORE INFO: FULL MENU (with prices) for Great Maple Modern American Eatery at Pixar Place Hotel
See it for Yourself
Great Maple Modern American Eatery is now open at the The Villas at Disneyland Hotel. The hotel officially opened on September 28, 2023.
MORE INFO: MouseInfo coverage about Pixar Place Hotel
