Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree is officially ready to start welcoming folks who are as hungry as — well, a bear! As the whole Bayou Country area of Disneyland gets ready for the grand opening of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure the surrounding areas have been spruced up including this popular eatery which boasts a whole new menu to accompany its name change from Hungry Bear Restaurant.
Here’s our reviews of everything we tried on the menu (just about everything!) for the Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree at Disneyland.
The Location
The Hungry Bear Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree location has not really changed substantively from what fans knew before. Other than the name change, the rustic charm remains with a large two-level wooden deck. Around the restaurant, small touches celebrate the Country Bear Jamboree including portrait paintings of each of the show’s main stars — there’s even an honorary swing for Teddi Barra. The soundtrack for the restaurant features country classics including several of the new songs that can be heard in the Country Bear Musical Jamboree at Walt Disney World.
The new menu features hearty barbecue dishes like the Smoked Barbecue Combo Platter, Angus Beef Burger with Pulled Pork, and sandwiches, all served with classic sides like coleslaw, baked beans, and beer-battered fries. Other options include Loaded French Fries and plant-based choices like the Corn Ribs Plate, along with treats like funnel cake fries and banana pudding. Beverage offerings feature fun specialty drinks including sparkling strawberry-pickle lemonade, strawberry shortcake lemonade, and a straight forward lemonade-iced tea.
Previously, Hungry Bear Restaurant offered classic American dishes like burgers, chicken sandwiches, onion rings, and salads, along with funnel cake desserts and standard fountain drinks.
What We Tasted
Several options are available for guests with dietary restrictions. You may speak to Cast Members at the location to learn more. We didn’t try any of those options but here’s a taste of what we tried…
Specialty Beverages
To whet your appetite, we tried all three signature drinks for this location.
Sparkling Strawberry-Pickle Lemonade
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Sparkling Strawberry-Pickle Lemonade ($7.49) features Simply Lemonade®, Minute Maid® strawberry, Sprite®, pickle juice, and pickle spear. Certainly the attention grabber, this adventurous drink is not as scary as it might sound. The pickle juice flavor here is fairly light giving just a tiny bit of salty tang to the drink to give it some interest. The overall drink is still very sweet, even with the pickle spear garnish. If you’re curious, give it a try!
Strawberry Shortcake Lemonade
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Strawberry Shortcake Lemonade ($7.49) features Simply Lemonade®, Minute Maid® strawberry, sweet cream topping, shortbread crumbles, and strawberry dust. If you’ve ever had a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar you’ll know exactly what you’re getting here. This is super sweet but not sickeningly so. A fun drink… or dessert!
Lemonade-Iced Tea
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️⚫⚫
Lemonade-Iced Tea ($6.49) with Simply Lemonade® and Gold Peak® unsweetened iced tea with lemon wheel. There’s nothing inherently bad about this one — it’s an Arnold Palmer — and you know exactly what you’re getting here. It tastes good but gets lost with all the rich robust flavors of the food on the menu.
The Sauces
To the restaurant’s advantage, the barbecue meats are not slathered in sauce. The quality of the meat is good enough that Disney doesn’t need to mask it by bathing it in distracting flavor. The meats work on their own and are tender, moist, and full of flavor. If you like to be a little more saucy, the condiment station has you covered with three options: Classic BBQ, Hot Smokey, and Golden.
The Classic BBQ Sauce is thick and tangy, a fairly standard barbecue sauce. The Hot Smokey is a little thinner but has a nice smokey flavor and a little bit heat to it. The Golden sauce was not a favorite at our table, it tastes a bit like a sweet tangy mustard. Of course, there’s also ketchup and ranch!
Platters & Plates
We didn’t try the Classic Cheeseburger or the Chicken Tenders but based on what we’re hearing, it sounds like they are the same standard fare that you’d expect from similar locations around the Resort.
Smoked Barbecue Combo Platter
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Smoked Barbecue Combo Platter ($21.49) comes with a selection of house-smoked meats and is served with baked beans, coleslaw, white bread, and pickled vegetables. Meat options include: pork spareribs, pulled pork, sausage link, or beef brisket. We’ve tried the spare ribs, pulled pork, and brisket and all are great choices. The brisket is hit-or-miss with the chance of getting a drier cut; the pulled pork is flavorful and savory without being too saucy; the spare ribs are nice and meaty with a good balance of flavor — also not too saucy.
Barbecue Pulled Pork Sandwich
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️⚫
Barbecue Pulled Pork Sandwich ($15.99) features tangy BBQ sauce, coleslaw, and bread & butter pickles, with beer-battered fries. The meat is flavorful on its own without being slathered in sauce. It’s tender and delicious and pairs perfectly with those delicious beer-battered fries. A classic BBQ standby done right!
Smoked Beef Brisket Sandwich
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️⚫⚫
Smoked Beef Brisket Sandwich ($16.99) features tangy BBQ sauce, pickled red onions, and pickled jalapeños, with beer-battered fries. Ours was tender, moist and delicious but as with most restaurants, Disneyland’s brisket is not immune from a hit-or-miss selection of meat that might be on the drier side.
Smoked Angus Beef Burger with Pulled Pork
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Smoked Angus Beef Burger with Pulled Pork ($18.49) features American cheese, golden aïoli, pickled red onions, bread & butter pickles, and crispy onions, with beer-battered fries. Another standout item on this menu. It’s got that delicious succulent pulled pork and it’s paired on top of a nice thick savory beef patty. The aioli didn’t seem to shine through for us but all the flavors on this are top-notch. Paired with the perfect fries, this is a winner.
Plant-Based Corn Ribs Plate
RATING: ☀️☀️⚫⚫⚫
Plant-Based Corn Ribs Plate ($14.99) features chile-lime aïoli, parmesan, crispy onions, cilantro, and scallions, with coleslaw and beer-battered fries. It’s nice to have variety of options including plant-based ones but while we loved the corn ribs, it’s hard to recommend getting them as an entree. The flavors are great but in essence this is a single cob of corn sliced into 5 wedges and served with fries. It makes a great side or appetizer but on its own probably won’t satisfy a truly hungry bear.
Sides & More
Loaded French Fries
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️⚫
Loaded French Fries ($14.99) features smoked pulled pork, queso sauce, pickled red onions, pickled jalapeños, cilantro, and scallions. This one gets a point knocked off just because it’s size. The fries on their own and the pulled pork on their own are both fantastic. Paired together with that savory queso sauce it’s a truly delicious option. Plus, the bright bite from the pickled veggies on top — it’s a winner. The portion size is certainly enough to make a decent meal but also reminded us a bit of the size of Disney’s Food and Wine Festivals food items. Still, definitely worth a try!
Beer-battered Fries
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Beer-battered Fries ($4.79) are good enough to be worth a shoutout on their own. The batter on these is light and crispy and the fries are a great size — smaller than steak fries but thicker than traditional fries. This either makes them best of both worlds or the best of neither but we think they’re great!
Baked Beans
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️⚫⚫
Baked Beans ($4.49) are included in a few dishes but it’s also available as a side on its own. Overall, they are fairly standard issue without any surprise here. They are the expected amount of salty and sweet and pairs well as a standard barbecue side. Basically, you know what you’re getting here!
Coleslaw
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️⚫
Coleslaw ($4.49) is similar to coleslaws around the property. In an effort to remove the dairy and widen the appeal of the dish, this goes for a tangy citrusy vibe and we honestly think it works really well with the barbecue flavors. It just might not hit the spot for those expecting a traditional dairy-based slaw.
Banana Pudding
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Banana Pudding ($7.29) features bananas, whipped cream, crushed wafer cookies, dulce de leche, and toffee. This might be one of our favorite new permanent menu items at the Disneyland Resort. Made with real bananas, the flavors and textures here are fantastic but what sets it over the top are the crumbly bits of toffee on top making this one an absolutely irresistible dessert.
Funnel Cake Fries
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️⚫⚫
Funnel Cake Fries ($6.49) dusted with powdered sugar (with banana caramel dipping sauce for an extra $1.49). Funnel Cake fries are a novel treat and they’re not new to the Disneyland Resort. These are perfectly fine but you will want to make sure to eat them while they’re fresh and hot. The optional dipping sauce has an extremely artificial flavor that we did not love and the consistency seemed half way between pudding and flan.
Kids’ Meals
In addition to what we tried below, there’s also a Chicken Tenders meal or a Disney Check Kids’ Meal Toasted Cheese Sandwich. Below are the options we tried.
Pork Spareribs
RATING: ☀️☀️☀️☀️⚫
Pork Spareribs ($9.49) served with two small sides (choice of fries, Cuties® mandarin orange, or applesauce) and choice of small DASANI® water, small low-fat milk, or small soda. This sleeper hit might actually work well for a lot of adults out there too. Shh, don’t tell Disney. You can see in this picture we opted for fries for both of the sides and with two ribs it made a tasty and satisfying snack. or a filling meal for kids.
Hamburger
RATING: ☀️☀️⚫⚫⚫
Hamburger ($8.99) served with two small sides (choice of fries, Cuties® mandarin orange, or applesauce) and choice of DASANI® water, small low-fat milk, or small soda. The slider-sized portion was made worse by the fact that it’s served completely plain. There was no extra charge to add cheese but otherwise there’s nothing else here which is probably fine for most picky eaters. Still, the patty was extremely dry.
Photos
Full Menu
Even though we tired nearly the entire menu above, you can get a look at the full menu offering for the Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree in our posting below.
MORE INFO: Full menu (with prices) for Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree at Disneyland
See it for Yourself
Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree at Disneyland opened officially on October 25, 2024.
