Blue Bayou Restaurant Review

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Blue Bayou is a restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris (Blue Lagoon there). This Blue Bayou review covers the Tokyo Disneyland version of the restaurant. Design-wise, this version of the restaurant is very similar to Disneyland’s Blue Bayou, although cuisine-wise, they’re substantially different.

Due to its location adjacent to Pirates of the Caribbean with boats of guests on the attraction floating past the waterfront restaurant, Blue Bayou Restaurant has become a quintessential Disney experience. Even those who have never been to the parks know that there is a restaurant “in” Pirates of the Caribbean, and want to eat there. The proximity to the attraction and the ambiance of the restaurant are unquestionably the big draw, with the food often taking a backseat to the experience of the restaurant.

This is certainly the case in Disneyland, where Blue Bayou has decent to good food, but comes up short as compared to its less-expensive counterpart, Cafe Orleans. In Tokyo Disneyland, the dynamic is different, as Cafe Orleans is an excellent counter service restaurant for crepes, with no other table service restaurants in the New Orleans Square sub-land of Adventureland.

Tokyo Disneyland guests get the best of both worlds, as the its Blue Bayou has the same great ambiance as Disneyland’s, and it also serves very good food at reasonable (given the location) prices.

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In general, Tokyo Disneyland is about the details. Blue Bayou Restaurant is no exception. It strikes an excellent balance between being down on the bayou and well-appointed Southern hospitality (making it both elegant and on-theme). This creates an excellent, romantic mood in the restaurant. The lobby is beautiful, with pretty fixtures and touches, and the main dining room makes you feel like you’re deep in the bayou. Of course, this is offset with nice dishes and silverware, all of which bear a “BB” stamping for Blue Bayou.

Let’s take a look at the various items we ordered. Sarah and I each ordered three-course special sets, which are common at Tokyo Disney Resort restaurants. Apologies for the photo quality–if you’ve ever been to Blue Bayou Restaurant in Disneyland, you know that a big part of experience is the dark lighting. Not only are you on the bayou, you’re on the bayou at night, with lanterns casting moody lighting on the tables.

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This was my appetizer with the 30th Anniversary Special Set. Smoked Salmon with Scallop. Pretty good smoked salmon, with an impressive presentation.

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This is the Lobster Bisque soup. It was creamy with a subtle lobster flavor.

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I didn’t try the Blue Bayou House Salad, but it looked pretty good, with a variety of fresh vegetables, plus potatoes.

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Sarah ordered the Salmon, Snow Crab, and Scallop au Gratin. This, in my opinion, was absolute perfection. Rich, loaded with seafood and cheese, and bursting with flavor. Sarah thought it was a bit too rich, but I disagree entirely. I ate about half of hers and wish I could’ve had more. How can you go wrong with an excellent au gratin dish topped with fresh seafood?!

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This is the Grilled Sirloin Steak with Vegetables and Ginger Sauce I ordered. It reminded me a lot of the steak I got at the S.S. Columbia Dining Room, although this one was better. Despite being a thin cut, it was fairly flavorful (that was probably given a slight assist by the relatively light sauce). It was also perfectly cooked (difficult to cook a thin steak like this ‘rare,’ but they managed) and tender. The steak was really good, but if I learned anything at Tokyo Disney Resort, it’s always to opt for the seafood dishes over the steak. Always. (In retrospect, this seems like common sense: Japan is known for seafood, not for steak…I guess I was just in a daze during this trip!)

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The Creme Brulee Sampler that Sarah ordered was excellent. The three varieties included were custard, vanilla, and dark chocolate. I had never had a dark chocolate brulee, but this was fantastic.

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This was the cake that came with my 30th Anniversary Special Set. I didn’t note what it was called, but it was delicious, just like every dessert at Tokyo Disney Resort. The cake was light, and had a great balance of rich chocolate and cream.

Overall, we have incredibly high praise for Blue Bayou Restaurant in Tokyo Disneyland. The draw of Blue Bayou is unquestionably the ambiance. We would recommend Blue Bayou even if the food were disappointing (and, spoiler, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing for Blue Lagoon in Disneyland Paris once we get around to reviewing it) because the experience is so fun and memorable. It’s one of those restaurants that gets a pass because it’s just so cool. However, it doesn’t need a pass in Tokyo Disneyland, because the food is excellent. Not only is the food excellent, but it’s reasonably priced–Sarah and I each had three course meals, and our total was around $65 for the two of us. I question whether one person could do three courses at Disneyland’s Blue Bayou for $65 after tax and tip. The only letdown of Blue Bayou is that Audio-Animatronics pirates don’t serve you–we’re probably still a few years away from the necessary technology for that sort of thing. (Maybe sooner since this is Japan and they’re pretty good with robot advancements.) We highly recommend Blue Bayou Restaurant for just about all Tokyo Disneyland visitors. The only people who may want to skip it are Disneyland regulars who want to focus on unique restaurants in Tokyo Disneyland. The inside here is virtually identical to Disneyland’s, so even though the cuisine is unique and the prices reasonable, that group may be better suited trying out something else.

If you’re planning a visit to Japan, make sure to check out our Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Planning Guide. It offers comprehensive advice for visiting Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, plus general tips for visiting Japan!

Overall Score: 10/10

To read other Disney restaurant reviews from Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Disney Cruise Line, organized by location, check out our Disney Dining Reviews Index.

Your Thoughts…

Have you dined at Blue Bayou Restaurant? What did you think of it? Have you been to other versions of the restaurant? If you have any questions or thoughts to share, please post them in the comments. We love hearing from readers!

23 Responses to “Blue Bayou Restaurant Review”
  1. Patti October 23, 2016
  2. Mary May 10, 2015
  3. Brett March 25, 2015
    • Tom Bricker March 26, 2015
    • Brett March 27, 2015
    • Tom Bricker March 30, 2015
    • Branklins March 31, 2015
  4. Richard Kaufman March 1, 2015
    • Tom Bricker March 2, 2015
  5. EJ Legaspi (@SirEdge) December 21, 2014
    • Tom Bricker December 21, 2014
  6. Kit October 1, 2014
  7. Dominik May 10, 2014
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  9. M. Cory Simpson March 29, 2014
  10. Julie Wanda March 21, 2014
    • Tom Bricker March 22, 2014
  11. James March 16, 2014
    • Tom Bricker March 16, 2014
  12. Paisley March 13, 2014
  13. Blue Bayou: Mediocre March 13, 2014
    • Tom Bricker March 13, 2014

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