Route 66 Revisited: Flo’s V8 Cafe Review
Flo’s V8 Cafe in Cars Land has become one of our go-to spots for late afternoons and evenings in Disney California Adventure. The restaurant’s “back porch” is a relaxing respite from Disneyland Resort’s crowds, and the spot offers a great view of Radiator Springs Racers and the Cadillac Mountain Range.
Of course, Flo’s V8 Cafe used to be a great spot to enjoy the best counter service cuisine in all of Disneyland Resort. That was the case for the first few years after Cars Land opened, when the original menu offered high quality comfort food, good portion sizes, and fair prices.
Unfortunately, that menu was replaced by a ‘sandwich-centric’ one. It had a few plated dishes, but those were significantly more expensive and had smaller portion sizes than the original menu. Now, Flo’s V8 Cafe has another new-ish menu, and we’re back to see how it stacks up to both its predecessor and debut offerings…
In case you’re unfamiliar with it, Flo’s V8 Cafe is a mix of real-life 60s-era car culture and backstory from Cars having to do with the rise of racing in Radiator Springs. The “original” Flo’s V8 Cafe from Cars is based upon the historic Midpoint Café dating to the 1920s, and named for its location midday through the original Route 66.
Of course, the design here is pulled from the movie, and the striking exterior and glowing neon is a pitch-perfect copy of that. Imagineers have rounded out the restaurant with details not contemplated by the film, making it feel like you’re inside something that’s a cross between authentic mid-century car culture and a Disney movie “set.”
We’ll start with Flo’s Famous Fried Chicken served with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, and Seasonal Vegetables. (Or in my case, the ultimate seasonal vegetable: Steak Fries.)
I wanted to love this. I’m a total sucker for the iconic fried chicken at Plaza Inn, and the idea of sitting out back at Flo’s and munching on a huge plate of fried chicken sounded divine.
And it was…initially. The first piece was exceptional, juicy and perfectly cooked. However, the second was overcooked and bone dry. Eating it became a chore after a couple of bites, to the point that I didn’t even finish it–and I love fried chicken!
The sides were good, especially those comforting garlic mashed potatoes. Perhaps you’ll have better luck here, but I can’t recommend rolling the dice on this fried chicken, especially given the eye-popping price. (At least the portion is large, I guess?)
Fortunately, for over $5 less, you can order the Blue Plate Special: “Breaded Chicken Breast fried until crispy and juicy, served on top of Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Seasonal Vegetables and topped with creamy Country-style Gravy.”
I ordered this the day after having Flo’s Famous Fried Chicken, and far preferred this. Granted, breaded chicken isn’t the same as fried chicken (and the portion is undoubtedly smaller here), but this was a far more satisfying dish–that ultimately left me just as full, since I could stomach it all. In fact, I’d say that this dish reminds me of the OG Flo’s V8 Cafe menu.
Next, we have Fillmore’s Pot Pie (heh, nice pun). This is filled with creamy sweet corn and potato, chiles, and cheddar cheese, topped with flaky pie crust and a side of fresh fruit.
This reminded us of the incredible “Car-achnid Pot Pie” that was offered at Flo’s for Halloween, albeit not quite that good.
Fillmore’s Pot Pie has a surprising amount of heat thanks to the chiles, with the buttery crust and thick sweet corn and cheddar cheese filling providing a nice, hearty contrast.
Fillmore’s Pot Pie is essentially homemade comfort food, but with a bit of punch. It’s a winner.
For our last entree, we have the Cobb de Ville Salad: “Mixed Lettuce, Turkey Breast, crispy Bacon, Blue Cheese, Hard-boiled Egg, Corn, and Tomatoes with House-made Ranch Dressing.”
Disneyland Resort does salads well at its counter service restaurants, and this is no exception. This is a sizable Cobb Salad with a variety of quality toppings; a filling value for money. Personally, I prefer the salads over at Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta, but wouldn’t hesitate to order this if I wanted something healthy at Flo’s.
Finally, for dessert we have the Flo’s Classic Shake with “Road Gravel.”
This is rich and delicious. Fortunately, this isn’t authentic gravel; instead rock chunks, Disney has used little balls of chocolate. Arguably It added a nice texture to our chocolate shake, which was very good.
The new menu is an improvement over its predecessor, but still a big downgrade from the original menu at Flo’s V8 Cafe. We do wish there were a couple more non-sandwich items, but that seems to be what most guests prefer.
If this had just one more dish on the ‘everyday comfort foods’ side of the menu (or if Flo’s Fried Chicken were actually good), we’d be on board.
Overall, it feels like Flo’s V8 Cafe is still squandering its potential. Half of its menu is humdrum pedestrian options, and only 2 of the comfort foods deliver on their full potential. Our expectations are not unreasonable; even at its most ambitious, Flo’s V8 Cafe served the type of comfort foods you’d find at a roadside restaurant on the real Route 66. Flo’s doesn’t need to be an exotic or adventurous place to eat (to the contrary, it should not be those things)–its menu just needs about the same level of ambition as Plaza Inn or a counter service version of Carnation Cafe. Is that too much to ask?
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Your Thoughts
If you’ve been to Flo’s V8 Cafe, which entrees and desserts do you like best? Have you noticed a decline in the food here since it opened? Do you continue to dine here for the ambiance and great views of Radiator Springs Racers? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of Flo’s? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Best article of the day I read, I appreciate you sharing this information. I will visit your website often.
This cafe looks really great, I can go with my family for dinner, thank you.
I always stop here for breakfast, sometimes lunch or dinner. The “French toast” is delicious.
I love eating breakfast there for the view and the food. I have to have the French toast brioche at least once and my hubby likes the tamale breakfast. It’s kind of a tradition now lol. I have not eaten lunch or dinner there though.
thank you
Interesting to hear about the overhaul! We’re planning our first trip to Disneyland/CA Adventure since right after Cars Land opened, and we personally did not care for the menu at Flo’s and walked out. Who wants to eat those huge, heavy meals when it’s 105 degrees outside??? We were in the mood for lighter fare, and found that at the old Pacific Wharf area where there were great salads and sandwiches. This new menu doesn’t appeal to me, either, so I think we’ll be looking for healthier options in your other reviews, particularly vegetarian.
I always stop here for breakfast, sometimes lunch or dinner. The “French toast” is delicious. It’s actually bread pudding, but it’s tasty regardless.
we ate at flo’s multiple times 3 years ago. sounds like the menu has taken a nosedive since then, which is a shame.
This gives me hope to try Flo’s again. When Carsland first opened, we went around Thanksgiving, and we had Thanksgiving “dinner” at Carnation Cafe, and then that night we had Flo’s, and the rest of our trip, our group wanted to go back to Flo’s for the majority of our trip. The next time we went, we tried similarly named items, but they were not the same quality or portion, and our favorites were missing. We have skipped it since, but this review gives me hope in trying the Blue Plate special and the potpie.
And as a frequent follower of the blog, it is very easy to tell which articles are new, they are on the first or second page and don’t have very many comments. Articles that have been updated have a last update XXX in read up at the top! Thanks for the informative articles Tom and Sarah!!
I would love to see an article about “can’t miss” restaurants for first-timers. Going next spring for the first time and cannot wait. Would you visit this as a first-timer or skip in favor of something else?
That’s a great article idea, and one I’ll absolutely keep in mind.
For us, Flo’s is absolutely a must visit, but perhaps not for a full meal. Grab a dessert (here or from Cozy Cones) and take it to the back porch around dusk. It’s simply sublime, between a great atmosphere and stunning view.
Actually, I probably should’ve made the view and ambiance of this ‘hidden porch’ the real story here–not the revised menu…
We do that exactly!
Do they still serve beer and wine? We love to go back there at dusk-ish for a drink, and to enjoy the ambience. As you said it’s beautiful, and rarely crowded ( shhh, don’t tell anyone)
Totally agree with the blog! My kids ordered the fried chicken, we had to ask to change out our chicken, because it was so dry . The pot pie is delicious! My special needs daughter, enjoyed the mac and cheese. Totally miss the original menu. We do enjoy the views from flos, but I feel, Disney definitely is missing the mark at the restaurant. Flos definitely has more potential.
Breakfast is good time to go, its usually not busy. My husband loves the tamale and the kids and I order the kids waffles meal. Nice way to start your day and obtain a max pass for cars, while you are eating breakfast!
I love sitting outside of Flo’s with my family. The views are spectacular. Our family has so many good memories in the outdoor seating area.
Sarah Adams, this is by far one of the best Disney blogs. I’’ll take the excellent content over the published dates any day.
If your order on the Disney app you can also get the Blue Plate Special
Can you please consider DATESTAMPING your blog posts? When a search engine sends me to your site (or, when you decide to promote an older post, as you did today on Facebook for the Park Vue Inn) I have no way of knowing if I’ve landed on new, up-to-date information or something from 5 years ago that may no longer be current (especially important when the topic is travel.)
Thanks! Love the site, been lurking for years.
I second this suggestion! I avoid a certain blog for this reason, since if you look up any restaurant that isn’t new, the posts are from 2014-2016, which means that it has a high possibility of not being the same.
100% the worst thing about this blog is the lack of date stamp!!!!
I’ve mentioned this before, but with the hard-coded date stamps enabled, Google picks up the oldest date for its little snippet preview, irrespective of whether the post has been updated or not.
Accordingly, I’ve added a “(Last updated [date])” in older posts when updating them. Failing that, scrolling down and looking at the dates on the comments should provide an idea of when a post was originally written.
what about manually typing in a date at the beginning of each new article? then readers can know it’s original published date, which i think could be incredibly useful. i know you manually type the date on update posts, but the manual date on new posts is equally, if not more, useful. understand if it’s a formatting issue with using other forms of dating, but i would think typing it into the first line wouldn’t be a huge problem?
Yes.