Review: Uva Bar and Cafe - Downtown Disney

Although the true purpose of our recent family vacation was to attend Daughter #1's graduation at UCSD, we couldn't resist a side trip to Disneyland. In a semi-successful attempt to cut down on expenses, I purchased One Day Park Hopper passes for the four of us to spend the first day at Disneyland and California Adventure and the second day shopping. As planned, we spent Saturday morning browsing the shops at Downtown Disney before driving back to San Diego, thus saving the cost of another day's theme park admission.

Downtown Disney has its own parking lot on the opposite side of the entrance to the theme parks. Parking is free for the first three hours, which can be extended an additional two hours with validation from dining at one of the restaurants. We had lunch at Uva Bar and Café, which is nicely situated in the middle of the mall. The bar is surrounded by individual tables shaded by umbrellas arranged in a large circle. It was a great location for people-watching as we ate our upscale lunch.

My husband order the Market Fish ala Plancha (market price), which was seared salmon with asparagus and citrus sauce. It was superb! Daughter #1 ordered the Steamed Mussels ($18) from the appetizer menu, which was flavored with tomatoes, chorizo, garlic and came with two large pieces of crostini for dipping. She gave each of us one mussel and devoured the rest, dipping the crostini into the sauce to catch all of the goodness. Daughter #2 ordered the Fish and Chips ($18), which came with garlic fries, a small portion of pickled radish salad, and tartar sauce for dipping. The deep fried cod tasted fresh, but the batter itself was a little greasy.

I ordered the Manchego Cheese Salad ($14) comprised of arugula, Manchego cheese, dates, green apples, tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette. The salad is misnamed because the Manchego was so sparse. The dish should be called Arugula Apple Salad instead and the chef could have paid closer attention to the presentation of my salad. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish my salad because the dressing was just too tart. In any case, the portion sizes were good and everyone else was very happy with their meals.

Overall, I would recommend this restaurant to those who are tired of eating "kid food" while visiting The Magic Kingdom and don't mind paying a little more for a nice meal. However, I don't recommend the Manchego Cheese Salad as an entrée, although it would make an excellent dish to share. The service was very good from the cute and friendly waitress to the manager who helped me process my traveler's cheques. (Refer to my rant about the difficulty of using traveler's cheques in my previous post for Amaya Restaurant.) Be prepared to pay $20+ per person after tax and tip.

Uva Bar and Café
Downtown Disney
1580 Disneyland Drive
Anaheim, CA 92802
(714) 774-4442
www.patinagroup.com/restaurant.php?restaurants_id=135

Market Fish ala Plancha

(Salmon was the fish of the day)

Manchego Cheese Salad

(Notice the poor presentation with the sliced apples just dumped over the top!)

Fish and Chips