Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante | Disney Dining Review

Rancho del Zocalo at Disneyland has a nice Spanish theme, but is the food up to par with the decor?

Rancho del Zocalo:  Located in Frontierland

This mainstay of a restaurant, Rancho del Zocalo, seems older than me.  The atmosphere of Rancho stands out to the point that I can’t remember a time when this restaurant did not exist.  Unfortunately, it my receive our toughest critique since, after all, this is mexican food we are reviewing.  What we look for in quality Mexican food comes down to a number of key points:  the moistness, quality, tenderness, and flavor of the beef and chicken;  the authenticity of their tortillas;  the thinness of chips and consistency of salsa;  and, the flavor of their beans and re-fried beans, to name a few.

Even though we try not to compare Disney restaurants to the outside world, one restaurant that accomplishes meat perfection is Tito’s Taco in Culver City.  See our Review.

You should expect to sit outdoors with much of the seating to have shade with some covered roof or trellis.

Some seating without shade is great during the winter months.

Taco salad bowls or “tostada salad” as named by Disneyland, take me back to Kino Jr. High–my middle school.  Taco salad bowl day was my favorite lunch day.  The excitement of combining the different textures of meat, lettuce, vegetables, with the taco shell is an actual fun lunch memory of my childhood.  Rancho’s tostada salad is decent, but there’s definite room for improvement.  The shell seems to have been left in the fryer just a tad too long.  Aside from that, the rest is just decent.  It didn’t produce the excitement of my childhood and yet, I didn’t say, “I’ll never order this again.”

This enchilada platter, again was decent.  We’ve said it before, that we just aren’t fans of Disney’s beef and the carne asada in this dish proved to be the same.  I wish I could exclaim, “Amazing!” but it’s just not happening.

This chicken was cooked how it should be–chicken was moist and the flavor was enjoyable.

Should you decide to order a kids meal for a child with a moderate appetite, then this dish should prove sufficient.

This chicken taco for your child is an excellent choice.  Disney labels this as one of their Mickey Check Meals–which is an easy way for us to spot healthier choices from Disney.  Take a look at their FAQ or citizenship page for more information.

Rancho del Zocalo chips and salsa.  Despite the pico de gallo salsa consistency–which we feel doesn’t go well with chips–these were not bad.

WHAT WORKED:  Mickey Check Meal chicken taco kids’ meal,    Tostada salad,   Plenty of seating,   Watching Thunder Mountain while dining

WHAT DIDN’T WORK:  Tortillas need improvement,   Food did not create emotion within our taste buds,   Carne asada,   Tostada salad shell,   No option for corn tortilla tacos

We give Rancho del Zocalo 3 STARS for being forgettable.

Be sure to check out our Disney home page HERE for other Disneyland California and California Adventure food ideas.

-Cullen