ESPN Zone - restaurant review

We've been going to Downtown Disney in Anaheim since it opened in 2001, but I've never actually eaten at the ESPN Zone. When the place first opened, some of us went in and looked around at the games and such, and I'd heard from friends that they had a decent breakfast, but I just never got around to going. I've tried going for dinner a couple times, but the wait was usually really long, longer than we had time for, so I still hadn't gone. On a recent Friday night, we decided to give it a try, and with the 30 minute wait time and plenty of time before the movie we were seeing that night, we decided to stick it out. The husband was given a pager, and we wandered around for a bit. The little stadium set by the front entrance was kind of cool, and at first, I thought it was a game, but it just really seemed like a display, with some of the little football players twirling around. We then headed upstairs, and I was surprised that they had air hockey tables up there. I didn't remember them from before, but then, it had been years since I'd been up there. Air hockey tables seem difficult to come by now, so it's good to know there are some readily available - when I'm in the mood to be in more pain because playing air hockey tends to do that to me for a variety of reasons. We watched some people ski and shoot baskets and row and kayak and such, and we watched this one machine that was a simulated roller coaster ride. As we looked down at the line at the reception desk (usually, when they're busy, they have a podium set up outside the front doors, but for some reason, they didn't have one tonight, so everyone had to go inside to get a pager), we noticed that a lot more people were in line now, so we decided we'd had good timing in coming a little bit before that big crowd.

Our table was ready earlier than we'd been told, so we went back downstairs and were taken into the dining room. I'd seen bits and pieces of the sports show after Monday Night Football, which is broadcast from that room, so it was interesting to see the room itself. We were given menus and our drink orders taken.

There was a good variety to choose from on the menu, so I had to look for a bit to decide what I wanted. I'd remembered really liking the baby back ribs when we'd gone to Taste the year before, so I finally decided on the BBQ Ribs (half rack) and Chicken (chicken breast), which came with french fries. Both the ribs and the chicken were quite tasty. I'm not a fan of barbeque sauce that's too sweet or having too much barbeque sauce on the meat, and the flavor and amount of the sauce was just to my liking. The meat on the ribs was very tender and came easily off the bone. The chicken was very good too, though it's a pretty big serving all together, so I ended up leaving about half the chicken breast.

The husband had the grilled salmon with green beans and mashed potatoes. He thought it was just ok, nothing special. The friend who was with us had the Smoke House Burger, which came with bacon, white cheddar cheese and onion straws. She enjoyed the burger and thought it tasted very good, but she found that because the bacon was thick cut, it got a little tough because it took her a while to finish the burger.

Our server was nice, but there were times when she would disappear for a while, and we found the service to be generally slow, whether just because of the server or because of the kitchen itself. Annual passholders at Disneyland get a 10% discount, so our friend was the one who fished her AP out to give to the server - who disappeared with it for a while. When she finally came back with the check, she didn't have the AP with her and made some comment about needing to go back and get it. She disappeared for a little while longer before coming back with it, with some comment about dropping it or having to find it or something. If the service that night was indicative of how it normally is, it's definitely not a place to grab a quick bite. As I mentioned, it ended up being ok because we had time to kill, but killing it while sitting at the table just waiting for her to come back wasn't how we had planned to occupy our free time.

As we were getting ready to leave, the friend made some comment about the televisions in the bathroom, and I just stared at her, and she asked if I'd been there, which I hadn't, so needing a bathroom break anyway, we trecked over. We went to the one by the bar area, though there is apparently a larger restroom elsewhere. That restroom had three stalls - and when you went inside, a television monitor hung from the ceiling in front of each stall. The friend commented that they had the TVs so you wouldn't miss a minute of your game/show, but I commented that all three screens were on the same game, whereas there were multiple games on different televisions in the dining room, so if you had been watching one of the other games, you're still screwed. I joked that they should have a different game on in each stall so you could pick which stall you wanted. I was also surprised that there weren't televisions in the open area/sink area itself. If there was a line for a stall, you were still missing out on the games. She wasn't sure if there were televisions outside the stalls in the bigger bathroom.

There are a few things on the menu which look interesting, so I'd be willing to give the place another try, but if the service is as slow next time, it may be my last.