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Disneyland Resort >> Disneyland Park >> Frontierland

Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante

When Rancho del Zocalo opened in 2001 it actually replaced two restaurants: Casa Mexicana and Big Thunder Barbecue. The restaurant has two different sections (grilled meats in one and more common Mexican dishes such as enchiladas in the other); you have to go to each section separately to order that particular food, so make sure you know what you're getting before you get in line. You pay after receiving all of your food, so it is possible for parties to split up and reconnect before paying. The restaurant has an extensive outdoor seating area with views of Frontierland and Rivers of America.

General Information - Hide Section
  • Location: Immediately to the right as you enter Frontierland from Main Street. It can also be accessed through the Carnation Garden
  • Date Opened: 2001
  • Seating: Plenty of covered outdoor tables. Some covered locations have heaters for colder weather.
  • Service Type: Cafeteria style, with two separate ordering stations.
  • Children's Meals: Yes
  • Vegetarian Options: Vegetable tacos or burritos, cheese enchiladas
  • Annual Pass Discount: 15% for Premium; 10% for all other levels
  • Sponsor: La Victoria
  • Reservations: No
 
Menu Information - Hide Section

Menu as of February 2012

Platters

All platters served with refried beans and Mexican rice. Sautéed vegetables may be substituted for rice or beans.

Citrus Fire-Grilled Chicken - 1/2 chicken, seasoned in a savory marinade of cumin, garlic, cilantro, lemon, and lime. $13.49
Red Chile Enchilada Platter - Three cheese enchiladas with red chile sauce. $9.49
Carne Asada & Red Chile Enchilada Platter - Succulent beef cooked to perfection, served with two cheese enchiladas. $11.99
Soft Tacos Monterrey - "Fajita stye" beef, chicken, or vegetables, topped with cheese and served in flour tortillas. $9.99
Grilled Fish Tacos - Topped with cabbage slaw and chipotle-ranch. $10.49
Burrito Sonora - "Fajita style" beef, chicken, or vegetables plus refried beans and cheese, wrapped in a flour tortilla and topped with a traditional guajillo sauce. $10.49

Soups and Salads

Hacienda Chicken Caesar Salad - Grilled chicken breast, romaine lettuce, red bell peppers, and cojita cheese, tossed with our own zesty pepitas Caesar dressing, and topped with crisp tortilla strips. $11.99
Tostada Salad - "Fajita style" beef, chicken, or vegetables presented in a crispy tortilla shell with refried beans, chopped lettuce, topped with cheddar and jack cheeses. $10.99
Chicken Tortilla Soup - $5.29

Kid's Meals

Served with rice, fruit cup, and choice of small low-fat milk, small low-fat Nesquik chocolate milk, Minute Maid juice box or small bottled water. Sodas available on request.

Kid's Bean and Cheese Burrito - $6.49
Kid's Chicken Taco - $6.49

Toddler Meal

Arroz con Pollo - Chicken and rice, served with smooth applesauce and a small low-fat milk. $3.99

Side items

Crispy Chips con Limon - $2.99
Cinnamon Crisps - $2.99
Side of Salsa - $.99

Desserts

Fresh Tropical Fruit - $4.59
Tres Leches Cake - $4.99
Coconut Flan - $4.99

Drinks

Soda - Coca Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite, Barq's Root Beer, Fanta Orange, Cherry Coke, Minute Maid Light Lemonade, Powerade, Coke Zero, Nestea. $2.99/$3.49
Souvenir Sipper - Includes soda at time of purchase. $6.49
Nesquik Chocolate Milk - $2.79
Dasani Bottled Water - $2.79
Minute Maid Juice Box - $1.79
Nescafe Coffee - $2.79
Nestle Hot Cocoa - $2.79
Nestea Hot Tea - $2.79
Small Low-fat Milk - $1.79

If a menu is presented here it is for guidance purposes only. Menus can change without notice and at some restaurants daily. If you have specific dietary needs or questions it is best to contact the restaurant directly for information. If you'd like to notify us that a menu has changed, or you can provide the complete information, please let us know through our email form.

Reader Reviews - Hide Section

The following are recent reviews for Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante from our Reader Review system. Click the Show All Reviews link to see every review for this location. To browse all reviews in the system, please see this page.

Average Reviewer Rating: 3.8 out of 53.8 out of 53.8 out of 53.8 out of 53.8 out of 5
Number of Rancho del Zocalo Reviews: 33
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4.0/5.04.0/5.04.0/5.04.0/5.04.0/5.0   11-7-10
Reviewer: nautiMATT San Diego, CA     November 11, 2010
We all know one gets raked over the coals with mind-boggling high prices at Disneyland eateries. Where else can you get a slice of pizza that if you bought the whole pie it would cost you nearly $60.00?

Unlike several years ago, there IS something you can do to voice your discontent: Exit the park and visit one of many comparatively reasonable-priced restaurants in Downtown Disney.

But if you want the Disney atmosphere while you refuel, the Rancho is one spot where the food bill goes down a little easier. The overall Ameri-Mexican food is adequately tasty and if you pick a burrito offering, be prepared to be either fully stuffed or share the extras.

I am a creature of habit. I order the same item every time: The Chicken Sonora Burrito that comes with a healthy-sized sides of rice, beans, salsa, real guacamole and sour cream. Jeesh, that thing is good! And the burrito assembly cast members are very accommodating. They fulfill my request for extra sauce and cheese every time with a smile.

Since Rancho was first listed listed in this forum, Grilled Fish Tacos have been added to the menu. A companion of mine placed an order and shared a bite with me. We were both shocked at how wonderful they were. Perfectly grilled, the fillets sported a pan blackened-style crust of spices that bursted off the tongue. If you are shy of spice or heat (pitty you), stay away! These bold tacos were the shocking surprise of the day coming from the Park's usual vanilla please-the-masses taste.

I must say that after all these years and Park visits, the Rancho is a more recent discovery. Heck, I live in San Diego where there is nearly a taco shop on every corner. Why again have Mexican food at Disneyland?

The Park's best value is the answer.
 
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
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5.0/5.05.0/5.05.0/5.05.0/5.05.0/5.0   July 10, 2010
Reviewer: Cyberkang Canby, Oregon     July 20, 2010
I liked Rancho Del Zocalo's food - it was nice and just what was expected - but it was their service and attentiveness that won them the 5 planet review.

We arrived at Disney at 5PM on Saturday the 10th for our first day in the park - for my wife and I it was our first time in 20+ years, for our two youngest it was their first time ever - only our 17-year old daughter had been to Disneyland recently. So we were kind of wandering aimlessly and came across Rancho Del Zocalo quite by accident. Having read about it in the guides, I made a command decision to give it a try.

We faced a couple obstacles to this - my 17 year old daughter is lactose intolerant, so cheese and sour cream are out. And my 10-year old daughter had spent the day in the car telling us how she wanted soup for dinner, so I was telling her that we could have mexican food tonight and maybe soup for one of the other days, when one of the attendants in the restaurant recommended that if it was soup she's after, they have soup on the menu - chicken tortilla soup! So Libby had that, and ate the heck out of it... she thought it was terrific. Maddie (the lactose intolerant one) asked for her enchiladas w/o cheese or sour cream, which touched off a discussion among the cooks and servers as to whether the enchilada sauce was milk-free. Maddie was about to tell them that a little milk was OK when the cooks just went ahead and (without being asked to) make a new batch of sauce just for her, just to be sure. That, my friends, is personal service.

I really liked how they cook the food right there where you can see it - steaks on the griddle cooking, sliced and put on your plate. The food was fresh and tasty and more than filling. As usual, I had to help my kids finish theirs.

Overall, it was a terrific way to catch our breath on our first night in the park! Highly recommended.
 
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3.0/5.03.0/5.03.0/5.03.0/5.03.0/5.0   July 3, 2010
Reviewer: Goosegirl Grass Valley, CA     July 08, 2010
We ate dinner at Rancho del Zocalo on Saturday evening. I LOVE Mexican food and had been wanting to eat at this restaurant for quite some time because it is so pretty.
I chose the enchiladas, and while the portion was quite large, the food was almost flavorless. This did not taste like real Mexican food to me. It was more like the frozen enchiladas from the grocery store. I also got the bag of chips and salsa. The chips were pretty good but the salsa was not good. I usually buy my salsa fairly mild, but this was bland even for me.
My husband ordered the Carne Asada and again, it was a generous portion, but not very flavorful. My older daughter ordered the tortilla soup and it was also boring but it was also a small portion. Our 5 year old ordered the chicken taco child meal and only ate the rice and the apple sauce. My older daughter ate the rest of her chicken tacos because she was hungry but said it was not great either.

Maybe we are just spoiled with really great Mexican food where we live so we were very unimpressed with the flavor of the food from Rancho del Zocalo. The service was friendly and the cashier reminded me that drink refills were free. And the restaurant is really beautiful and well laid out. Price was reasonable for the portion size. We just did not love the food.
 
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History and Trivia - Hide Section
  • At this location: Mexican food in this location is a 50 year old tradition at Disneyland. Shortly after the park opened in 1955, Casa de Fritos opened its doors on August 11. Frito Lay was the corporate sponsor and one of the gimmicks in the restaurant was an eleborate Frito Kid that would deliver a bag of chips when money was put in the machine. In 1982 the Frito Lay sponsorship lapsed and the restaurant opened as Casa Mexicana on October 1, 1982, with Lawry's as the new sponsor. In 2000, the restaurant closed and was mostly torn down and rebuilt for the opening of Rancho del Zocalo, sponsored by Ortega.
  • Since Rancho del Zocalo opened in 2001 the decoration and style of the restaurant has remained unchanged. The menu has shifted over time, though, as BBQ items went away and guests apparently couldn't fathom Mexican food without nachos. Other changes have dealt with the unwieldiness of getting into the restaurant to place an order. With several counters inside for placing orders, people tended to bottleneck near the entrance and the closest counter, not realizing how the restaurant worked. To date little has been found to help with this and many find the restaurant unsatisfactorily slow.
  • Other Trivia:
    • The name: Zocalo is a name with a long history at Disneyland. The open central area of Frontierland was long zone as El Zocalo, "town square," in acknowledgement of the television show Zorro and its influence on the design of Frontierland. At the same time that Rancho del Zocalo was being constructed this open area was getting a touch up and now has a stage for charactre greets and such.
    • Changing sponsors: Prior to being sponsored by La Victoria, Rancho del Zocalo was sponsored by Ortega.
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