Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante is a casual dining restaurant in Disneyland located in Frontierland. This restaurant has counter service, self serve drinks and a line to pay for the meal cashier.
The Rancho del Zocalo used to be a Mexican restaurant on one side, and barbecue on the other. This has changed. While the Mexican side is still there the other side is now the Costena Grill.
At the Costena Grill you will find specialty food, such as chicken or shrimp in garlic sauce, or a combination of the two. In 2005 prices here ranged from $12.99 to $14.99 for a meal.
The Mexican side has burritos, tacos, and enchiladas in combination plates, or nachos. Each item can be served with shredded beef, chicken, or fish. 2005 prices here ranged from $8.99 to $10.99.
Salads, drinks, and desserts are available for an additional charge. One specialty of the Rancho del Zocalo is the bag of cinnamon chips you can purchase at the checkout. That is currently the best item they serve so don't forget to grab a bag. It just may end up to be your dinner.
The children's meals come in the fun lunchbox used by other Disney locations, but the food isn't the same quality. Children have a choice of FunstufferZ, which is a glorified name for cheese poppers, a bean burrito, or a chicken nugget taco. The children's meals do come with a drink. All three meals are $5.99 in 2005.
The dining area is large, open seating, most covered to keep the hot sun away. The restaurant is designed to make the most of the breezes that often appear in the evenings, keeping the restaurant cool even though it is basically outside.
This is a restaurant we eat at every time we go to Disneyland. Usually, the food is good and we enjoy the meal. On our most recent trip we purchased shredded beef nachos, the enchilada and shredded beef taco combo, and the FunstufferZ kids meal. The shredded beef was thoroughly riddled with fat, and was completely inedible. Because of this the nachos, which normally are very good were ruined and went uneaten. The same applied for the enchilada meal where the enchiladas were simply okay, and the taco was inedible. Finally the child's meal, the poppers were hard, and had very little cheese in them. They looked disgusting.
I would love to just say skip this restaurant, but I am really hoping it was just a bad night. Since we have never had a problem with the food before, try it out. Please do let us know of your experiences though, because too many more bad reviews and I will take away my recommendation.