Disneyland Resort has finally announced the long-awaited reopening date of its #1 table service restaurant at its flagship hotel, Napa Rose in the Grand Californian, which closed last April for a reimagining. This shares a first look at the new menu, dates & details, plus our thoughts on the fine dining experience and how its changes could be good and bad.
The Napa Rose refurbishment is part of comprehensive plans announced early last year for all three Hotels of the Disneyland Resort. In addition to the Napa Rose reimagining, these new additions and enhancements include two new Club Level lounges, refreshed guest rooms, and luxurious new themed hotel suites. Grand Californian, in particular, has received a lot of updates in that time, with Napa Rose being one of the biggest projects.
Disney originally announced that Napa Rose would reopen last fall, following for its lengthy dining room reimagining. Then back in late September, Disney quietly updated the restaurant website to indicate that Napa Rose was instead going to reopen in early 2026.
In the months since, I’ve actually heard an odd number of rumors about Napa Rose. Not a ton of them, just to be clear, but a few. That’s nevertheless an “odd number” compared to the zero I usually hear about restaurant reimaginings. I also walk past the project site regularly, and catch glimpses over and around the walls on occasion.
I’m not going to bore you with the gossip or details, much of which has just been proven “wrong” with this announcement. Suffice to say, if you asked me even 2 weeks ago when I would’ve expected Napa Rose to reopen, I would’ve said “hopefully by Easter, if they’re lucky.” Well, I guess they’re lucky, because here’s the actual Napa Rose reopening date announcement…
Napa Rose Restaurant Reopening & Reservations Dates
The award-winning signature restaurant, Napa Rose at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, is ready to bloom once again, debuting a reimagined dining experience that celebrates and builds upon the restaurant’s 25-year legacy of elegant wine country cuisine paired with global influences.
Disneyland has announced that Napa Rose restaurant reopens on February 6, 2026. Reservations will be available to book on Disneyland.com and NapaRose.com beginning January 27, 2026, no earlier than 9 a.m. PST.
Napa Rose Bar & Lounge
Guests looking to drop in at their leisure for a crafted cocktail and luxurious small bites served à la carte will want to visit the bar and lounge at Napa Rose.
The renovation of this area will offer cozy, intimate seating areas, a stunning new bar, and the warmth of a new fireplace for a relaxed evening of convivial conversation and delectable dining. The bar and lounge also offers alfresco dining on a newly renovated outdoor patio.
Reservations are not required to dine at the Napa Rose bar and lounge; walk-ins are welcome and subject to availability.
Main Dining Room
The main dining room will debut a seasonal prix fixe menu, with the option to add custom wine pairings to the multi-course meal. A new and enhanced children’s menu for kids 9 and younger will be available for families looking to enjoy a special dinner together.
You will have the option to dine indoors in an intimate setting surrounded by the restaurant’s superb 1,500-label wine collection, or outdoors on the expanded terrace which evokes the ambiance of al fresco dining that California wine country is known for.
The restaurant interior will use natural textures such as reclaimed French oak flooring and columns (a type of wood used to make wine barrels), hand-pinged artisan metals, leathers, deep colors of cabernet, and an eye-catching chandelier inspired by California’s Mission grapevines.
Outdoor Terrace
The outdoor patio is being thoughtfully enhanced to welcome more guests for al fresco dining. This outdoor space offers comfortable seat surrounded by lush greenery and soft lighting, with the crisp California breeze enhancing the flavors of your meal. The space invites you to relax and savor each bite while taking in the beautiful outdoor setting.
Two new fireplaces will cast a warm, flickering glow across the patio, adding a cozy and inviting touch to the atmosphere. As the sun sets, you can gather around the fire, reflecting on your Disney day and enjoying the ambiance.
Advance reservations are highly recommended to dine in the main dining room or outdoor terrace. They can be booked up to 60 days in advance at Disneyland.com or NapaRose.com. Same-day reservations can be made on a limited basis and are subject to availability.
Chef’s Counter & Private Dining Room
The Chef’s Counter will offer up to 18 guests the opportunity to sit and dine in direct view of the dynamic exhibition kitchen, where the Napa Rose chefs personalize each course of your meal, based on seasonality and creativity. Reservations are highly recommended for this interactive and engaging dining experience, and for the first time, you will be able to book your seats online at NapaRose.com.
For a private, more intimate and curated experience, you may also choose to celebrate a special occasion in our newly renovated private dining room, available for up to 16 guests. Guests can contact the restaurant directly for booking.
Chef Andrew Sutton, the culinary director of signature dining who has been at the helm of Napa Rose since its opening in 2001, worked alongside Napa Rose Executive Chef Clint Chin to develop exciting culinary offerings that highlight seasonal produce, pay homage to California wine country cuisine, and infuse international ingredients, textures, and flavors.
The dynamic duo behind the delectable desserts at Napa Rose are Executive Pastry Chef Jorge Sotelo and Pastry Chef Nubia Renteria; each bring more than 25 years of experience creating confectionery masterpieces at Disneyland Resort.
Alongside Jess Soman, Napa Rose general manager, and Patrick Kirchen, Napa Rose wine director, the incredible team at Napa Rose is expertly prepared to take you on an epicurean adventure.
Here’s a first look at some of the dishes that’ll be on the new menu at Napa Rose:
Over in the bar and lounge, you can partake in delicate bites, such as Beef Tartare topped with Osetra caviar, Bone Marrow Custard, or Laughing Tiger, which is a reimagining of the fan-favorite Smiling Tiger Salad.
If you are opting to dine in the main dining room, you’ll find dishes such as American Wagyu N.Y. served medium rare with a grape fennel mustardo, an elegant dish of Oak Roasted Forest Mushrooms, or a Sorpresine Pasta served with Dungeness crab and Santa Barbara uni butter.
For your sweet tooth, consider the beautifully dreamy Nantes Carrot Cake Cremeux or the Elevated and Reminiscent Valrhona Chocolate Bar.
Napa Rose Reimagining Commentary
I have mixed feelings about the reimagining of Napa Rose. Generally speaking, I think aspects of the Grand Californian receive undue criticism about being dated, when really, that’s the Arts & Crafts style.
This comes up a lot with Storytellers Cafe, which is richly-detailed and filled with nods to literary legends, California stories, and folklore from the Golden State, all with a heavy craftsman influence. That doesn’t always comport with guest expectations when they’re paying premium prices for a luxury hotel, though.
Napa Rose is a bit of a different beast, and there are elements of its design where it’s difficult to discern where the Arts & Crafts style ends and the early 2000s design sensibilities begin. It definitely needed an update; this project was undeniably overdue.
My worry is that Napa Rose is going to trade one distinct style mixed with an era (Craftsman plus early 2000s) for another. There are aspects of the first piece of concept art that are reminiscent of design-flourishes you’d see when watching some trendy show on HGTV in the last few years.
With that said, the two newest pieces of concept art–released alongside the restaurant reopening date–look like they’ve toned this down a lot. I actually like these a lot more, and the style appears more sophisticated and timeless. Perhaps the aesthetic is going to be different in the lounge, maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see, or (hopefully) this is how the end result will actually look.
My other hope is that Napa Rose remains unapologetically Craftsman. The style is timeless, and distinctly Californian. In the end, though, I’m willing to take a wait and see perspective on this, as I could see it turning out well (or not). I just wish Napa Rose wasn’t losing the murals.
Regardless, it’s fair to say that Napa Rose could use a shot in the arm. We’ve dined at Napa Rose countless times, doing everything from Thanksgiving dinner to the superlative Chef’s Counter at Napa Rose.
For the longest time, we considered Napa Rose to be the second-best Disney restaurant at which we’ve dined, behind only Victoria & Albert’s at Walt Disney World. There’s a reason it ranked highly on our our List of the Best Restaurants at Disneyland Resort.
However, Napa Rose’s status had fallen slightly pre-closure and substantially since reopening. Perhaps we’ve just been unlucky, but I’d now rather dine at the next restaurant on this list–along with two others in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel–over Napa Rose. It’s still worthy of recommendation, but not what it once was, in our view.
That will probably change with the reimagining of Napa Rose, which is a good thing. This is the flagship restaurant in the flagship resort, and deserves to be making list of the top 20 restaurants in Orange County. The newly-released images of menu items look fantastic and fancy–right at home on the menu at Napa Rose!
The bad side of this is the likelihood that, like Victoria & Albert’s, Napa Rose will return from its reimagining chasing a Michelin star. It will aim even further upmarket, going from fine dining to haute cuisine (or whatever is a tier above “regular” fine dining).
All of this is to say that Napa Rose will likely reopen with a fancier and modernized main dining room plus a better menu (all good things!) and significantly higher price (bad thing!). I’d be more surprised if there’s a sub-$200 prix fixe menu than I would if Napa Rose breaks the $300 barrier, which would put it on par with Victoria & Albert’s.
In which case, we won’t have to worry about all of this, as Napa Rose will be off the table for us. At the very least, Napa Rose will still have the lounge–that might be our go-to going forward!
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and many other SoCal cities!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the new-look Napa Rose? Any of these new dishes look intriguing to you? Excited for the restaurant’s luxury reimagining or are you fine with the style as it was before? Worried that the new-look Napa Rose will open with a more expensive menu, or would you prefer a Michelin-star experience, even if it’s $300 per person? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!