Ristorante di Canaletto is a table-service restaurant in Tokyo DisneySea’s Mediterranean Harbor. The restaurant serves pizza and pasta in a gorgeous setting reminiscent of Italy. This review will include photos of the restaurant and food as well as our thoughts on our experience at the restaurant.
Enjoying a meal at Ristorante di Canaletto entails enjoying a meal in one of the most gorgeous theme park lands ever made. Mediterranean Harbor stretches the length of DisneySea’s entrance but the Venetian waterway is where it peaks. Aside from the area being fairly small, this area doesn’t feel like a theme park but instead a beautiful alleyway tucked deep inside of an Italian city.
Ristorante di Canaletto is one of the buildings that makes this colorful waterway so cozy. The restaurant sits just to the right of the water, overlooking the gondolas going by. Ristorante di Canaletto’s outside facade is a pink that fits in beautifully with all of the pastels in Mediterranean Harbor.
While sitting outside is a great option, and ultimately what we recommend, inside the restaurant is beautiful in its own right. Beautiful murals adorn the grand walls and gigantic fresh flower bouquets are smartly placed throughout the restaurant. Large windows are along the walls facing the canal, allowing the restaurant to be illuminated by natural light. If that isn’t bright enough, there are some beautiful chandeliers on the tall ceiling.
In short (unlike that last paragraph), Ristorante di Canaletto is a beautiful restaurant that benefits from being in a gorgeous land. There isn’t a bad place to sit but the atmosphere outside is perfect. Unfortunately, the wind can pick up quite often at DisneySea so sitting outside may not be an option on some days. If that happens, the atmosphere inside is different but not any worse.
As for the food, Ristorante di Canaletto offers Italian fare. We booked the restaurant in advance, looking forward to trying seafood pizza. Unfortunately, when we arrived that wasn’t on the menu. There are a few staples to the menu but, from what I’ve read and observed, it changes fairly often. Here’s a look at the menu, although you may have to have Google translate it if you are fluent in Japanese.
Like most restaurants at Tokyo Disney Resort (and Japan), Ristorante di Canaletto offers ‘set meals’ which are basically combo or multiple course meals to us. The particular set meal we had here included an appetizer, entrée, dessert and drink. This was all for less than $30/person, a very good value compared to Disney table-service restaurants stateside.
There were a few choices for our appetizer but both Melissa and I ended up with the Antipasta. The plating was gorgeous and the food was all pretty interesting. In keeping in the theme we found at Tokyo Disney, the seafood on the plate was delectable while the other parts were just okay. I did like the cheese and sauces on the plate but mostly was blown away by the beautiful plating.
We both ordered the Margherita Pizza, which we both enjoyed but didn’t love. It was a pretty standard pizza although much better than usual theme park fare. The crust was cooked well but the cheese was more greasy than I’d like. Overall, this was a good option but the (much cheaper) seafood pizza at Tokyo Disneyland was much better in my opinion.
Our friends ordered the cheese pizza (above) and a pasta. Both of them liked their choices but I think the Margherita Pizza was the preferred option between the two kinds. Unfortunately the Margherita didn’t come with that cool Mickey on it.
For dessert I had this Pistachio Mousse Cake with Mascarpone Ice Cream. This was one of my favorite desserts on the trip (admittedly, not much of a dessert person) as I thought the flavors mixed well. The cake was dense and had great flavor, especially paired with the berries. The Mascarpone Ice Cream was light and airy, making the dish not overly heavy. As you can see, the plating was beautiful here and the flavors lived up to it.
Melissa ordered Gelato which came with a cookie on top. The gelato was very good and came with a variety of seasonal flavors. I preferred my dessert but she disagreed. All of the dessert offered were intriguing and I’m not sure you can go wrong with any of them.
As I’ve mentioned, Ristorante di Canaletto is a good value relative to other Disney table-service restaurants worldwide. With set meals under $30 for lunch and single items typically under $20, having an excellent and relaxing meal is pretty affordable. Tokyo Disney Resort’s table-service restaurants are all cheaper than the stateside counterparts but Ristorante di Canaletto is especially so.
Overall, Ristorante di Canaletto is an excellent option in Tokyo DisneySea’s crowded dining scene. The food lives up to the beautiful setting and helps sell the feeling that you’re having a delicious, relaxing meal in Venice. While I prefer another table-service restaurant (Magellan’s) in DisneySea, Ristorante di Canaletto is still one of my favorite Disney restaurants I’ve enjoyed thanks to the location and atmosphere.
Rating – 9.5/10
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Categories: Restaurant Reviews
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