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This week's restaurant review is for Auberge de Cendrillon, in Disneyland Paris' Fantasyland.
Auberge de Cendrillon (or simply Auberge as we'll call it, for easiness sake) is an expensive character dining location, that offers lunch and dinner in the company of Suzy, Perla and the Disney Princesses.
Auberge is designed after the Tremaine's stately French home, and the theme throughout tells the story of Cinderella.
There are murals, glass engravings, stained glass windows, and pumpkin chandeliers that all add to the ambience and mood of the restaurant.
The restaurant is beautifully designed, and comes complete with Cinderella's pumpkin coach in the courtyard.
The setting is quite formal, and the experience is a table service one.
You have to chose from a set menu, of which there are fairly limited options for such an expensive experience, I think.
The menu is, for the want of a better phrase, "very French". We have dined here several times, and I have to say it's not my most favourite place in the world! The food has improved over the years, but it's definitely an acquired taste.
For example, to most people, roasted vegetables would be served hot. Not in Auberge. They are cold, on purpose. If you're not expecting it, it's quite a shock!
France is notorious too for under-cooking meat. If you are a "well done" person, you need to ask for the food to be cremated, and even then it'll be more like medium-well.
For starters, I actually think the soup is pretty good, but I haven't seen it on the menu recently. I'm not sure if it has been removed completely, or if you can still ask for it.
Dessert is a set trio of items all served together, and again, is pretty good.
I think the biggest problem really, is if you order a starter that is particularly French, and then the mains are not anything to write home about anyway, you could have a pretty dire experience. But, on the other hand, if you order the right starter (I'd definitely say the soup is the safest option, if available), and you order the goose option, or potentially a dark meat but ensuring it is cremated, then along with dessert, you could end up with thinking Auberge is not bad.
You get one drink included, called the Prince's Cocktail. It's a non-alcoholic mixed fruit drink, and it's quite nice.
Of course, one of the primary reasons for wanting to dine here is that it is the Resort's only dedicated Princess dining venue.
At every meal you are pretty much guaranteed Suzy, Perla and Cinderella. Quite often Prince Charming is in attendance too, and on rare occasions the Fairy Godmother.
Other Princesses and Princes join Cinderella, but these can vary day to day. You might find here any random combination of Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip, Snow White and the Prince, Belle and Prince Adam, Ariel and Prince Eric, Rapunzel, or Princess Tiana.
Disneyland Paris is the only place in the world you can meet Princess Aurora in her blue dress, and where you can meet the Beast in his human form of Prince Adam! Though it should be noted that Princess Aurora's dress colour may change - sadly - once she receives her new dress design from the US Parks. It is unknown at present if they have designed a new blue one for her, or if it'll become the new standard pink one.
As with any character meal, the characters will walk around the dining room, greeting each family at their table as they dine.
Overall, I would say that if you are a big character fan, then meeting Princess Aurora in her blue dress and meeting Beast in human form could make the expense worthwhile - but of course they aren't guaranteed at any given meal, as the characters rotate depending on which member of royalty is available that day.
If you're a fan of trying new food styles, or not much phases you, again, you might not care so much, but I would definitely err on the side of caution for most non-French guests.
Before we look at the prices, let's take a look at some more interior photos we have taken over the years, detailing some of the exquisite details and superb theming that this restaurant has to offer.
Lunch and dinner both offer the same menu, and prices start from €65 (about US$88!) per person for adults, and €29 for children aged 3 through 11 inclusive.
Annual Passholders receive a maximum of 10% discount no matter what pass they hold, and Shareholder Club members receive 15% on presentation of a valid Shareholder's Club card and ID.
Reservations are recommended, and can be made at any guest service location at the two theme parks, any Disney Hotel concierge, or by calling the Disney Dining line up to 30 days in advance on +33 1 60 30 40 50.
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Dan.
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Hi all,
On our recent trip to Disneyland Paris we had the opportunity to eat at Auberge de Cendrillon at Parc Disneyland (DLP).
Auberge is the most expensive restaurant in the park, and probably the Resort, after Inventions at the Disneyland Hotel.
Auberge is located in Fantasyland, in the Courtyard, and offers fine dining, French style.
Named for Cinderella, the meal is "hosted" by Cinderella's mice friends, Suzy and Perla.
The restaurant reminds me of a mix of the Akershus at EPCOT, and Cinderella's Royal Table at the Magic Kingdom.
The main restaurant has murals on the walls depicting the story of Cinderella, and high ceilings. There is also a smaller additional room that features booths separated by engraved glass (pumpkins, of course!).
Overall the restaurant itself is nice, but given DLP's extravagant theming of everything else, for the top end dining in the park, it could be a bit more immersive.
Now we come to the food...
I have never been a fan if French food much anyway, and if anything confirmed that, it was the food here!
The starter choice was extremely French, with options such as liver pate and grilled vegetables - served cold - and they weren't even "normal" vegetables!
The main course was better. I had the veal, and it was ok. It came with some bizarre mushroom stuffing and something I think was mash potato.
The dessert was by far the best part of the meal, and was a set item, which consisted of three different items.
Served with your meal you get a selection of bread, and a non-alcoholic cocktail.
Overall the food was not my sort of thing at all. The dessert was by far the best part of the meal.
Of course this wouldn't be a character site if I didn't mention the characters we had that day!
Of course Suzy and Perla are always present, and Cinderella too.
I know for a fact that other princesses and princes frequent the restaurant. I know for example that Snow White and Aurora are nearly always there, sometimes with their princes, sometimes not.
Our visit was a bit different.
Prince Charming joined Cinderella, as well as the Fairy Godmother!
The Fairy Godmother doesn't normally make appearances in Paris, so this was a rare treat!
Tiana was also in attendance that day.
Overall we had a pleasant experience at Auberge, but I do warn you that for the price, the food isn't the best, and the characters are readily available elsewhere. It isn't somewhere I'm going to go back to any time soon.
I know this hasn't been the most comprehensive review of our experience, but I hadn't reviewed it before and felt that being it's a character dining venue, it needed a mention.
I don't have any pictures from our experience there up yet on the site, which is why there was none in this review (the three I posted were all outside, and from previous trips), but you can check back on our Auberge page at a later date to see our most recent updates (probably won't be for a little while) - or click onto the page anyway to see past pictures.
Before I sign off, just a note to say that we have been working hard to add lots more content to the site! The keen eyed among you may have noticed some new locations, a new character, new character descriptions, some new autographs on character pages, a new Disney Cruise Line Forum, and many hundreds of new photos across the site.
Plus we have added an extra 15 new Blog banners too - so be sure to refresh this page to see them all (we have 26 in total now I think)! ;)
Dan. |
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