Planning a vacation to Anaheim? Check out our list of the best food spots in Anaheim for foodies. We’re sharing our Anaheim best brunch locations, as well as must-try foodie spots in Orange County. Thank you to Kia for collaborating with us on our food adventure with the loan of a Kia Sedona. Thankfully, it was big enough to hold our family, plus our full bellies. And it was great on gas as we drove all over the Anaheim area.
15+ Must-Try Foodie Spots in Anaheim | Kia Sedona Food Adventure
“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” – James Beard
“Food should be fun.” – Thomas Keller
During our last California vacation planned by the boys, I was determined to hit up a few foodie spots. When you’re a hardcore foodie, finding the best places to eat while on vacation or exploring a new area is crucial.
I go through so many agonizing decisions on which spot to choose, especially when I know I have to get it right. I’m pretty good at hitting the mark on selecting great spots, and this trip was no exception. While the boys were content on eating In-N-Out for the bulk of their vacation, Derrick and I wasn’t about that life.
Yes, we love In-N-Out, but not at the point where we wanted to eat it 24/7. And, we also wanted the boys to try some new food ideas.
We have one rule when it comes to food while on vacation: we do not eat at any restaurants we have at home. The only time this rule is broken, is if it’s an emergency, or on a long road trip with few options.
Over the years we’ve been able to stick to with it no problem. And now as the boys get older, they’ve grown out of the stage where they want to eat pizza and chicken nuggets for every meal. They are also at the point where they eat like grown men, so our dinner bill can easily rack up.
There are so many great food spots in the Anaheim area, so this is just a few of our favorites spots we tried while in the Orange County area. I look forward to going back and adding more to this list!
Best breakfast spots in Anaheim
During the first few days of our vacation, we kept looking for amazing breakfast spots. Good foodie breakfast spots we were used to having at home, something that could equal Golden Harvest. During our first vacation day, Derrick and I hopped into the Kia Sedona, and along with Zayd’n (the twins were not hungry), we drove around Anaheim looking for a breakfast spot.
I use Yelp and Instagram to find the best food spots. Yelp is fantastic to use for reviews, and Instagram is my visual review.
During the week, the breakfast spots are lacking. However, Anaheim has some great brunch areas. We eventually settled on Willy’s Eatery on Ball Road. We ordered the typical pancakes, french toast, and omelets. It’s a warm, friendly environment with excellent customer service. We ordered our food, was seated immediately (it was pretty empty when we arrived) and didn’t have to wait long for our food.
Derrick tried the eggs Benedict, and he stated that it was good. It a low-key restaurant with no fuss, just good food.
Best Brunch in Anaheim
Anaheim may not be known for their breakfast during the week, but brunch on the weekend is bae. Listed as number 3 on Yelp, after reading the reviews, I just HAD to try out Cafe Casse Croute. It’s a small cafe in Anaheim, located on Brookhurst Street. I love finding hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and this one fits the bill. While the restaurant is nothing fancy to look at, the food was EVERYTHING!
It was really hard to decide on WHAT to order, but after hemming and hawing over the menu, I settled on Red Velvet Waffles with fruit.
I also ordered crab cakes Benedict with seasoned potatoes, and they were the BEST I’ve ever had. I have a serious love for crab cakes, and I tore these babies up! They were cooked and seasoned to perfection. The egg was also cooked perfectly. Sometimes the eggs can be too runny, but this was perfect. Cafe Casse Croute is on my must-come-back-again list. Oh, and I’ve heard that the Sorbet Mimosa are a must try!
In Anaheim? Have breakfast at Cafe Casse Croute. Don’t let where it’s located or how it looks fool you, the food is all that and then some.
Foodie spots at Disneyland
One of our main reasons for going to Disneyland this year was to do the Black Panther Meet + Greet, and the boys had a list of a few other things they wanted to do. So, early on a Friday morning, we all hopped into the Kia Sedona and made the 5-minute drive from our Anaheim Vacation Home to Disneyland.
During our day at Disneyland, we had to try several food and snacks. While we couldn’t try them all in a day, here are a few foodie spots at Disney you want to give a try.
Food and Wine festival is currently going on at Disneyland right now, and they have Mexican corn on the cob. OMG, it’s SO good! Disney has corn on the cob all-year-round, but this Mexican corn is one to try!
Grabbing a turkey leg to munch while you walk around the park or wait for a parade, is the perfect lunch or dinner on the go.
And as you can see, Zayd’n tore it up. We were initially sharing one, but I ended up getting him his own turkey leg.
We will make trips to Downtown Disney just for beignets. You can also find beignets in Disneyland, particularly the Mickey Mouse beignets. They are located in New Orleans Square in Disneyland. You will find them at the mint julep bar. Oh, yes, grab a mint julep while you’re there.
And you can’t go wrong with a churro, or two. And with Pixar Fest currently going on, there are quite a few varieties of churros. {stay tuned for my Pixar Fest food post}
Rose Gold everything is huge right now, especially at Disney. I found these Rose Gold Macaroons, which are sweet and delicious. You can also grab them at the Starbucks locations in both parks. Try our Rose Gold cocktail!
Frozen Frose
Disneyland is known to have some fantastic drink spots. Cove Bar is known for making cool (and fun instagrammable) drinks. So be sure to stop by (they also make some fantastic mocktails!)
Just recently opened in California Adventure Park, you’ll want to stop by the Adorable Snowman Frosted Treats for a Pixar Pier Frosty Parfait! By the time we headed back over to this park, it was getting dark, and the line was long. I guess everyone had the same idea of wanting this beautiful “dole whip” treat! Yes, it’s one you want to add to your Disney food bucket list.
Best Churros in Anaheim
We love Churros and finding a shop dedicated to all things churros was a delicious treat. I picked cookie monster ice-cream with a chocolate and almond churro. It was SO good. If you love sweets and churros, definitely add Churroholic to your list.
This is Derrick’s churro. He selected an original churro sandwich.
The cookie monster ice-cream is SO good!
The twins selected regular churros and chocolate + almond churros.
The Packing District in Anaheim, California
On one of our down days during our Anaheim vacation, we spent an afternoon at Anaheim’s Packing District. This is a foodie’s paradise! There are so many choices, and I’ve heard nothing but great things about it.
So, we piled into our Kia Sedona, which has exceeded my expectations when it comes to driving a mini-van and headed to explore the Packing House District.
One of our first stops was to grab a flavorful tea at Mini Monster. I knew this was going to be a good choice based on the long line of people waiting to order. I selected a tea in a lightbulb (you get to keep). It was supposed to come with cotton candy on top, but they had just run out.
This place has so many choices; it can be overwhelming on what to select. Even the boys walked around for a bit, before deciding on sandwiches and fries.
So many sweets and treats as well! Zion spent some time going over the choices before selecting a dessert.
After going back and forth about making the right choice, I decided to go for some southern food. Georgia’s Soul Food Restaurant has won several awards for their southern cooking, and boy, it did not disappoint. I selected mac + cheese, greens, and smothered pork chops. While I’ve had better mac + cheese, the smothered pork chops were 5-star!
We ended our visit with a stop by i am smoothie and shaved booth. We selected a sundae with chocolate and Oreos.
We also tried a chocolate dipped ice-cream with nuts. Everyone was full by this point, so we decided to share these treats.
4th Street Market
We’ve been enjoying the scrumptious foodie scene in the Orange County area. There are so many amazing choices; you can’t go wrong. I came across Red Envelope’s Instagram page and started drooling over all the delicious choices. We initially went there for the Lobster Pho (what they are known for), but they were already sold out for the day.
But, we decided to try something else on the menu. This was D’s and I first time eating pho. We ordered the BBQ Smoked Brisket Pho. With fresh cilantro, basil and green onions, we devoured this quickly. And the seasonings from the broth was so good; we didn’t leave one drop behind.
If you come to the Santa Ana area, definitely hit up 4th Street Market. They have a wide range of food selections, including this delicious fruit drink we picked up at Mar.
And, I couldn’t resist a warm chocolate chip cookie from Chunk N Chip. I’m telling ya, there are so many foodporn spots in 4th Street Market, you will want to stay all day and eat your way around!
There were other foodie spots on my list we didn’t make, but worth checking out:
- The Iron Press Anaheim
- Hiccups
- Pandor Bakery
- House of Chimney Cakes
- Afters Ice Cream
- The Great White Hut
- Sweet Rolled Tacos
- Cali Tacos
- Dog Haus Dogs
- Jim Boys Tacos
The boys enjoyed most of our food adventure. As you can imagine, driving all around Anaheim trying out different spots (especially the quick treats) takes time. Thankfully, our Sedona was equipped with a DVD player, and the boys enjoyed watching movies together (which seems like a rare thing at home; all of them watching a movie together).
It would have been impossible to try every single item I had on my Anaheim food bucket list, but we covered quite a bit. These are places we highly recommend checking out if you are vacationing in the area, or live in Orange County and haven’t explored what’s around you. Anaheim is a food lover’s paradise with such a vast variety of food to try!
While exploring foodie spots, we came across some amazing murals in Orange County!
Have you been to Anaheim and tried one of the spots we mentioned? If so, what’s your favorite? And if you other great food choices we should add to this list, drop us a line down below.
We’ve only been to Anaheim twice, and the next time I go, I’m going to have to keep your recommendations in mind.