Review: Casual Italian Food at Disney California Adventure’s Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta

Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta is a quick service restaurant in the Paradise Gardens Park area of Disney California Adventure. Earlier this month, Boardwalk reopened after being shuttered since the park’s closure in March, 2020. Before it closed we enjoyed Boardwalk’s menu and it regularly made our list of top restaurant recommendations in the park, but is the quality and value still there? Keep reading to find out. Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta’s exterior matches the DCA land formerly known as Paradise Pier. That land has been rethemed to Pixar Pier, but thankfully they haven’t brought over any of the tacky theming elements. The best part is the large outdoor seating area (with over 800 seats). The majority of tables are covered by shade and live music is often performed on the nearby bandstand. It’s a wonderful way to enjoy a meal. 

Inside you’ll find many props and pictures you’d expect to find in an old timey beach boardwalk setting.

Beachgoers from a bygone era.You may be shocked to discover that the food available at Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta is… pizza and pasta! Three different stations house the different food categories.

Pizza is available by the slice, or a whole pie if you want. Food is prepared and then kept warm under heat lamps, but from our experience they move a high volume of entrees, so nothing sits out too long. 

The pasta station is to the left of the pizza counter. 

Salads and beers are on the right. It’s worth mentioning that any entrée can be customized to remove a particular ingredient you don’t want. My co-author on the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland asks for no olives on his salads. It’s the only thing we regularly fight over. Just kidding, Seth. 😉

I’ll start off the food portion of this review with the pizza because as I’m writing this the seasonal pizza is phenomenal. What you’re looking at is shrimp scampi pizza ($8.99 per a slice, or $43.99 for a whole pizza). If you’re a seafood fan this is a must buy. Other than the shrimp scampi slice I can’t recommend the other standard pizza slices, such as cheese or pepperoni. There’s nothing that makes them stand out and the quality is the same you’d find at any second rate pizza shop.

I saw a couple of other folks mention the shrimp on their slice was too chewy. This was not the case with my slice, but just thought I would bring it up.

On the pasta side I enjoy the Five-Cheese Ravioli ($10.99), which pesto sauce and roasted pine nuts. The nuts give the dish a satisfying crunch, while the vinaigrette drizzle adds nice flavor to the cheese. This dish is a great vegetarian option.

Also on the menu is spaghetti and meatballs for $10.99, but the more interesting option is the Chicken Sun-dried Tomato Pesto ($11.99) with campanelle pasta tossed with sun-dried tomato pesto cream. This dish is tasty, substantial, and gloriously creamy. In my opinion it’s a good value as well, it’ll definitely fill you up.

I’m a big fan of Boardwalk’s salad selection, especially the Italian Chef Salad ($10.49). It includes salami, capocollo, fresh mozzarella, pepperoncini, roasted red peppers, marinated olives, cucumbers, tomatoes and fresh greens with a red wine vinaigrette. The vegetables are all fresh and delicious. The portion size is good, which makes it great to share, but I also found it filling enough to be a meal on its own.

It also has a meat swirl. You have to appreciate a good meat swirl.

Desserts come and go depending on the season. As of press time they offer this cinnamon roll cheesecake for $5.99. It’s a perfectly fine cheesecake, but there are better desserts in DCA, especially if there’s Food & Wine or any other festival happening in the park.

It’s kind of weird that of all the food items made fresh at Disneyland Resort, they slap the ingredients list on this but not others.

Overall Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta is a solid quick service restaurant that anyone in your party can probably find something they enjoy. This location gets extra points for its wonderful outdoor seating area with great ambiance. It’s a great place to relax and unwind for a bit even if you aren’t eating.

Are you a of Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta? Let us know in the comments.