Hollywood Studios Rustles Up Menu Changes at Roundup Rodeo BBQ

 by Beth Keating

News/Review

DisneyBizJournal.com

January 12, 2024

 

We are 2 for 4 in our family regarding the latest changes at Roundup Rodeo BBQ at Hollywood Studios. Sadly, two of our favorite sides have been eliminated from the menu.

While it’s not unusual for new eateries to change up their menus during their first year after they see what is connecting with their diners and what’s not, Roundup Rodeo is, in essence, changing the way their dining experience is presented. Previously, diners could choose 4 of 8 available side dish selections, served family style, so you had to negotiate with your tablemates to decide which of the dishes looked the most enticing. Now, the cast members automatically bring you the new selections, no choices to be made.

 

We’ve dined at the restaurant, which opened in Toy Story Land in March 2023, three or four times this year in various combinations of family members. We even chose it for one of our meals for a family reunion earlier this fall because the theming (and food choices) would cover a pretty wide range of needs from a 2-year old all the way to a 76-year old. Plus, the immersive décor in the restaurant is so much fun, shrinking yourself down to toy size in the brightly colored room designed by Andy himself, and so very “Disney” for the out-of-town guests in our group. There are tons of Toy Story Easter eggs to find in the room.

You can catch our initial review of the restaurant from its opening here, with a more detailed look at the menu.  While there were some hits and misses, we were generally pleased with most of the food, and the service was upbeat, the banter amusing, and the staff operated at warp-speed.

 
While Rex’s Romaine and Kale Salad has been taken off the “Get a Wiggle on your Greens!” selections, our favorite greens selection still remains. Wheezy’s Watermelon Salad was some of the best and sweetest watermelon we’ve had, and it holds its place along with the Rootin’ Tootin’ Tomato Salad. You’ll get both of those options brought to your table.

Removed from the sides menu, however, were:

 

• The Married Spuds: Loaded potato barrels drizzled with green goddess dressing, cheese sauce, and seasoned BBQ spices
• Force Field Fried Pickles: Jumbo pickle spears coated with a dill-flavored breading
• Mean Old Potato Salad: Homestyle with red-skinned potatoes
• Campfire-roasted Vegetables: Roasted seasonal vegetables (plant-based)
  
  

Instead, the new menu options include plain Potato Barrels (replacing the more jazzed-up Married Spuds potato barrel option), along with the continuing selections of:

 

• The Claw! Veggie Slaw (Plant-based)
• Slinky Doooooooooog’s Mac & Cheese
• Buckin’ Baked Beans (Plant-based)
• Cowpoke Corn on the Cob (Grilled Street Corn)

 

You’ll get all five sides brought to your table, so you’ll be gaining an extra side in exchange for not having the choices to make.

  
For our family, The Married Spuds and the Force Field Fried Pickles were big favorites, and we’re sad to see them ride off into the sunset.  On the new rotation, we have also been pretty happy with Slinky Doooooooooog’s Mac & Cheese, but as for the other sides, well, we could just as soon skip them.

So, with the new menu changes, will we be back to Roundup Rodeo?  Maybe.  The last time we dined there, our dining reservation was almost 45 minutes behind schedule, and the waiting area was jam packed.  While our server was cheerful and welcoming, the meal also felt far more rushed than our initial visits.  Entrées were being sent out to the table before most of our party had even shared the salads around the loop, and while we recognize the restaurant’s need to try and pick up the pace because the reservations were running so far behind schedule, there isn’t any extra real estate on the tables to have all those bowls present at the same time.  At one point, we tried to balance one platter on top of the other to make space, and our own plates were hanging partially off the edge of the table to make enough room to set the serving bowls down.  (If you’ve eaten at Roundup Rodeo, you’ll understand exactly what I mean!)

With a current price of $45 per adult and $25 per child (it’s a fixed price meal), you don’t want to race your way through the experience, especially with so much action happening around you with Partysaurus Rex hosting dance parties, freeze frames with Andy coming, and yard sales abounding.  It’s a fun restaurant to take the family to, and while we are disappointed that we’ve lost some of our favorite dishes on the menu, hopefully the menu reductions will mean better attention to quality for the other foods on the menu.  Reach for the sky, Roundup Rodeo! Make it happen.

 

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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

 

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