The Hollywood Brown Derby

The Hollywood Brown Derby: dining at Disney's Hollywood Studios — location and planning data on MouseHub.

Visitor sentiment

4.1· 1,788 Google ratings

People say this fine dining restaurant serves delicious filet mignon, Cobb salad, and grapefruit cake. They also highlight the attentive and friendly staff, and the elegant retro Hollywood glam setting. Other reviews mention the portions can be small.

Summarized with Gemini · Report summary

The MouseHub take

The Hollywood Brown Derby sits on Hollywood Boulevard at Disney's Hollywood Studios and has been the park's signature restaurant since it opened on May 1, 1989. It copies the Vine Street Brown Derby in Los Angeles, down to the copper light fixtures shaped like derby hats and the caricatures of film stars covering the lobby, the dining room, and the restrooms. The kitchen serves contemporary American food a la carte, with entrees from $30 to $56, appetizers at $13 to $21, and desserts at $13 or $14. Two dishes come straight from the Los Angeles original, where both were invented: Our Famous Cobb Salad and the Grapefruit Cake.

Lunch and dinner list the same dishes at the same prices, and the room runs 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM every day, so the choice here is an hour rather than a meal. Reviewers come for the quiet, the cold air, and service that paces the meal like an event, then leave talking about the bill. Families working through a ride list lose most of an afternoon to it. Couples and food-focused adults call it the best sit-down meal in the park.

At a glance

Best for: Adults and couples who want a quiet, air-conditioned meal with real cooking behind it, or anyone building an evening around Fantasmic!
Skip if: You are working through a ride list on a single park day, or you have restless toddlers who will not sit still for two hours.
Worth ordering: Our Famous Cobb Salad, Grapefruit Cake, Filet Mignon
Reservations: Tables go as soon as the booking window opens. My Disney Experience runs a walk-up list for the dining room, and the lounge next door takes no reservations at all.
Value: Signature pricing at $30 to $56 an entree, with sides charged separately. Reviewers accept the bill for the room and the service more than for the portion sizes.

The good

The Cobb Salad earns its billing
Our Famous Cobb Salad is $30 and follows the recipe from the Los Angeles Brown Derby, where it was invented. Reviewers order it for the fresh ingredients and the tangy dressing, and the bowl is large enough to end the meal there.
The room drops the temperature and the volume
Reviewers describe the change the second the door closes: cold air, low light, and a noise level the park outside does not have. Groups use the meal as their afternoon reset.
Servers pace the meal like an event
Waitstaff space out the courses, keep glasses full, and talk through where the dishes came from. Reviewers name the service as often as the food.
The after-dinner list is worth staying for
The Grapefruit Cake Martini turns the house dessert into a drink with grapefruit and vanilla vodka, cream, and a graham cracker rim, at $17.50. A Dessert Wine Flight and a Tawny Port Flight run $29 each, and wines by the glass reach $65.
The kitchen cooks above park standard
Filet Mignon at $56, Pan-roasted Halibut at $54, and Braised Center-cut Short Rib at $54 are the plates reviewers point to when they compare this with a quick-service window.
The caricatures on the walls are the theming
The tradition started at the Los Angeles Brown Derby in 1929 under the name The Great Wall of Hollywood, and Disney's replica carries copies of the drawings through the whole building.

The bad

The bill lands harder than people expect
Entrees run $41 to $56 once you leave the Cobb Salad, sides are a separate $10 to $12, and desserts are $14. Three courses for a family add up before anyone orders a drink.
The Grapefruit Cake splits the table
The $14 house original draws praise for its tart cream cheese icing and complaints that the sponge is dry and the flavor strange. Reviewers rarely land in the middle on it.
The meal takes a large piece of the day
Courses arrive at a leisurely pace, and diners report the whole thing running well past two hours. Anyone holding a Lightning Lane return behind it is cutting it close.
Plates arrive smaller than the price suggests
Reviewers describe modest portions for signature pricing, and the enhancements that would fill the plate cost $10 to $12 on top. Big eaters add an appetizer.
Waiting for the lounge means standing in the sun
The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge next door takes no reservations, and guests waiting for a patio table report full afternoon sun on Hollywood Boulevard.

Veteran tips

Order the Cobb Salad two ways
At $30 it splits between two people for lunch. Adding chicken takes it to $37 and shrimp to $40, which turns it into a full dinner plate.
Join the walk-up list before you give up
My Disney Experience offers Join Walk-Up List for the dining room. The Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge next door is the other way in, since it takes no reservations and serves the same menu, appetizers through entrees and desserts.
Book the Fantasmic! Dining Package for reserved seats
Disney sells the package at four Hollywood Studios restaurants, this one among them, and it comes with VIP seating for the show. Check availability on the package page rather than the restaurant page.
Pick your hour, not your menu
Lunch and dinner list identical dishes at identical prices, and the restaurant serves 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM seven days a week. A late dinner is not on offer here.
Ask the servers about the caricatures
They know the Vine Street original and the two recipes that came from it. The drawings run through the lobby and the restrooms, not only the dining room, so look on the way in.
Trade the cake for the martini
The Grapefruit Cake Martini is $17.50 and carries the same grapefruit and vanilla flavors with a graham cracker rim. Diners who find the cake dry order that instead.
Flag a diet before you order
The menu prints allergy-friendly versions of every course, kids' plates included, and tells guests to speak to a cast member about an allergy-friendly request. Plant-based diners have the House-made Ravioli at $15, the Stuffed Butternut Squash entree at $34, and the Glazed Carrots side at $10.
Count two table-service credits per meal
The dining room takes the Disney Dining Plan and charges 2 table-service meals at lunch and 2 at dinner, in both the 2026 and 2027 plan years. Work that out before the trip rather than at the podium.

MouseHub editorial, written from visitor reports and official Disney sources. Last reviewed August 14, 2026.