Signature
The Hollywood Brown Derby
The short answer
Hollywood Studios' signature restaurant, a recreation of the Hollywood original where the Cobb salad was invented. Entrees run $30 to $56 and the salad itself is $30, made properly and chopped fine. The grapefruit cake at $14 is the dish worth ordering even if you are full.
- Where
- Hollywood Boulevard, Disney's Hollywood Studios — on the left as you walk towards the Chinese Theatre, opposite the Trolley Car Cafe.
- Cuisine
- American
- Reservation
- Book at 60 days
- Booking opens
- 60 days ahead, 6:00am Eastern — and if you are staying at a Disney resort, day 60 books your whole stay, up to ten days. Off site, it is 60 days for each date separately, so the same table is gone before your window opens. Work out your date.
- Typical meal
- about $64 a head before tax · average entrée $45.50, dessert $13.80, drink $4.99 on Disney’s menu, read Sep 21, 2026
- Dress code
- Theme park casual, though it is the one park restaurant where people dress up a little
- Noise
- moderate
- Non-resort guests
- Yes — with theme park admission
- Dining plan
- Table-service plan, 2026 and 2027 · Disney’s own listing, Sep 22, 2026 · what a credit buys here
$30.53cheapest$51.63median$79.85dearest
Mean main course from Disney’s own menu. Drinks, sides and tip are on top. Read Sep 21, 2026.
Is it worth the money?
For one meal, on one day, yes — and specifically at lunch.
The room is the argument. It is a careful recreation of a restaurant that mattered, dim and panelled and hung with caricatures, and it is the only place in Hollywood Studios that feels like the era the park is about. In a park whose other table service is a 1950s kitchen gag and a drive-in movie, that is worth something.
The food is good signature cooking rather than exceptional, and at $30 to $56 an entree it is priced as though it were exceptional. The way to eat here well is the Cobb salad and the grapefruit cake — two dishes with genuine provenance, about $44 together, which is less than one entree.
Dinner is the harder sell. The same room costs more in the evening and the park closes around fireworks, so the meal competes with the thing most people came for.
Who it’s right for
Anyone who wants a proper sit-down lunch in Hollywood Studios in air conditioning, and anyone who cares about the Cobb salad's history enough to eat it where it was invented. Couples and adults, for whom this is the most grown-up room in the park. Vegetarians, unusually well served for a steakhouse-shaped menu.
Who it’s wrong for
Families on a budget — the same money buys two very good quick-service meals plus a Lightning Lane. Anyone in a hurry, since signature service is not fast and this park's rides reward being outside. And anyone booking dinner on a night they also want to see the fireworks.
What is actually good
The Cobb salad is the order and it is not a compromise. It is $30, it was invented at the original Brown Derby, and it arrives chopped as finely as it is supposed to be — spit-roasted turkey, bacon, egg, tomato, blue cheese and avocado. Adding chicken takes it to $37 and shrimp to $40, and neither improves it.
Entrees run $30 to $56: filet mignon, pan-roasted halibut, pork tenderloin, braised short rib, seafood fregola, and a stuffed butternut squash that is a real vegetarian main rather than an afterthought.
Starters are $13 to $21 and the escargot and the house-made ravioli are the two worth the money.
The grapefruit cake at $14 is the other signature, and it is a genuine Brown Derby original — a light sponge with grapefruit and cream cheese frosting that sounds wrong and is not. Prices checked 9 September 2026.
Portions
Signature-restaurant portions: composed, plated and not enormous. The Cobb salad is the exception and is a full meal. Two people can share a starter comfortably; nobody needs two courses before it.
Allergies and dietary needs
Among the better park restaurants for this. It is Disney-operated, so the standard chef consultation applies — the chef comes to the table on request and will rework dishes rather than pointing at a list. The stuffed butternut squash is a proper vegetarian entree, and gluten-free versions of most mains are straightforward.
Common questions
- How much is The Hollywood Brown Derby?
- Entrees run $30 to $56, starters $13 to $21, desserts $13 to $14. The famous Cobb Salad is $30, or $37 with chicken and $40 with shrimp. Expect about $60 a head with a dessert, before drinks and gratuity. Prices checked 9 September 2026.
- Is the Cobb salad at the Brown Derby the original?
- It is the same dish and the same lineage — the Cobb salad was created at the original Hollywood Brown Derby, and this restaurant is a recreation of it. It is served chopped fine, as intended, with spit-roasted turkey, bacon, egg, tomato, blue cheese and avocado. At $30 it is the best-value order on the menu.
- What is the grapefruit cake?
- A Brown Derby original and the other dish with real provenance here: a light sponge layered with grapefruit and a cream cheese frosting, $14. It sounds like it should not work. It does, and it is the thing people remember about the meal.
- Is the Brown Derby worth it compared with other Hollywood Studios restaurants?
- It is the only one that is a restaurant rather than a bit. Sci-Fi Dine-In and 50's Prime Time are both built around a gag, and both are fun. The Brown Derby is where you go if you want a quiet, properly cooked lunch in a room that takes itself seriously. It is also the most expensive of the three.
- Do you need a reservation for the Brown Derby?
- Yes, in practice. Book at the 60-day window, which opens at 6:00am Eastern and covers your whole stay if you are a Disney resort guest. Lunch is easier to get than dinner, and lunch is also the better meal here.
Sources
- Walt Disney World official — The Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant page, with its menus read through Disney's menu service on 12 September 2026. — Disney official · checked
- The Mouse For Less — The Hollywood Brown Derby 2026 menu with prices (appetizers $13–$21, entrees $30–$56, desserts $13–$14, Cobb Salad at $30 and the grapefruit cake at $14) — reported by · checked
- AllEars — Hollywood Brown Derby 2026 lunch and dinner menu and prices (independent corroboration of the Cobb Salad price and the protein add-ons at $37 and $40) — reported by · checked