The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (156 page)

Flo’s V8 Café
(B, L, D, S)

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FastView:
 
Classic Googie architecture, delicious food, 60’s and 70’s motor music, and beautiful views more than make up for the slow and sometimes confusing service.
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Any
Route 66
town worth its motor oil features at least one diner with hearty, stick-to-the-ribs food. 
Cars Land
offers
Flo’s V8 Café
.

I will never forget
catching my first view of the under-construction main drag at
Cars Land
.  The two neon signs that
really
stood out were the one for the
Cozy Cone Motel
on the left, and the one for
Flo’s V8 Café
further back on the right. 
Flo
’s sign was particularly stunning.  In the film
Cars
, and in
Cars Land
, the café’s architecture and its neon sign are classics, quintessential 1950’s and 1960’s in design.  The “V” in “V8” was a sleek inverted boomerang in the Googie style so popular for roadside restaurants and cafés in the mid-20
th
century.

Everything connected with travel seemed stylish in that era. 
The 1950’s and ‘60’s were decades of big, beautiful show cars, and the traveling
Motorama
shows that helped market them.  According to
Cars
mythology,
Flo
is a former
Motorama
model (a
Motorama Girl
) who settled in
Radiator Springs
.  She was just passing through on a tour, but fell in love with and married
Ramone
of
Ramone’s House of Body Art
. 
Flo
is a gorgeous composite of Buick and Chrysler elements.  Her license plate, appropriately enough, reads “SHOGRL”.

Flo’s V8 Café
looks like a glamorous service station–automobiles, after all, consume gasoline and oil; a service station would be their “eatery”–so the exterior has two large canopies under which sit rows of vintage gas pumps offering
Tulsa Tea
(oil, that is).  Tires and oil cans are stacked around the property.

Entering the large foyer (which has plenty of room for Guests to queue on peak days) one is enveloped in
pulsing purple, blue, pink, and green lights, and a lively Motown soundtrack, including classics like the Supremes’ “Stop in the Name of Love”.  Cast Members are clad in 1950’s diner/car hop garb, aprons and peaked headbands for the gals, wedge caps for the guys.

Lines can be long, but during peak hours friendly Cast Members are stationed near the entrance to greet you and provide colorful menus so you and your party can decide on your orders while waiting in line.  When you exit the foyer, another Cast Member will collect the menus (they aren’t yours to keep) and direct you to one of the cash registers where you will order and immediately pay for your food.
  If you’re still not 100% sure what you want to order, near the registers there are menus and display cases presenting samples of
Flo
’s signatures dishes–consult the displays to make your final decision.

This stage of the process is where
Flo’s V8 Café
breaks down, just as the
Cozy Cone Motel
breaks down, in terms of customer service and design.  At both eateries the
Imagineers
created amazing settings, and the chef created amazing menus, but the experience of ordering, paying for, and receiving the food is a slow-paced, irritating experience, well below the normal
Disney
standards.  It is difficult to believe anyone in customer service management walked through the customer experience at the
Cozy Cone Motel
or
Flo’s
before the final green light was given.

I have dined at
Flo’s Café
on weekends and weekdays, at different times of day, when it’s insanely crowded and when it’s nearly empty, alone and with others, since it opened in 2012.  None of these different factors impacted the service and flow, which was almost always sub-par.  When a business delivers consistently bad service, it’s usually a design, training, and management issue.

One of the most challenging parts of being a
Disney
Cast Member is always putting the Guest first.  That can be tough if a Cast Member is having a bad day–but CMs are supposed to do their best to make eye contact, smile, be friendly and courteous, and make sure the Guests feel like they matter.  This level of warmth and attention is what makes
Disney
customer service a gold standard across industries.

Many cash register operators at
Flo’s V8 Café
seem like they are always having a bad day.  Neutral or glum expressions.  Perfunctory–or no–greetings.  Little-to-no eye contact with Guests.  At times, CM’s ignore the Guests, chit-chat with each other, and seem like they’d rather be anywhere than taking orders at
Flo’s
.  Worst of all, some Cast Members toss comments to each other, ignoring Guests completely.

It’s tough to believe you’re
at
DCA
.  A big box store, maybe; a fast food joint, maybe; but
this
is not
Disney
service.  Having worked on the front lines in restaurants and retail, I’m highly sympathetic to front-facing workers.  Some customers are challenging, even mean, and any worker can have a rough day.  But there’s a big difference between someone having a bad day, and routinely bad service and bad attitude.  One wonders who is–or is not–training and supervising these CMs.

Another friction point is order pick-up.  Guests take their
receipts to one of the pick-up windows beyond the registers.  These waiting areas are cramped little pens between metal rails.  You can see and smell the sumptuously delicious foods cooking in the kitchen.  That’s the only pleasant aspect of this experience.

You hand your receipt to the Cast Member behind the counter.  Often, they won’t ask for it. 
You
have to hand it to
them
.  First-time visitors to
Flo’s
who don’t know this can stand there for five minutes or more, until a fellow Guest alerts them that they’re supposed to hand their receipt to a CM behind the counter.

The Cast Member who takes the receipt often makes no comment or eye contact.  They set the receipt on the counter, which is usually damp.  Then you wait.  And you wait.  And you wait. 
Other people crush into the pen to wait with you.  Even if you are one of the only Guests in the place, typically you will wait long moments for your order.  When it arrives, some dishes might be warm, some already cold.

Sometimes, CMs will hand you a tray of food without any beverages.  You have to remind Cast Members that you ordered drinks.  They will suspiciously consult the
soggy receipt on the counter.  The CM will disappear (reluctantly) to check on your “alleged” beverages, and return with the drinks you ordered and paid for, handing them to you (again, reluctantly), as if you are pulling some kind of fast one.

One on occasion w
e had to wait
ten minutes
for a couple of standard breakfasts and coffee–and there was only one other party in the entire place ahead of us.  How was a ten-minute wait possible?  During the delay, no one behind the counter apologized for the wait or gave us time estimates or explanations.  When I finally asked mildly why there was such a delay, the CM behind the counter looked startled that someone was asking him a question.  I felt rather like Oliver Twist asking for another bowl of porridge, though, in this case, I hadn’t yet received
any
breakfast.

Haltingly, as if I were possibly a little dense, the CM told me that only
half
the kitchen was operating.  That still didn’t explain why, with one party ahead of us, it was taking ten minutes for two standard breakfast plates … but I nodded and let it go.  (I try not to draw attention to myself when researching.  Blending in gets the unvarnished, real Guest experience.)

Here is the
good
news:  Once you finally receive your food, and battle your way through the crowded, ill-designed pen o’ Guests, and grab napkins, utensils, etc. from one of the stations near the doors,
then
you are in for a treat, because the seating is plentiful, the décor delightful, and the food delicious!

The designers got the scale of
Flo’s Café
just right.  It’s the main eatery in town, so there are tables out front near the gas pumps, and along a terrace facing the
Radiator Springs Racers
track, and in room-after-room-after-room inside the restaurant.  You can eat inside or outside, watching the
Racers
or focusing on vintage music and surroundings.

The outside terrace offers
wonderful views of the race track and
Ornament Valley
, and great photo opportunities if there are shutterbugs in your group.  Snap photos of the racing cars while chomping on apple pie!

Flo’s
interior is amazing, and a Guest favorite.  No detail was overlooked.  Classic music plays throughout the enormous restaurant, and every room has a theme.

The
Motorama Girls
room naturally has a painting of
Flo
and her
Motorama
pals
Laverne
,
Sheila
,
and
Rhonda
, as well as some of their tour paraphernalia, a giant rear-view mirror, and a sputnik-style Googie chandelier made of tail lights.  The Formica table tops bear amoebic Googie shapes that were popular during that time period.

Doc Hudson
’s mechanical clinic has cases of wrenches and other tools mounted on the walls, and displays an X-ray of an engine, and
Doc
’s mechanical degrees. 
Doc
’s trophy room is perhaps the handsomest, like a 1950’s steakhouse, with dark wood and leather banquets, a trophy case full of
Piston Cups
, and illustrations of
Doc
and his victories.

The simple meals served up at the café
are tasty and much better than promised on the exterior sign (
Lugnuts – Gas – Oil – Coolant – Grease
)!  After the architecture and décor, food is the star at
Flo’s
.  It’s worth the wait.

Breakfast is a choice between the
American Breakfast
(bacon, biscuit, potatoes, scrambled eggs) and the
Chicken Tamale Breakfast
(a chicken tamale, with scrambled eggs,
salsa verde
and
pico de gallo
) for around $8 each.  If you’re in a health-conscious mood, order the
Seasonal Fruit Plate
(with yogurt and muffin) for around $6.  Conversely, if your sweet tooth is calling, order the gooey, yummy
Brioche French Toast
.  Salted caramel!  Bananas!  And it’s only $8!

Kids’ breakfast choices consist of
Waffles
(with turkey bacon and fresh fruit) for $6.50, or smaller versions of the
American Breakfast
($6.50) or
Seasonal Fruit Plate
($5.50).  Milk, juice, or water is included.  Remember that kids’ meals are truly kid-sized; children over 9 or 10 years old might be ready for an adult portion depending on their appetite.

Flo
’s breakfasts are knock-outs, with the singular exception of the bacon.  It’s paper-thin, flavorless, and often cold, unlike the hot and tasty bacon served at other resort eateries.  The other items else on
Flo
’s breakfast menu are winners.

Lunch and supper, though, are where things get deeply flavorful. 
Flo
’s entrée’s are interesting and, for the most part, unique to
Cars Land
.  The chef wanted to create hearty dishes that travelers might encounter along the real Route 66.  Victory!

For the most part, this is a meat-lover’s pit stop, but there are healthy and vegetarian offerings
as well.  The
Citrus Turkey Salad
, while it might seem pricey at $11, is sizeable, and rich with flavors (arugala, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, and a citrus-tarragon dressing–not to mention the rotisserie tender turkey).  The
Veggie Tater Bake
($10.50) is a warm medley of bulgur wheat, cauliflower, smashed red skin potatoes, soy crumbles, vegetables, and cheddar cheese; one side and a roll are included.

Meat lovers have three choices, and each includes two sides and a roll.  This is tender, spit-fired meat, and it’s all good.  The
Citrus Turkey Breast
, at $11.50, is served with turkey gravy.  The
Roast Beef
($12) comes with beef gravy, naturally.  And the dish that
really
makes you think “road trip indulgence” is the
Pork Loin
($11.50) with its down-home
Coca-Cola BBQ Sauce
!  (Expect prices to inch up during 2014.)