Ok, what are we reviewing here exactly? The Diamond Club seating which is the first 20 rows behind home plate, with servers ready to take your order for all the traditional ball park culinary treats of dogs and nachos? OR Are we reviewing the Diamond Club Restaurant, where you get a sit down half buffet and order a main course for a fix price. If it's the former, then this is 5 stars, what's not to like? Great seats and food brought to you with just a nod of your head and swipe of your card. If it's the latter - like I'm reviewing then it's 3 stars. Only A-Ok for the $40-$50 price tag per person.
Getting to the game about an hour before first pitch, we walked around the buffet to see if there was anything that peeked our interest. I've sat in the Diamond Club seats a few other times, but never actually dined there before. If you want seats on the patio, which I'm sure is a different experience, then you have to book ahead of time. But since this was a last minute choice we sat inside, where there are plenty of TVs with the game on just in case you need it for the first few innings.
Really this is just a half of an AYCE buffet, where you can attack salads, soups, ceviche, cheese, charcuterie, taquitos, and flat bread appetizers. I have to say, this top half of the inning was pretty good and I sampled everything. The Pozole soup was the last thing I tried and I had to go back for seconds as it was perhaps the best thing there. Also I have trained myself to ignore salads on buffets, as it's against Dave G.'s rules for attacking the buffet (See my rules on my Bellagio Buffet review). But my buddy Bob T. shook off my signs and went with his own pitch. In doing so found some mighty good "salad toppings" hiding off to the side of the pre-made salads, such as marinated mushrooms, mozzarella balls, various pickled veggies, etc.... These really spiced things up to some already good salads. Considering the main courses here aren't that great, you aren't really doing yourself much of a disservice filling up on all the pre-meal filler.
For the bottom half of the inning, the main course is ordered off the menu from about 4 to 6 choices. I wasn't really expecting much from them, and sure enough that's exactly what was delivered. I will say this, everything is made to order and isn't sitting back there. It took a while for our main courses to come out. Unfortunately they brought me the wrong dish. I thought I'd just try the fish, rather than the chicken that I ordered. It wasn't very good, quite over cooked and dried out. Also the sauce tasted like a can of stewed tomatoes just poured over it. I sent it back for the chicken dish, and that took at least another 30 minutes or more before that showed up. Now everyone is finished and on the buffet desserts and I'm just getting started. The game was also getting started by now and our hour we allowed for dinner was going into extra innings. When the bullpen brought me the chicken it was definitely much better than the fish. I'd say when ordering dinner here, keep it simple with your order, and roast chicken is definitely simple.
Tried quite a few desserts and speaking of keeping it simple, the plain old freshly baked cookies were the way to go, especially with a little ice cream on top. They disappeared quickly and you can always grab a few cookies to take to your seats.
Having done premier dining at other SoCal sporting events, this isn't close to the level of the Dugout Club at Dodger Stadium, where they have carving stations and chefs grilling up sausage in front of you. It's not really as good as Staples Center San Manuel or Lexus Club either. But hey it's in Anaheim and while the OC is a great place for our kids to go to school, all of us OC'ers have to admit it's a little sleepy behind the Orange Curtain. I guess Diamond Club doesn't have access to the same clientele where they can take this up a notch on a nightly basis. From now on, when I get my Diamond Club seats, I'll just happily order a Dog and a Bratwurst from my own waiter and enjoy the game from the 5 star seats. read more