Bricks Family Restaurant

As you book your Legoland vacation online you are always offered enticing add-ons to your stay. Once such add-on caught my eye. I could book dinner at the Bricks Family Restaurant in the Legoland hotel for 20% off. The dinner advertised “being entertained by the Legoland Hotel heroes” and called it the “Dinner and Dance Along” Package. Character dining with dancing…20% off…sign me up!

When I checked in, the receptionist explained how it worked. The charge for dinner was credited to our account, and we could go to dinner anytime it was open. The hostess let me know that a Ninjago character comes out every hour to meet the diners. In Legoland, we had eaten a late lunch, so enjoyed some of the hotel amenities before going for a late-ish dinner. Around 6:30, we finally were feeling peckish so we headed to the restaurant.

After our experience in the breakfast with Mickey and Friends, I had high expectations of the character experiences and low expectations of the food. I got my first pleasant surprise with the food. The buffet. The food was truly exceptional. The carving station had cuts of juicy, flavorful tri-tip and turkey. The stations had dishes such as curried chicken, “grown-up” mac and cheese (with four cheeses, truffle oil and bacon), and a great selection of side vegetables, pasta, and potatoes. There was a decent salad bar, and an excellent selection of mini desserts so you could try a few! One of the best features was the kids station. In the middle was a station set at a lower, kid height. The kids could select a plate and pick food on there own. Here were hotdogs, Mac and cheese, yogurt, fruit, carrots, and other yummy, kid friendly fair. In addition, there was a milk dispenser and a soft-serve ice cream station with a toppings bar.

A fully stocked buffet, complete with completely accessible Kid Station

When we had our food and settled down to eat we saw the “characters”. I’ll be honest. At first I was disappointed. I had expected to see Wildstyle, Emmet, Lego Batman, other cool mini-figures. We got…a knight and a jester. And they weren’t singing. And there was no dancing. I kept looking for the characters and was told this was it. Apparently on weekday nights there is no dancing. And the character is always medieval castle themed. Okay…so we can make do. They came over to our table and my kids instantly hit it off. They spend a lot of time with us, getting to know our kids, telling jokes, juggling, and even eventually, doing a dance off with my kids (to no music which made it more hysterical to watch). In the end, while they weren’t characters we knew, they did a great job of interacting with our kids and making it a fun, entertaining evening.

Ser Real and the Jester entertained us with deep conversation, juggling, and a dance off.

Now, while I was disappointed there weren’t more Lego characters, we did get a visit from Jay from Ninjago. He came out into the dining room, giving high fives. Then he stayed in a location and people could come up, take pictures, and give him hugs. We went over and met Jay, and my son made sure to tell Jay that he adorned my son’s computer wallpaper. There weren’t a lot of people in the dining room when we were there, so we had the ability to spend quite a bit of time with him, and give him a wave as we ate.

Jay, one of our favorite ninjas, came by to say hello and the kids were super trilled

After eating and meeting our new friends, we left dinner full to our eyes of food and pleasant memories. The kids and I went to dance off a bit of it at the Legoland Hotel dance party, getting ready for the next day and enjoying the last few days of our trip.

Bricks Family Dinning

Address: 5885 The Crossing Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008
Hours: Open for Dinner 5pm – 8pm, 7 Days a Week
Cost: Adults (13+) – $27.50, Children (3-12) – $12.95, Infants (2 and below) – free