Dining at WDW

[signtalker]

Other than character meals, can anybody recomend good sit down places for something nice to eat(in any of the worlds), other than the usual burger fries etc.We didnt dine that much in WDW last time(if we did it was on the run and just a snack), but decided this time we would push the boat out and give it a go.

On a differant note hollywood and vine whats this like??(we know its a character meal)

Jules

 

[BevS97]

Hollywood and Vine is a fun character meal - we had breakfast, and the food was ok, not anything to get excited about, but the characters were fun, and Minnie and Goofy did a dance during the meal.

Other nice places:

We liked the Plaza restaurant in MK - this is a sit down waitress place, it's quite small so we had to wait, but we had a nice meal in here.
For a counter place, we really like the Columbia Harbour House which is right on the edge of Liberty Square, near Fantasyland. We've eaten here twice, and it's nice food and if you go upstairs it's not too busy and you can find a table pretty easily.

At Epcot: I would really recommend the Japanese Tapanyaki restaurant for a late lunch - we had a superb meal here, and because it was lunch, it wasn't very expensive. They cook the meal on the table in front of you, and it's very nice - not too unusual, but a change from the norm.

We also ate at the San Angel Inn in Mexico, which I enjoyed, but I preferred the Tappanyaki.

Many years ago, I ate in the German pavilion, which is a show with german singing, and an oompah band and you eat at long tables. I keep meaning ot go back, as I remember it being really fun, but I was about 15 the last time I was there.

In MGM
We hate eaten at Sci Fi cafe, and the 50's Mom's place - I didn't like the Mom's place - the food was ok, but we aren;t into that kind of play acting humour, and we found it a little uncomfortable - just not our scene.

The SciFi however, was great. We didn't have a PS, so we had to sit at a picnic table at the back, which was fine, but if you have a PS then you get to sit in a car (2 in the front, 2 in the back seat - I think some cars had a 3rd row as well). They have movies playing on a screen, and it feels like night time in the theatre - it was really cool, and the food was good. Even the picnic tables were fun.

At AK there's not a great deal of choice - we have had the character meal at Restaurantosaurus, which is nice, and this year we had lunch there - at lunch time it is basically a McDonalds with a few extra choices - it is nice and cool though, which is why we chose to eat there.
We had breakfast in the Tusker House twice - there is a little coffee shop just to one side of the main counter, and they have the most amazing sticky buns - they were so good that we went back a second day to have breakfast there again.

Hope that helps

Bev

 

[Hellie]

Jules

Hollywood and Vine is one of my favourite places. We usually have lunch and the food is buffet and very nice, they have steak and fish etc. There is good character interaction, but no characters at dinner.

I agree with Bev on the places in MK both nice, apart from that we don't eat much in the parks, normally on the run as we have so much to do.

Hope this helps.

Helen

 

[BevS97]

thought of another one - we had ice-cream in the Diamond Horseshow Revue - this is a really fun show, although no characters - for some reason I thought Minnie appeared on stage.

It gets really crowded though, so arrive well before the show is due to start.

Bev

 

[Goofyish]

Hi Jules,

Why not check out the menus at:

http://wdwig.com/menu/menus.htm

or :

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/search.cfm

 

[Joanne M]

For the best food at WDW, try some of the restaurants in the resorts. Theme park food is good at many places, but the resorts are something special. It need not be expensive either. Also, this way you get to check out and explore some of the resorts you may not have had a chance to see before.

My favorites are the California Grill, Narcoosee's, tea at the GF, Kona Cafe, Artist Point and Whispering Canyon, Spoodles and Flying Fish. Usually, the nicer the resort, the nicer and more varied the restaurants. Another favorite is Wolfgang Puck's Cafe at DTD.

Within the theme parks, we like Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch or dinner. It is wonderful to sit down in the A/C and be waited on at lunchtime! We also like Cinderella's Castle for lunch.

At Epcot, we like Chefs de France and Coral Reef the best, with San Angel Inn as a third choice. At MGM, we prefer the Brown Derby for the food, but Sci-Fi and 50's Prime Time are fun too, especially with kids.

I stay away from most chain restaurants, like Rainforest Cafe. We also have Teppanyaki dining at many restaurants near home, so that's not a treat for us.

At most of the WDW restaurants, the portions are large so you may be fine with an appetizer and salad instead of an entire entree. Or you could share an entree and each get a salad or app. I don't know why they serve such huge portions, since most people probably couldn't finish their meals.

 

[vernon]

I'd agree that , with the exception of some of the Epcot restaurants ( I like Akerhus, Le Cellier and The teppenyaki) , the parks are not the best places to find good sit down restaurants.
I've had good meals in Boma's, Cape May Chef Mickey's and Parkfare 1900 ( all buffets) as well as the Mexicans in Corronado Springs and the Swan and Dolphin, Boatwright Dinning hall in Port Orleans/Dixie, Flying fish and Spoodles on BW. Outside of Disney hotels Wolfgang Pucs at DTD I like and Bahama Breeze on I-Drive. If you like teppanyaki then , IMHO, Benehana's in the Hilton at DTD, is better than the Epcot offering and about 30% cheaper. If you go to Universal I lik e Jimmy Buffet's and Emeril's gets GREAT reviews.

 

[Hemelman]

If you're pushing the boat out how about trying the Bistro de Paris for a lovely evening meal at Epcot. The food's wonderful & the service first class. Its situated above the Chefs de France.

Its definitely not cheap but not overly expensive for the experience and hey you're on holiday why not pamper yourself!

Or for a cheaper but equally nice meal how about the Brown Derby in MGM Studios.

I've eaten in both & been impressed by the quality of the food & service.

Cheers
Mick

 

[Janice]

Hi Jules

Shirley and I had a superb meal at Mama Melrose's in MGM and I think it was probably the best meal of the holiday. We had Oak Grilled Chicken, with Marsala - Marscapone Mash Potatoes, Green Beans, a Tomato/peppery dish and a delicious Parmesan Cheese Crisp - it was just simply divine.

I would recommend this anytime - the atmosphere was really good and the service second to none!

HTH

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

If you are visiting Islands of Adventure I'd recommend trying Mythos. Reasonably priced and both meals that I had there were excellent.

Regards

Rob

 

[mickeyetta]

Hi Jules,

Last November we had Great meals at the following reataurants...

Sci-Fi Dine in,Prime Time Cafe
Nine Dragons in Epcot (China)... Lovely Chinese Food not at all like what we get in chinese takeaways over here but delicious.
Concourse Steak House (Contemporary Resort).. Lovely steak first time around and liked it so much we made reservations and went back for Thanksgiving dinner which was also delicious!!

BUT the bestest (if thats a word?) meal we had all fortnight was at a restaurant called Palios in the WDW Swan Resort. Its Italian themed and most of the chefs were Italian so the food was DEEEEEEEEEEELICIOS! Pasta, Pizza, and meat dishes (Pork Beef and veal etc) but if you go the best thing of all is the deserts! Go for the Chocolate volcano! It take 15 minutes to be served because its made to order but its woth the wait!!! Lets just say it's chocolate chocolate and more chocolate!

Hope this helps!
Mickeyetta
PS: Thanks for making me type all this, now i'm really hungry!!!!

 

[Hilary]

I have a feeling that by the time we get to the end of this thread you'll have had recommendations for every single restaurant in WDW! I'm sure every place is someone's favourite !

For me, I'd recommend:

MK - Tony's for breakfast (although this has been changed recently whilst the Crystal Place is being refurbished); Liberty Tree for lunch or dinner

Epcot - San Angel Inn (although the atmosphere's better than the food); Nine Dragons

MGM - Spoilt for choice here! Mama Melrose, Hollywood and Vine, Sci Fi and Prime Time are all favourites with us.

AK - nothing to take our fancy here, I'm afraid

Resorts - Boma's in AKL and Whispering Canyon in WL.

Oooh, I'm feeling hungry now!