Disney Dining - Not So Good?

[Hope Soda]

I agree, mostly, but there are some exceptions.

Sanaa is amazing. It is the #1 favorite for my family.

We really enjoyed Cinderella's Royal Table breakfast. We went for the experience, but the food, at least on our visit, was very enjoyable. We had the beef tenderloin and egg (we're big fans of protein-loaded breakfasts), and it was perfectly done.

The only quick service we've really liked has been in Epcot's World Showcase. We like the sweets in Norway and France, the caramel in Germany, and the Tangierine Cafe in Morocco. We also dined in Mexico and Great Britain. Mexico was better than average, and my husband and kids liked Yorkshire, though I don't eat seafood, so I can't say anything other than the dessert was meh. There are still lots of QS places we haven't tried, but I don't have high hopes for any of them. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Phatscott25]

I live near Cedar Point. Other than ice cream, their food is atrocious. We found one thing reasonably priced that tasted ok. A walking taco. Yup, a single serve bag of Doritos with taco meat, cheese, lettuce, and sour cream dumped in the bag. Not bad for $6 but talk about not fine dining

Cedar Point is my home park as well and it is very unfortunate how bad their food is, with the exception of the fresh cut fries of course (thinking about how I'm already missing those as we speak). I have to say though, going to CP multiple times per year for the past 17 years and getting used to their food did help "boost" Disney's food in my family's opinion. There is worlds of difference. And don't even get me started on how much more efficient Disney moves their food service lines compared to CP. The service is worse than the food itself.

 

[hllb]

Cedar Point is my home park as well and it is very unfortunate how bad their food is, with the exception of the fresh cut fries of course (thinking about how I'm already missing those as we speak). I have to say though, going to CP multiple times per year for the past 17 years and getting used to their food did help "boost" Disney's food in my family's opinion. There is worlds of difference. And don't even get me started on how much more efficient Disney moves their food service lines compared to CP. The service is worse than the food itself.

I understand why people deal with carrying coolers of food all day LOL....it's so darn bad. Disney deserves michelin stars in comparison

 

[Phatscott25]

I understand why people deal with carrying coolers of food all day LOL....it's so darn bad. Disney deserves michelin stars in comparison

Yes definitely. In fact, I have yet to come across anything I haven't liked at Disney yet. Although, I've only been twice so my sample size is still very small.

 

[sanapp]

I really dislike F&W festival which really stinks as we love to go for Halloween and we love Epcot! I have never eaten at Hollywood and Vine as the reviews have always been so awful, but that is how I feel about Chef Mickey's at dinner (maybe breakfast is better). There are a few TS that we consistently enjoy, but I really prefer Signature (now just if my budget could afford Dlx Dining each trip)!!

 

[TMAN264]

I am a 5 time visitor over a 9 year span from Northern Michigan, and we have mostly eaten at quick service restaurants. I find the food fine for what it is. I too am a Cedar Point visitor, and the food is not good there. I am on occasion tried the ADR's, Cat Cora had a restaurant there, and my dad and ate at the Flying Fish which were both top notch. Be Our Guest was awesome last week!

 

[sponica]

Le Cellier was poor, and certainly wasn't worth 2 credits. My steak was decent, but was rare when we asked for medium rare. Most of the sides and my wife's salmon tasted like nothing but salt. We won't return. 'Ohana was really bad compared to our first visit 3-4 years ago - chicken wings were cold (yuck), shrimp WAY overcooked, steak almost too rare to eat (and I like rare steak), and the chicken poor quality. My daughter and wife really liked La Hacienda, but the steak on the meat plate my son and I ordered was laden with fat. The heavenly ham from Raglan Road was also very fatty, with about half being inedible, while my daughter's braised beef was bland. As far as food and wine, there were too many plates that were disappointing to list. For QS places, the bratwurst at Germany tasted like canned vienna sausage (and we used to love that brat), the fish and chips in Britain is basically fried grease (I placed a napkin on top of the fish and it turned wet with grease), the buns on the burgers and hot dogs weren't fresh, etc.

Didn't eat at Sci Fi, CHH (which I liked in the past), or Satuli.

I haven't been in a few years, but my filet mignon @ Le Cellier has always been so tender you could cut it like butter.

 

[DisneyWife2015]

These threads make me LOL because of how everyone's view points are so completely varied. We LOVE the Mac and Cheese at Friar's Nook. In fact, we have decided to forego TS at MK because we love it so much. And we are super foodies.

It is funny how different everyone's opinions are. We tried the BBQ mac and cheese at Friar's Nook and absolutely hated it. I was so disappointed because I was really looking forward to it. My kids LOVE mac n cheese but we had a hard time getting even them to eat it. I might be brave and give it another try some day. Perhaps they were just having an off day.

We're working our way through the restaurants and so far have eaten at 32 different ones and we'll be adding 7 more to the list in December. My favorites so far: BOG at lunch, Tusker House lunch at AK, Boma breakfast, 1900 Park Fare breakfast, Tutto Italia lunch at EPCOT, and Pecos Bill lunch at MK. Honorable mention is 50's Prime Time because the food was good (not exceptional) BUT we had SO much fun! Our server made it one of the best meals we've had just because of how fun she was. Absolutely one of our best memories from the last trip. Skipper Canteen was the same for me - great experience with just ok food but my DH would probably disagree because he loved his meal there. I felt the same about Biergarten - SO much fun and great experience but the food for me was just ok.

Some places I do not plan to try again for a long time: Hollywood and Vine, Backlot Express, and Akershus. Bad experiences all around. :-/

All that to say - I think everything is worth trying more than once. Every restaurant has off days and deserves a second chance. For us, as is obvious from the list above, we've had a lot more good experiences/food than bad so we're happy with Disney dining.

 

[saskdw]

We've always enjoyed most of the food at WDW.

It seems to be the cool thing to do on DIS to complain about the food.

We enjoy it.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

For me the food tends to be ... fine. I tend to not remember what I even ate. Generally not bad but but not many meals that stand out (the Kona pulled pork at Captain Cooks, of all things, I remember). I was going to respond to the top 3 fav restaurants thread and realize I don’t have any. I think part of the problem is expectations. With having to plan and make ADRs I think there’s so much anticipation that they generally just don’t measure up to what I’m hoping for.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Maybe I’m not that picky but few restaurants have disappointed me. We usually do a signature every night and like the food at Artist point, cal Grill, Boathouse, sanai, jiko, brown derby, Ragland road, etc. I can’t remember any meal that I didn’t find quite tasty. But we often order a couple of appetizers and share an entree. And of course our bottle of wine may offset the taste of food!

 

[tommygunn]

I dig the food, especially considering the volume of people being served. I think they do a quality job. And a few are really exceptional. Sushi at Cali grill. Dinner buffets at crystal palace and trails end are top notch. I’ve had some great meals at flying fish and citrico too.

 

[Minniesgal]

Which favorites don’t you like anymore?

Narcooses, Jiko and Via Napoli

 

[Dumbo7]

Narcooses, Jiko and Via Napoli

We had poor ungenuine rushed service at narcooses, Jiko was great as a couple. Terrible with my family of young adult children for my daughter’s 21st birthday celebration, haven’t tried via Napoli because we are not big Italian fans

 

[wrmiller13]

Personally I enjoy most of the food at WDW.
I also enjoyed everything that I sampled at F&W.
To each their own.

You know, ialways wonder what people eat when they are not at Disney World? Lol. We have 7 kids, so I cook ( or heat up a huge tray of food from GFS every night...I love the food at Disney! Maybe its because I'm not cooking!! We don't get to experience "fine dining" or even eat at restaurants during the week, so eating Disney food is a treat for us! My kids say the Disney fries are the best!

 

[hllb]

You know, ialways wonder what people eat when they are not at Disney World? Lol. We have 7 kids, so I cook ( or heat up a huge tray of food from GFS every night...I love the food at Disney! Maybe its because I'm not cooking!! We don't get to experience "fine dining" or even eat at restaurants during the week, so eating Disney food is a treat for us! My kids say the Disney fries are the best!

You’ve definitely got a point, but many people have higher expectations because of the price point. You’re paying fine dining prices. At home, we might go out for fine dining a couple of times a year, though not usually with kids. We did just go to a nice restaurant for my husband’s birthday with the kids. We spent $155, not counting the tip, for our family of 5. It’s a more moderately priced French restaurant. I’ll be paying more at Disney for lesser food. But I expect that. Location, atmosphere, and convenience are part of the price point at Disney.

 

[DrunkJam]

My favourite restaurant at home is a top notch fine dining place. We went in September, and, without tip, which we added in cash, £187 for two people (3 courses, amuse bouche, bottle of wine, after dinner cocktail) That's $245. It's wonderful, we walk there from home, and enjoy the view out over the beach.

That doesn't mean I expect even my signature experience at WDW to be anything like that. I expect it to be nice, well cooked, good service, but, I know I am at Disney for the Disney-ness, and the food is part of the experience, but we're there for the bubble. So, it is different from going out for food at home. Plus, for ten days I am not responsible for cooking something everyone likes, and everyone can choose exactly what they want. Even me.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I find Disney dining to be worse every time I go.

This was the first year I really didn't even enjoy the booths at Food and Wine that much.

I think it's time to spend my money elsewhere for a while.

 

[saskdw]

I find Disney dining to be worse every time I go.

This was the first year I really didn't even enjoy the booths at Food and Wine that much.

I think it's time to spend my money elsewhere for a while.

Sounds like you should.

 

[saskdw]

You know, ialways wonder what people eat when they are not at Disney World? Lol. We have 7 kids, so I cook ( or heat up a huge tray of food from GFS every night...I love the food at Disney! Maybe its because I'm not cooking!! We don't get to experience "fine dining" or even eat at restaurants during the week, so eating Disney food is a treat for us! My kids say the Disney fries are the best!

This probably has something to do with the vastly different opinions.

We never eat out unless on vacation. I mean never. I don't remember the last time we ate out at home.

I find most of the Disney food we eat to be pretty good, but I'm not comparing it to restaurants at home. Honestly the restaurants at home that would be $200 for meal are to stuffy for me. Even though I'm in the income bracket that would eat at those places I don't enjoy the atmosphere. I'd rather be at home watching sports with my son and cooking our own grub on the BBQ.