Every time I book an ADR someone posts a negative thread!

[Juliet0778]

Try what you want to try.

I've honestly not had a bad meal at Disney. There, I said it. Every single meal was either good or excellent.

I've had some "meh" meals, but nothing terrible. And honestly, I might even have called them decent meals had they not been at a Disney price point.

 

[Juliet0778]

I agree with others, just book what seems interesting to you and go with it. I've never had an inedible meal at WDW. I've had experiences that weren't so great and meals that were just o.k. I've tried places that everyone raves about and left very disappointed (Sanaa and Jiko come to mind) because they were so hyped up and for us, either we had bad service or the food was just o.k. We've also had meals at places others have said they hated and have loved. It's all subjective, go for it.

See, and Saana and Jiko were some of the best, most interesting food I've ever had at Disney...such great discoveries for us. My non-Disney loving husband said I scored points with him by booking those two places. Just goes to prove everyone's tastes are different!

 

[Juliet0778]

Tony's and Hollywood & Vine are two Disney restaurants I won't try due largely to the fact that I have read numerous bad reviews about them over the years.

Tony's is also Italian, which isn't great at Disney overall. I get great Italian food at home. Lots of Italian restaurants where I live, plus I'm a pretty decent Italian cook myself.

H&V consistently gets bad reviews, and when I see one that isn't negative, it's usually, "it wasn't bad. I found things to eat." I don't recall ever seeing someone say that they liked a specific dish there. Also, I don't like the look of the place. It's themed to be a 1940s diner kinda like Johnny Rockets where the most expensive meal might be $15. I'm not going to pay $50+ for a dinner with that sort of atmosphere.

I was pleasantly surprised by H&V breakfast, actually. I was expecting nothing good and really enjoyed several dishes...and all the amazing fresh fruit for my kid who normally eats so much of it and we were feeling so deprived most everywhere else.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

So stop reading them.
Each person has their own experience. Some are good . Some are not so good.
You have to decide for yourself by trying the place.

Everyone was hating on Skippers Canteen but I wanted to go anyways and I loved it!
Everyone raves about CHH but I hate seafood so I'd never go...
To each their own.

 

[HopperFan]

Just read reviews that give you concrete info about menu, service, etc.

Not just the we LOVE it or we HATE it as they are the outliers.

I've been to ones folks LOVED and can't miss and walked out feeling totally ripped off. And mad at the fans who steered me.

I've been to ones folks HATED, said it was awful and now am a regular. And glad I didn't listen to them.

Everyone has different taste buds, different expectations for food quality, different expectations of theme etc.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I was pleasantly surprised by H&V breakfast, actually. I was expecting nothing good and really enjoyed several dishes...and all the amazing fresh fruit for my kid who normally eats so much of it and we were feeling so deprived most everywhere else.

This is a glowing review, but I still don't want to eat there if the best thing on the buffet is amazing fresh fruit. I mean, that's wonderful, but serving fresh fruit is no testament to the skills of the kitchen.

It's not like, for example, going to Chef Mickey's for their legendary parmesan mashed potatoes. Or the Crystal Palace for their chocolate French toast. A signature dish may entice me to try some place that typically gets awful reviews.

 

[Juliet0778]

This is a glowing review, but I still don't want to eat there if the best thing on the buffet is amazing fresh fruit. I mean, that's wonderful, but serving fresh fruit is no testament to the skills of the kitchen.

It's not like, for example, going to Chef Mickey's for their legendary parmesan mashed potatoes. Or the Crystal Palace for their chocolate French toast. A signature dish may entice me to try some place that typically gets awful reviews.

True. But I guess I don't need signature stuff on a breakfast buffet (although the Boma bread pudding WAS amazing)...just classics done right, which I got. But it is fun to have something to differentiate.

 

[LiaNWillsmom]

Now I'm just curious about what restaurants you booked, so i can give you good feedback on them if I've been there! Let me tell you , I've worked in restaurants for 20 years now, and its hilarious what some people complain about! Sometimes, they are just in a bad mood, and nothing will make them happy, and they will project that on to the dining experience! Also, sometimes, its just plain bad luck! i.e. , the kitchen looses a ticket, the server forgets to ring something, the server is overwhelmed from some other "super needy" table, and forgets things! Regardless, Disney as a whole has fabulous places to choose from, and most likely your experience will be a pleasant one

 

[Arielfan98]

You have to put into consideration people's palates as well. My family are a bunch of food snobs. I read a lot how people LOVE ohana or LOVE Homecoming, etc. but my family won't go near those places. We tried ohana and we enjoyed the bread pudding and salad, but the service was terrible as was the meat. You will find once 1 person writes a negative review about a popular place that the rest join in like a wave effect. On the other hand, my family downplayed Garden Grill essentially my entire life, yet I tried it on my January trip for breakfast. I LOVED it!!! My family doesn't care for it, but I will return back. Give everything a go and see for yourself.

 

[Westcoastwild]

Sometimes it's not just the food but the overall experience that's important. To be perfectly honest I don't find the Disney eats to hit extremes of either "best thing I ever ate" fabulous or so terrible as to be inedible. It's generally fairly middle of the road for me. I went with lunch at Tony's for my September solo trip in spite of the negative reviews. I'm on the DP and the parade package seemed like a good deal for me. I'm short and not very assertive and figured this would be a good way to see Festival of Fantasy without the hassle. DH hates parades so this will be my chance to see it.

I agree with the bolded. A lot of it is realistic expectations. As people have said, read the reviews to figure out what they like or didn't like and LOOK AT THE MENU. I've read several where people book the place without even seeing if they serve something they'll eat. Ohana and vegetarians. I don't get why they'd book it to start with!

I had one meal where I didn't care for the entree (brown's Cobb salad) and one where I didn't care for the noise and service (via Napoli) and one meal that was disappointing. The third was the worse. The food was fine, wine was good, service was excellent. But I had read a lot of reviews that made it sound like Jiko's was an out of this world place to get steak. It isn't. It's merely a very good Disney restaurant.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

As others have said - you have to read through the reviews and take out of it what you need. We love trying new restaurants each trips. We read bad reviews about Chef Mickey's and Hollywood and Vine and we ate there last August and enjoyed each of them. They are not our favorite restaurants but they were fine meals and would go back.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Isolated negative reviews don't mean much to me. But if I see a run of negative reviews it might make the difference between choosing that restaurant or another one.

But even then we'll often try a place in spite of negative reviews and judge for ourselves. Often we'll have a good experience, anyway. For example, for the longest time we genuinely liked H&V dinner even though most reviews were negative. DW doesn't like buffets, but it was the 1 buffet at WDW she liked and asked me to re-book.

And even if we try it and it ends up not being for us, we're often glad we tried it, even if we wouldn't necessarily go back again. For example, I read negative reviews about Coral Reef, booked it anyway and unfortunately found that my experience was a lot like the others who'd criticized it. But I'm still glad I tried it. I think just about anyplace at WDW is worth trying once.

Ultimately it's just 1 meal. No big deal in the big scheme of things.

 

[AngiTN]

Isolated negative reviews don't mean much to me. But if I see a run of negative reviews it might make the difference between choosing that restaurant or another one.

But even then we'll often try a place in spite of negative reviews and judge for ourselves. Often we'll have a good experience, anyway. For example, for the longest time we genuinely liked H&V dinner even though most reviews were negative. DW doesn't like buffets, but it was the 1 buffet at WDW she liked and asked me to re-book.

And even if we try it and it ends up not being for us, we're often glad we tried it, even if we wouldn't necessarily go back again. For example, I read negative reviews about Coral Reef, booked it anyway and unfortunately found that my experience was a lot like the others who'd criticized it. But I'm still glad I tried it. I think just about anyplace at WDW is worth trying once.

Ultimately it's just 1 meal. No big deal in the big scheme of things.

We did with Tony's. I've yet to see a truly good review. Most say it's passable good. We tried it because you can only truly know by trying it yourself. It didn't exceed expectations, that's for sure. We survived the meal but we won't be returning. Oh, we did it at Coral Reef too. Found same as you (as as Tony's). Not for us.
On the opposite end of that spectrum is Mama Melrose. I saw nothing but bad reviews for it. Tried it anyway, for same reasons. Well, we love it. It's now our must do on each trip.
And another is 50's Prime Time. We see tons of glowing reviews for this place, most everyone loves it. We tried is (more than once, just to give it a chance). It's just god awful. Sorry, but we don't see what everyone else sees here.
So bottom line is you just gotta try for yourself cause you never know

 

[GoBlue21]

Truly, I don't think the food is what you are paying for, rather it's the experience you get. When I book ADRs, I really care more about the fun we are going to have, not the food (although, I do want good food).

 

[CynBeth]

Try what you want to try.

I've honestly not had a bad meal at Disney. There, I said it. Every single meal was either good or excellent.

I agree.

 

[djc9699]

Sometimes it's not just the food but the overall experience that's important. To be perfectly honest I don't find the Disney eats to hit extremes of either "best thing I ever ate" fabulous or so terrible as to be inedible. It's generally fairly middle of the road for me. I went with lunch at Tony's for my September solo trip in spite of the negative reviews. I'm on the DP and the parade package seemed like a good deal for me. I'm short and not very assertive and figured this would be a good way to see Festival of Fantasy without the hassle. DH hates parades so this will be my chance to see it.

I booked Tony's for the Christmas parade view on Christmas Eve. Figure we won't starve. I do not cook well so it cant be worse than what I make and we will have a good parade view.

 

[1st*toright]

I think the key is to know why you are choosing a particular restaurant, and go with what is important to you. Generally, I choose based on menu style and food quality, so signatures are more my speed in general, but there were meals we chose for other reasons too.

We did Hollywood and Vine, knowing the buffet was likely going to be dire because my LO loves Sophia and Doc. Totally successful meal- the food was edible and the characters were super sweet with my LO. And we were plenty hungry for our dinner at the Brown Derby later that day. I also had really low expectations for Cinderella's Royal Table - wanted to see the inside of the Castle and I was willing to way overpay for low quality banquet food to do it. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the meal- in addition to the ambiance and princesses, it was good quality banquet food. Was it worth the $$$ for the food? No, but the whole experience was fun and the food wasn't bad - I would have been disappointed if I was expecting a gourmet meal, but in the context of banquet food, it was just fine.

Its all about managing expectations. I don't ever expect a Disney restaurant (even a signature) to live up to my favorite restaurants back home, even if I'm paying a similar amount for the meal. Maybe I would expect more from V&A, but we haven't done that one yet.

 

[helenm29]

You know, you have your own tastes and they can be quite different from any one else. I don't worry too much about what other people say...I try what sounds good and if it doesn't work out and I don't like it then so be it. There are SO MANY reviews out there..it boggles the mind so just go for it!

 

[mousefan73]

dining is subjective.. Where I myself get critical is when I look at what I am paying and what I am getting.. example Chef Mickeys. It's tradition for us to do a late breakfast there. But we have "free dining".. If my kids wanted to go and we had to pay OOP. NOWAY!!!! I actually look foward to their cheesy fries... the food is good.. but it's a what are you paying for question. so I might give it a lesser review based on cost/benefiit

What annoys me is sometimes the clientele. ( you seem to get families that thinkg it's a challange to see how high one can stack a pile of half eaten plates..


same with Hollywood and Vine.. HORRIBLE reviews.. but we did it.. food wa also really good. again did pay cash. Clientele here also somwhat ruined the experience. ( trashy family.. but then they and a nice family came soon) but the food was good. IMO buffets bring out the worst in people.. Though I have yet to experience this at BOMA... Now that buffett is worth it...

People rip Mama Melrose apart,, we loved it...

Though one place I would never try based on reviews AND online pictures. ( I always review menus and pics) is Tony's in MK... Also just generally speaking their menu is too basic italian for us to waste a dining credit on...

and we loved San Angel is Epcot.. The way Pete and DIS rip that place apart, you'd think they were serving dog food.. We quite enjoyed it...

Just book what you want, focus more on the very good reviews.. BOMA, tusker House for example. and review menus and pictures online.

 

[mousefan73]

I think people generally just post a negative/complaint much more quickly than a positive.

Try what you want....
Ever see a movie that people loved only to be so disappointed?
LA la land, lol
It's just an opinion....after all
Enjoy ur visit

lol!!Have to agree!! sometimes too many great reviews are hype built up. Saw that movie recently.. I was like whaaaat???