Which restaurants are on a par with the highend restaurants near you?

[*123JOANNA123*]

Just wondering which restaurants at WDW stack up against the "best of the best" in your locale (you know the ones I mean)?

My votes

Citrico's and Brown Derby.

[heffalump9]

My choice is the:

Yachstman Steakhouse

[ducklite]

V&A's, Citrico's, Fulton's, Jiko, Teppanyaki, Mama Melroses, and CG all have similar restaurants in my area. Living an hour from bothe NYC and Philly I would say that it would be tough to find a restaurant at WDW that didn't have one very close to it here at home.

Anne

[caitycaity]

california grill.

we were really disappointed with teppanyaki. the food was fine, but our local benihana was a lot better.

like ducklite, there are a lot of really great restaurants in the area where i live. :)

[Bob NC]

We find that our local "Best" restaurants beat anything Disney has to offer, (both food and service), and usually at a lower price. Disney has a captive audience, and they know it. In OUR opinion, there really isn't much at Disney, in the food department, that would be considered more than pedestrian or mediocre if it were local to us. Yeah, we eat out at Disney, and we go to some of the better places. Folks get all caught up in the atmosphere and the novelty of many Disney restaurants. Granted, I find much of the food at Disney to be better than any other theme park I've ever been to, but, better than fine non-theme park restaurants?....I don't think so. I've spent $25 on a chicken breast at Narcoosee's, (My current fave Dis eatery right now, by the way), that would compare in taste, quality and service to places I would go to on my lunch hour on a normal workday, AND pay 1/3 of that price.

Some Disney restaurants are good, really good....But, that's a relative term...."Good" compared to your other Disney options while you are being held captive.

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

Originally posted by Bob NC
We find that our local "Best" restaurants beat anything Disney has to offer, (both food and service), and usually at a lower price. Disney has a captive audience, and they know it. In OUR opinion, there really isn't much at Disney, in the food department, that would be considered more than pedestrian or mediocre if it were local to us. Yeah, we eat out at Disney, and we go to some of the better places. Folks get all caught up in the atmosphere and the novelty of many Disney restaurants. Granted, I find much of the food at Disney to be better than any other theme park I've ever been to, but, better than fine non-theme park restaurants?....I don't think so. I've spent $25 on a chicken breast at Narcoosee's, (My current fave Dis eatery right now, by the way), that would compare in taste, quality and service to places I would go to on my lunch hour on a normal workday, AND pay 1/3 of that price.

Some Disney restaurants are good, really good....But, that's a relative term...."Good" compared to your other Disney options while you are being held captive.



Yeah...what he said!

[ducklite]

Bob--I want to point out that in your neck of the woods prices are most likely dramatically lower on EVERYTHING. Here in my area prices are on par with those at WDW, and in many cases much higher for lower quality.

Agree Laura? ;)

Anne

[lovin_disney]

California Grill gets my vote. I get to Disney for business 2-3 times a year and we always try to have one very nice dinner there and the best part is the company pays!!

[Bob NC]

Originally posted by ducklite
Bob--I want to point out that in your neck of the woods prices are most likely dramatically lower on EVERYTHING.

Yeah....But if we take cost completely out of the equation, there is still absolutely nothing that makes a Disney restaurant better in quality or service from my local dining options. Sure, folks will go to the Mickey Buffet to see Mickey and friends, but would you really go to that buffet at home if there were no characters?...LOL, I doubt it. I go to Narcoosee's every trip, but I'll tell you honestly, if Narcoossee's were a half mile from my house, you probably wouldn't find me there ever. Same with Teppanyaki, we like it, but we eat at better Japanese steakhouses at home. Le Cellier?.....C'mon, average to below average food. Granted, I've never eaten at V & A's, but I have no desire to. There's many, many, restaurants I go to repeatedly at WDW, but I really can't think of any that I would frequent if they were near my house....Even IF their prices were comparable to my locality.

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

Originally posted by ducklite
Agree Laura? ;)

Anne

While I agree the prices are on par, I still have to agree with Bob about the quality of the food overall. While there certainly are some wonderful eateries, I would much prefer a night out in NYC for fine dining:)

Although I have my disney favs, I certainly think as Bob says we are a captive audience. I too am a big fan of Narcoossees, but I wonder if it really is that good or just better than some others?

We've been to Shula's in both NYC and Phiilly, but it never occured to me to go in WDW, I wonder why? I really like Shulas too.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this other than while I have no complaints for the most part about WDW food, there are just a few that I would "frequent" if they were local.

Laura

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

Originally posted by Bob NC
I go to Narcoosee's every trip, but I'll tell you honestly, if Narcoossee's were a half mile from my house, you probably wouldn't find me there ever.

That's exactly how I feel Bob.

And as far as Teppanyaki, I just don't get. We have a wonderful hibachi/sushi place not 5 minutes from home, while its more expensive than Teppanyaki, the food is outstanding. The one and only time we tried Teppanyaki, we left disappointed.

[baloo722]

I live 5 min. south of philly.

i love WDW & the restuarants there, but if i were to look objectively, they are a solid notch below the offerings in philly, which has undergone a "restuarant rennaisance" over the past 10 years. they cannot match Striped Bass, Lebec Fin, Avenue B, etc..

[crisi]

I live in the Twin Cities.

We have excellent restaurants here. We particularly enjoy Goodfellows for very special occations - which would be V&A-ish. I can find nearly everything here that I can at Disney (and a ton of stuff not at Disney - they really NEED a Thai place).

We find the prices at Disney to be comparable - maybe slightly higher.

[ducklite]

Originally posted by MOMTOMOOTOO
I'm not sure where I'm going with this other than while I have no complaints for the most part about WDW food, there are just a few that I would "frequent" if they were local.

Laura

I agree 100% on that! In fact the only one we'd probably go to with any regularity is Jiko. Maybe Citrico's and the CG.

We're in the process of building a house about 20 minutes from WDW, and probably won't dine there all that often.

Anne

[Jen D]

Like you other Northeasterners, I don't tend to get sticker shock from WDW prices-- they are about on par with similar places in NYC, maybe even cheaper.

I've only been to WDW a couple times, and we only eat two or three expensive meals a week, so I haven't tried a lot of the places others have talked about, but imo California Grill and Flying Fish measure up to similar places in NYC. There is the difference of having kids menus and high chairs, but that makes it WDW. Personally I think it is fabulous having a place like California Grill which is on par with a Union Square Cafe or Gotham Bar and Grill, and having a menu for (well-behaved) kids.

A lot doesn't measure up but that is a given. Thinking of other places we have tried-- Teppanyaki-- did that as a lark for the kid. Tastes about like Benihana, which here is considered a novelty joint for tourists. I doubt any of the World Showcase restaurants can hold a candle to the offerings here-- although there isn't much good upscale Mexican here, so maybe I should give the San Angel Inn a chance.The buffets-- lets not even go there-- although I did like Boma. We don't really have buffet restaurants here, to tell you the truth.

Generally, there is a short list of WDW restaurants that have aspirations to be considered by foodies to be great restaurants on their own terms (not just "good for Disney"), and hire serious chefs. This includes California Grill, Flying Fish, Jiko, Narcoosee's, Citricos, Victoria and Alberts, Artists Point-- am I forgetting anyone? I'm not trying to start arguements by starting this list, just noting that these are some of the restaurants most cited for "serious" food.

[phyllis1966]

I tend to agree with most of the posters on this one. I grew up and lived in Brooklyn, NY until recently, and I have been to many of the great restaurants in NYC. While I enjoy eating in most of WDW's restaurants, they really can't hold a candle to the fine restaurants of NYC and some of the "little gems" we discovered in Brooklyn.

[jordanyosh]

To answer the OP's question directly, California Grill and Flying Fish Cafe. Great food and service.

[GladysK]

Having grown up in the Food Capital of the USA(New Orleans) no restaurant at WDW comes close to food I've eaten my whole life.

The best at WDW are only "Pretty good" in comparison.;)

[ducklite]

JenD--if you want to come across the river to jersey i can suggest a few really good authentic Mexican places--San Angel will appear to be dog food after eating at the places I like :)

Anne

[bunnyfoo]

More votes for CG and BD :)

[crisi]

I agree I can get a better meal locally (and pay nearly as much for it), but I really don't do it that often. One of the nice things about Disney is that we NEED to eat out. At home, eating out becomes going to the old standbys where we eat the same things - often not as good as what we get at Disney, and dealing with kids.

Back when we were childless, eating out in the neighborhood was easy, we did it often, and eating at Disney provided no real treats. Now that we have children, its nice to have so many decent family friendly restuarants available on vacation.

Its also nice to have so much in such a close vacinity. I can go out for fantastic food here, but I may have to drive thirty or forty minutes to get to it.

[jbthi]

I guess here in Indiana we don't experience fine dining because I like DW restaurants. I like Le Cellier, Brown Derby, Flying Fish, Jikos and while I don't like buffets, I did enjoy Bomas. In fact I have found something I considered good (not fine dining) in every place, even counter service, except the Commissary (sp?) at MGM. To me that was inedible.

June

[peachgirl]

Originally posted by GladysK
Having grown up in the Food Capital of the USA(New Orleans) no restaurant at WDW comes close to food I've eaten my whole life.

The best at WDW are only "Pretty good" in comparison.;)

I spent a summer in a little town near New Orleans a year or so ago...

New Orleans and the surrounding area has to have some of the best food I've ever eaten in my life. NYC doesn't have anything on them...great food, wonderful people...even if I can't understand a thing they say!;)

As far as WDW food....we're pretty straight up when it comes to food so what some consider "upscale" don't appeal to us. It's a dream restaurant to me when I can find a place that can serve a great steak without playing with it until I can barely discern it's a steak anymore. Throw it on the grill, put a few grill marks on it for looks and put it on a plate....anything else and it's ruined. :)

[ducklite]

Originally posted by peachgirl
It's a dream restaurant to me when I can find a place that can serve a great steak without playing with it until I can barely discern it's a steak anymore. Throw it on the grill, put a few grill marks on it for looks and put it on a plate....anything else and it's ruined. :)

Got to agree with you 100% on that one! :)

Anne

[Planogirl]

We have better restaurants in Dallas than anything Disney has to offer IMO. But there is good food in WDW, it's just not necessarily on a par with some of the very finest elsewhere.

I would however eat at Akershus if we had a local version. But only because we don't have anything similar in our area.

As for New Orleans, I agree that this city has outstanding food. I wish that we had some of the great New Orleans restaurants here!

Now back to your regular scheduled bickering... ;)

[Jen D]

JenD--if you want to come across the river to jersey i can suggest a few really good authentic Mexican places--San Angel will appear to be dog food after eating at the places I like

Sounds good Anne. When I first moved here about 8 years ago from Dallas the state of Mexican food in NYC was truly pitiful-- it was mostly made by California transplants that specialized in Cal-Mex, in which the main feature seems to be burritos as big as your head.

But in the last few years, there has been a large influx of Mexican immigrants into NYC-- the dominant Latino communities here have always been Puerto Rican, Dominican and others, but not so much Mexican-- but that has been changing, and not a moment too soon for me, because now there are some fabulous little Mexican places clustered up in Morningside Heights. Yum. Generally they are inexpensive, though, not upscale.

But back on topic. I don't think any of us meant to ruffle any feathers when we declared the supremacy of our local offerings. I think generally WDW does a pretty good job with their full service restaurants, especially considering the volume they do and the fact that the whole thing is run by a behemoth corporation. I think it is hard for a World Showcase restaurant like Nine Dragons, San Angel Inn or Marrakesh to compete with a well-run independently own restaurant run by immigrants of those countries. Just my opinion.

If I were going on a foodie vacation, I'd pick New Orleans too. MMmmmmm.

[Tea Please]

Generaly speaking I am not too impressed with the restaurants at WDW, although I do have my favorites. Citricos and CG being the top two.

I will also agree the restaurants in and around my immediate area are way above even the best of WDW.

[WebmasterPete]

I'm going to ask certain folks here to calm down and knock it off. There is no need for the childish back and forth. If you can't respond appropriately to the original posters question (which is a very good one, IMHO), then step back and don't post anything else to this thread please.

Pete

[*123JOANNA123*]

Thanks for all the replies- I didn't mean to start a debate- oops:o

Seriously though, some of the posters brought up the point that they wouldn't eat at the restaurants if they were nearby, whereas they're their favourites at WDW. That's something that I was thinking about when I started this thread. I love Citrico's and the BD, but I wonder am I looking at them with my rose colored Disney goggles on KWIM?

On reflection, I think I'd be eating at Citrico's if it were near me, and probably occasionally at the BD. Like another poster mentioned, I would love the upscale feel of the restaurants coupled with their child-friendly nature (speaking as someone who comes from a place where you're a social pariah if you take your kids out to eat).

It was interesting to note how many find the WDW food comparable to regular restaurants- 20 years ago it was pretty difficult to eat well at WDW. We returned last year after a very long absence and when I suggested we go to certain places for a nice meal, both my mother and brother remarked 'you don't go to WDW to eat fine food'.

Well when we got there, we were very pleasantly surprised (especially my very cynical mother). In the olden days it was those horrible processed curly fries with everything, chlorinated coke, chemical tasting hotdogs and mass produced buffet food. Great to see things have really changed for the better.

Thanks again for all the input

Joanna