Cape May Replacement?

crazycatlady

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 8, 2009
Hi Everyone! I have all of my ADRs for October, but I am now rethinking Cape May Cafe. I have read some recent so-so reviews, especially about the crab legs being overcooked and watery and the legs are the reason my family voted it into the plan.

We are already eating at:
Tusker House (breakfast)
Le Cellier (lunch)
Via Napoli (dinner)
Crystal Palace (breakfast)
Teppan Edo (dinner)
Prime Time (lunch)
'Ohana (dinner)
Yak & Yeti (dinner) (we liked this last year but didn't love so it may also change)

The restaurants I am considering replacing Cape May with are:
Rose & Crown-I would like to eat here, DH not so much
Coral Reef-love the atmosphere but am worried about the negative reviews
Chefs de France-liked our lunch here last year but didn't love it. DS is pushing hard for it, though. How is dinner?
Tutto Italia-LOVED our meal last year, but already have Via Napoli. Is the front runner so far.

What do y'all think? Hubby thinks I am nuts for worrying about this and refuses to look at any more menus, so I am counting on some good advice from my friends on the Dis! :goodvibes Do I keep Cape May, choose one of my other options, or is there some great place I am missing?
 
I would keep Cape May..For every bad review you will find, you will also find dozens of great reviews.People are more often likely to bash a place then to praise one, and dining is a very SUBJECTIVE thing...We happen to love it, eat there 1-2 times per trip and never have had a bad experience
 
I would keep Cape May..For every bad review you will find, you will also find dozens of great reviews.People are more often likely to bash a place then to praise one, and dining is a very SUBJECTIVE thing...We happen to love it, eat there 1-2 times per trip and never have had a bad experience

My thoughts exactly :thumbsup2. Cape May is one of our favorites and we eat at least 1 breakfast and 1 dinner there each trip :goodvibes.
 


I would encourage you to keep the ADR for Cape May. Crablegs are frequently overcooked - the measure of whch is if you have forced the fat from the meat which is what that white stuff is you see on crab meat much of the time. It takes some attention to not do this and as it turns out they still taste great which is why restaurants serve them overcooked. I did not find the legs dried out or not good to eat there, and quite frankly, you can say something if there is an issue and it'll be fixed in the next motherload of crablegs they put in the buffet. They are a popular item and the pile is refreshed frequently. It is likely that folks have gotten clusters that hung out too long in warming cabinets after cooking - totally fixable if you speak up.

We ate many legs and left smiling on our last visit.
 
I am not a fan of Cape May dinner buffet. Of your list, Coral Reef has good seafood and is in the same vicinity, albeit you have your ticket for Epcot. Personally, I like the seafood at Fulton's the best.
 


I would keep Cape May, we have also had great experiences. When it comes to food not everyone will be pleased and you will get mixed reviews. I say try it ouf or yourself. It is a buffet, although your main reason are the crab legs their are other great offerings:thumbsup2 However, if you decide to change it Captain Grille also has crab legs and we loved them! Keep in mind that it's not a buffet though. Also, another Diser mentioned Fulton's. This restaurant to our family is one of the best for Seafood and one of our favorites in all of Disney, but it is not on the Dining plan. I hope you have a lovely time, you have great choices for adr's! ;)
 
I would keep Cape May! Not everyone has the same taste or experiences and overall most people are very happy. One of the best fish dishes we had last visit however, was salmon at Boma. You never know! Go and have fun, and keep us posted!
 
Hi Everyone! I have all of my ADRs for October, but I am now rethinking Cape May Cafe. I have read some recent so-so reviews, especially about the crab legs being overcooked and watery and the legs are the reason my family voted it into the plan.

We are already eating at:
Tusker House (breakfast)
Le Cellier (lunch)
Via Napoli (dinner)
Crystal Palace (breakfast)
Teppan Edo (dinner)
Prime Time (lunch)
'Ohana (dinner)
Yak & Yeti (dinner) (we liked this last year but didn't love so it may also change)

The restaurants I am considering replacing Cape May with are:
Rose & Crown-I would like to eat here, DH not so much
Coral Reef-love the atmosphere but am worried about the negative reviews
Chefs de France-liked our lunch here last year but didn't love it. DS is pushing hard for it, though. How is dinner?
Tutto Italia-LOVED our meal last year, but already have Via Napoli. Is the front runner so far.

What do y'all think? Hubby thinks I am nuts for worrying about this and refuses to look at any more menus, so I am counting on some good advice from my friends on the Dis! :goodvibes Do I keep Cape May, choose one of my other options, or is there some great place I am missing?

Cape May for some reason (for dinner) is best on Friday nights. do not understand why but seems to us it is. we also like for breakfast with Goofy:cool1:

We loved Konas'Grille in Poly.. was a fluke we went there as had O' Hana's and waited FOREVER and had ressie and went over to see if perhaps could get in Kona's as is right next to O' Hana's. and actually was best steak we have had in Disney:banana: we are going there on this trip in 28 days for dinner and going to also try the breakfast there as all say so good. My sister cannot stand the smell in Rose and Crown????:confused3 was very disapointed in Coral Reef..Captains Grill very good and so is Grand Floridian Cafe.have great trip:thumbsup2
 
I really liked Cape May, so I'd keep it. I also really liked Coral Reef the last time I ate there. My reviews for both are in the link in my signature.
 
Another strong vote for Cape May dinner. I thought the overall food quality was better than at Coral Reef. The crab legs were quite good, and I'm absolutely not telling anybody just how many "all you can eat" turned out to be, because it's an embarassingly large number.

And you have a teenage boy. I'll bet "all he can eat" is an even bigger number!

And don't forget that at Cape May you also get oreo bon-bons, plus a slew of other dessert choices.
 
Cape May for some reason (for dinner) is best on Friday nights. do not understand why but seems to us it is. we also like for breakfast with Goofy:cool1:

I just switched around my dinners to fit Cape May in on Friday. I'm trusting you!! :)

As for Cape May itself, we LOVE the place! Every trip, we are there! Granted, we haven't been there since '08. For me, I love coloring on the butcher paper that's there... brings out the kid in me even further! Nothing like coloring to settle the nerves after a long day!
 
Another strong vote for Cape May.... keep it. We've dined here several times and all the food (including the crab legs) were VERY VERY GOOD.....:)
 
We went to Cape May last Oct. and the crab legs were good. Maybe not the absolute best I ever had but better than most. If I were a New England crab expert I might be more picky but they were good enough that we are going back again this Oct. And the crab legs are one of the main reasons our family is going also, along with the other various food selections. Maybe if you keep Cape May we will see you there (or Le Cellier for lunch which we will also be doing :thumbsup2 ).

I bet I could point to so-so reviews for all the others on your substitute list also.
 
Cape May for some reason (for dinner) is best on Friday nights. do not understand why but seems to us it is. we also like for breakfast with Goofy:cool1:

I hope not because we went on a Friday night and it was terrible! We waited over an hour past our ADR time (they decided to turn over the entire dining room at the same time instead of seating tables as they became available), all the crab legs were stringy and stuck to the shells (we got multiple plates in hopes of getting some good ones but we finally gave up), the non seafood options were lacking, the cold salads were warm, our server was overwhelmed and inattentive...it was just bad all the way around which was a huge disappointment because Cape May is our absolute favorite breakfast.

OP, I personally would replace it. We had far superior meals at Rose & Crown, Tutto and Coral Reef (never ate at Chefs). I would try Rose and Crown since it appeals to you. I personally was not looking forward to it but DH requested it and we all ended up really enjoying our meal and everything was delicious.
 
We tried Cape May on our last trip. While it was not a favorite, it wasn't bad by any means. We would go back.
We usually eat at Coral Reef each trip because the kids love the aquarium view. But, we haven't found anything speical there that we (DH & I) have to have.
So, IMO, you should go with the one that fits best in your schedule...
 
I'm not going to try to talk you out of Cape May (we prefer breakfast there, and they frequently are not able to seat guests till after the time of their ADRs), but I agree with a PP who suggested Fulton's in DTD for crab. If you continue to second guess yourself about Cape May, I would consider Fulton's.
 
We just ate at Cape May the end of June and the crab legs were wonderful, as everything else also! As for your other restaurants you have listed, I have not been to them.
 
Thanks to everyone for all the help and comments!! They are all appreciated! :grouphug:

Just to clarify, I understand that all restaurants get their share of positive and negative reviews. Tutto Italia was the perfect example of a restaurant that we almost didn't try last year because of some of the reviews I had read and it ended up being one of our absolute favorites! Last year we tried CP for dinner (we LOVE the breakfast and go every trip) and we were really disappointed in the food and service. They may have had an off night, but it was enough for us to put it on our "not this year" list. It made me a little leery of dinner buffets at Disney, but Cape May usually receives such great reviews that I put it on the "must do" list for this year. Then, just recently, I have read some not so great reviews and the second guessing came into play. I wanted to see what the percentage of great reviews to bad reviews were, and I think I got my answer. :thumbsup2 I am going to keep the ADR and am very excited to check out my dream resort for a few hours. Not to mention the oreo bonbons....:laughing:

I may replace Yak and Yeti with Tutto Italia though. If my gnocchi were still on the menu it would have made the cut in the first place. :sad1:
 

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