Chefs, you let me down

[Disjunky]

Well im sad to say #3 on my dining list has completely let me down.
Chefs de france had an epic fail this year. Now im not sure if the FnW fest had anything to do with it, or was it the DDP that killed it, or the fact that you can see upwards of 600 covers in here on any given night. But something made it a prefab french'esgue dining experince.

Check in 30 min early cause we are starving and really lookin forward to the meal. Seated on time, lol. Brought our "french baguette" whish was par baked white bread shaped like a baguette.
(i will leave out the fact that i am a baker / pastry chef) I mean this si the stuff pillsburry puts in freezer bags for you to bring our and bake at home, just bigger. Gross. My 3 yr old DS wouldnt even eat it.
My charcuterie plate was good, but the pate was bland and i tasted no duck. I want my pate to be screaming with scents and smells and it to be something that people know i ordered 3 tables away. This was not.
My wife said the Escargot was good. Ill take her word for it.
My duck entree was not terrible. The breast was cooked well just unfortunately i would like mine Unsliced at the table and with less sauce.
Creme brulle was pitifull. I saw one vanilla bean in it and thats bad. So thick and so much. You can not fool me by giving me a huge amount of somehting and hoping i forget there was no flavor. My Dfil and Dmil got the profiteroles. Im sure they were ok but their plates looked completey different. One was doused in saice, one had a drizzle. How is that possible. Yes i know what a busy litchen is like but this is unacceptable. Sorry CDF, you are gone for a while. This was such a great place to eat and watch the people walk by. Now all you are is a loud, non romantic, crowded wanna be french bistro who has made some very poor choices to accomodate the avg tourist french experience. Fail, Fail, Fail.

 

[lilpooh108]

Great review. I like it when negative reviews point out why the experience was negative in a non ranting way.

You should also post that on Yelp. Yelp is so helpful when it comes to dining reviews.

In your opinion where is the best bread/bakery item in WDW?

What is par baked?

I agree with you about how pate should taste/smell.

 

[Disjunky]

ill do the yelp thing. backlog of disney stuff lol
par baked is pre baked. as in the rolls from pillsburry you buy frozen and pop in oven. they are partially baked then finished on site.
best bakery item in disney? wow thats tough, i love the german pretzels in germany. thats tough, ill have to think hard on that one.

best bread, even tougher, the sourdough at cali grill is definately delicious though. france used to sell really amazing baguettes in the bakery, but, thats changed.

 

[collegejunkie]

ah, sad to hear! chefs de france is one of our must-dos every trip. maybe you went on an off day. we've only ever had good experiences

 

[Disjunky]

we have never had a bad mean or experience. but i think the ddp being 1 opint has offered hti up to more people. The menu's were beat up too. Way too much action here for it to be intimate at all. so sad such a great place has dropped in quality so much

 

[Cendrillon92]

That's so sad to hear. CDF is my absolute favorite place to eat dinner and I've always had wonderful experiences there.

 

[baler31]

I tend to agree with you about Chefs but disagree about par baked bread in general. Some par baked (IMO) can be quite good. We love La Brea par baked breads and don't feel they suffer much from the original.

I wonder if they will refurb Chefs after the bakery and Bistro reopen ?

 

[bluejasmine]

We ate here in Sept and had a completely different experience! We enjoyed our food, and the bread, service was good but slow..

I think two parties can go to the same restaurant and come out with 2 different experiences..

Now if both come out with same experience I would say ok restaurant is really going down hill..lol

OP sorry it was less than stellar, I guess WDW restaurants are like non disney restaurants where they just may have not had a great night!

For me right now Ohana (which was a fave of ours) is like your Chefs..

 

[ttintagel]

I don't think it's the DDP; I think it has more to do with rising food costs. I see it in non-Disney restaurants, too. Restaurants have a choice between raising prices or cutting corners.

 

[goofyintoronto]

We ate here in Sept and had a completely different experience! We enjoyed our food, and the bread, service was good ..

I think two parties can go to the same restaurant and come out with 2 different experiences..
Now if both come out with same experience I would say ok restaurant is really going down hill..lol

OP sorry it was less than stellar, I guess WDW restaurants are like non disney restaurants where they just may have not had a great night!

For me right now Ohana (which was a fave of ours) is like your Chefs..

I agree with this. Esp about Ohana. Ugh! What a letdown that place was. I wont be going back unless they make some changes.

We ate in Chefs in August and LOVED everything about it. Food was outstanding! LOOOVED the bread. Loved my apps and main course. I cant wait to go back!

 

[JennyDrake]

I concur. I am a Foodie and I test recipes for 2 magazines, I am also an organic meat producer. The seasonal veggies I had when I ate there in May were excellent, but everythign else was disappointing and then some. The duck was cooked to death--I should have known better when I asked for medium rare (how duck is supposed to be served) and the server told me that it could not be custom prepared.

I also don't "get" Ohana, and yes, I have been more than once. NOISY and chaotic and all of the meats are cooked Dead. Very Dead. Service was lackluster at best. With that said all the orders in my party just loved it.

 

[TDC Nala]

I wonder if they will refurb Chefs after the bakery and Bistro reopen ?

According to the article posted on the Disney Parks Blog regarding the refurb of Bistro de Paris, there are no current plans to refurb Chefs de France.

I think there is also a divide in what people expect. The OP is a chef. He expected "screaming with scents and smells" and strong flavors. Others don't expect that - their tastes are a little more bland. I actually think the majority of WDW visitors prefer their food on the bland side, which is the reason it's served that way.

 

[MrsDuck]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience!

Chefs is my favorite restaurant and we always enjoy our time there!

 

[Masonmj84]

This review isn't discouraging me from cancelling my ADR for lunch.

My theory on Les Chefs is that they are wildly inconsistent on relatively more expensive and difficult to prepare items, particularly during the busiest part of the dinner service. I don't know that I'd ever go there for something like duck or sea scallops.

But I'm hoping that my prix fixe lunch will be safe. We have an opening ADR time and I'm planning on ordering the french onion soup, ham & cheese sandwich, and puff choux. Seems hard to screw that up.

 

[JimmyV]

I think there is also a divide in what people expect. The OP is a chef. He expected "screaming with scents and smells" and strong flavors. Others don't expect that - their tastes are a little more bland. I actually think the majority of WDW visitors prefer their food on the bland side, which is the reason it's served that way.

This is true. But only to a point. The OP stated that this was #3 on their list of favorites at WDW. So chef or not, they used to really enjoy it. It's not like this was a first visit with lofty expectations. This was a return visit with expectations based on past performance. All I can say is that the wedding reception/banquet food that comes out of the kitchen when a restaurant does hundreds and hundreds of covers a night leaves a lot of room for inconsistency. My last meal there was also an epic failure to the point where I cannot see myself returning. But others here whose opinions I value highly have had great success. But in the end, this restaurant is a mere shadow of the one that first opened in Epcot that Paul Bocuse, Gaston Lenotre and Roger Verge lent their toques to. I doubt the surviving duo, (Bocuse and Verge) would want to be associated with what remains here.

This review isn't discouraging me from cancelling my ADR for lunch.

My theory on Les Chefs is that they are wildly inconsistent on relatively more expensive and difficult to prepare items, particularly during the busiest part of the dinner service. I don't know that I'd ever go there for something like duck or sea scallops.

So why bother going to a pricey French restaurant if you are afraid to challenge the kitchen with a typical entree? It seems sort of odd to think: "Gee. I love this place. Great mac-n-cheese and ham-and-cheese sandwiches. But I'd stay away from anything more complicated." If the French kitchen fails at producing outstanding duck and seafood, can one consider the restaurant to be "good"?

 

[hooch11bear]

I agree!! We have eaten here several times. Our meal in August was not as good as our previous visits. My DH even made the comment while we were eating that we wouldn't be back. I am looking forward to trying Bistro on our next trip!!

 

[Fiveisaparty]

I made an ADR there for this Sunday, our first day for this years visit. We ate there once before for lunch a few years and I booked it because the hubs loves duck and I thought it would be woth a try. I am wondering if I should cancel and book another Epcot restaurant. Anyone have an alternative suggestion for me? We are ddp

 

[goofyintoronto]

I made an ADR there for this Sunday, our first day for this years visit. We ate there once before for lunch a few years and I booked it because the hubs loves duck and I thought it would be woth a try. I am wondering if I should cancel and book another Epcot restaurant. Anyone have an alternative suggestion for me? We are ddp

I wouldnt cancel. Keep your ADR and form your own opinion. We had a DELICIOUS meal there at the end of August. Cant wait to go back!

 

[ghtx]

But I'm hoping that my prix fixe lunch will be safe. We have an opening ADR time and I'm planning on ordering the french onion soup, ham & cheese sandwich, and puff choux. Seems hard to screw that up.

This is almost exactly what I got when I ate there last Tuesday (I got the creme brulee instead of the puff). I wouldn't say that they "screwed it up," instead I think they did exactly what they wanted to do: make French food more appealing to an average WDW guest. The croque monsieur was pretty bad (it was, as you say, a ham and cheese sandwich). I liked the soup, since it tasted more like the onion soup I've had in France and less like "French onion soup" as it's usually served in the US (it's less robustly flavored in France).

For the most part I am with the OP. I was hoping the food would be a little bit more upscale and French. The bread was a huge embarrassment. My disagreement with OP is over the creme brulee - I thought is was fantastic and the highlight of the meal.

Remy the rat was great, and my kids had a good time. I think this is a fantastic place to bring kids to give them the experience of fine dining.

 

[RMulieri]

I made an ADR there for this Sunday, our first day for this years visit. We ate there once before for lunch a few years and I booked it because the hubs loves duck and I thought it would be woth a try. I am wondering if I should cancel and book another Epcot restaurant. Anyone have an alternative suggestion for me? We are ddp

I wouldn't cancel, form your own opinion.IF I cancelled an adr every time someone wrote a negative review, I would end up FASTING for a week at Disney..LOL