Which Disney restaurants were you unhappy with?

[bigmac5]

Extremely disappointed with the service at BOG. Food was ok, atmosphere very nice, service HORRIBLE

sorry to hear that. Did you go for lunch or dinner?

 

[rwdavis2]

The problems with these types of threads are:

1. There's no common reference point. The only common points across the country are chain restaurants: Cheesecak Factory, Applebee's, Red Lobster, etc. Maybe we should give out opinions on a few or maybe some specific dish most people would recognize. One person's 3 star meal may be another's toss into the trash.

2. The opinions are a point in time. Not multiple reviews over time. Although if most people think a place is bad, then it probably is.

3. I rarely see any flavor descriptors for something they don't like. For example, we bought a pre-made pizza (first mistake) at a local grocery store and it tasted like nail polish. Plain awful. But some people may like the taste of nail polish.

 

[rwdavis2]

For us its California grill.
Service was so bad & slow there, didn't think the food was that special either.

This relates to something I mentioned above. What were your expectations for the service? I'm not criticizing in any way just curious. I always thought the service was well paced, taking about 2 hours from seating to check which is about normal for a restaurant of this kind.

 

[DizzneyDi]

I'm not sure I'll ever return to the Wave. I'd heard such good things about it, but my one dinner there was unsatisfactory on several levels. The food was edible but portions were tiny and everything seemed tasteless and bland, it was so dark that I nearly fell asleep while waiting for the next course, and the service was horribly slow. Two of the three desserts were good but the third one was just gross! The restaurant wasn't at all crowded but our waiter seemed to disappear for long stretches of time. If I'm going to use a huge chunk of park time to have a meal, I want something MUCH better than what I got at the Wave.

 

[ginnygi]

The only restaurant I would not return to personally would be Mama Melrose at DHS. The other restaurant that gets mixed reviews is Tony's at MK. Other than I haven't had a bad meal at Disney.

Mama Melrose is the only dining experience at Disney that I can say I was completely unhappy with. The food was not good and the service was pitiful. Worst Disney dining experience ever.

 

[Eastern]

Here's the ones I don't want to go to because so many people seem to hate them or post repeated poor reviews:

Mama Melrose
Hollywood and Vine
Tony's Town Square
Coral Reef
Crystal Palace
Kouzzina
Captain's Grille DTD

 

[rwdavis2]

Here's the ones I don't want to go to because so many people seem to hate them or post repeated poor reviews:

Mama Melrose
Hollywood and Vine
Tony's Town Square
Coral Reef
Crystal Palace
Kouzzina
Captain's Grille DTD

Interesting. We found Mama Melrose perfectly fine for lunch. Although we did not have the usual Italian meals. Crystal Palace is acceptable for a buffet but it's pretty expensive. I don't expect a lot when that amount of food is being churned out daily. The only reason we ate there in January was because we were on the Dining Plan and my wife's a Pooh nut.

 

[Minerva Mouse]

I use to adore Whispering Canyon Cafe, but our last couple of visits the food has been just awful. It will be a couple years before I step foot in there again!

 

[Minerva Mouse]

Wow - where to start? First let me say that there are lots of really good restaurants at WDW. But some of them really need to be just wiped away and re-made.

• Tony's Town Square - chef BoyRDe
• Big River Grille & Brew Works - really bad service and food. The beer isn't good enough to redeem this place.
• Fultons - such a great location and surroundings, too bad its so lack-luster in the food.
• Le Cellier - tables are way too close and the food isn't up to "signature" restaurant standards
• Coral Reef - you would think this place could serve a decent piece of fish, but sadly it can.
• Planet Hollywood - needs to be moved to a different planet and replaced with something that focuses on food, not memorabilia.
• Rainforest - Again lets focus on food rather than distracting patrons with effects.
• T-Rex - See Rainforest
• Whispering Canyon Cafe - "Antics" aren't a replacement for actual service and even mediocre food.
• Nine Dragons - you have better Chinese food in your home town for much, much less.

Lets see, is there anybody out there that I haven't offended with this list?

I love that we're all different and enjoy different things.
Because, I love Le Cellier, love Planet Hollywood, love Rainforest, love T-Rex and love Nine Dragons. I just left the T-Rex, the rotisserie chicken is amazing!

 

[SageFemme]

Tony's for sure! It was the very first Disney restaurant we went to. The food was horrible except for the tiramisu. That was yummy. The server was good. But seriously, that food

 

[CuteAsMinnie]

LE Cellier.

Sooooo bad was the food AND service the manager comped the entire $300+ meal.

 

[vettegirl]

I was disappointed in Tusker House for dinner, it wasn't horrible, but I felt like I wasted my dining credit.

 

[Mommy to Kayla]

We are here now and our disappointing meals were at Coral Reef (shudder). We had the lobster pasta and we both thought it was very very bland. To make matters worse i found a very long hair that was obviously not mine in my food. the waiter was very apologetic and sent the manager over to apologize and they comped it for me. The other so-so meal was at Kona! I liked my meal (lambchops) but the sustainable fish dinner was bland.

 

[Alexander]

Stouffer's Inn.....oops I mean The Liberty Tree.

 

[steg]

Yachtsman, the $65 porterhouse was really nothing special compared to any of the Shula's steaks I've had, including Shula's porterhouse, comparatively sized (not the 48oz one).

I should preface the following statement with the fact that I don't have any overt aversion to truffles. The culinary staff appears to show zero restraint when using truffle oil. My Mac and Cheese was borderline inedible due the overpowering truffle flavor and aroma. We were able to smell the truffle oil from the fries two tables away, also visibly untouched by the diner.

One of the high points of the meal was the lobster bisque it was one of the best I've had and came with some unique accompaniments that added to the bisque overall.

Our server was, in my opinion, above average and suggested a wine that went really well with the Porterhouse and comped my fiances drink after she asked if I didn't enjoy the mac and cheese. If I recall it was the De Toren Z still listed on the menu. There were a few times where she was tough to find and seemed to disappear for long periods of time but overall she was one of the better servers of the trip.

Even with the high points it's still not worth it to go back for me personally. This was also the tipping point for me with the dining plan after using two table service credits for a relatively mediocre steak and some other difficulties and minor hassles with my first experience with the dining plan I'll stick to paying cash.

 

[Dacky619]

Stouffer's Inn.....oops I mean The Liberty Tree.

We agree with this and then Sci Fi. The atmosphere there is cool enough that we go every few years, but the food is always disappointing.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I would ask people to not read too much into reviews. Restaurants can have an off day and there are simply different tastes.

That's been our experience. As I think about our worst meals, they were at resturaunts we've been happy with on other trips (except one). That one was Chefs de France. I've eaten there twice solo, and got awful service and food both times. But then DH wanted to eat there, because he'd been to France. He was so disappointed in the French onion soup-it was far more bread than onion. The other two (where we've had bad/good experiences) were the Cape May breakfast and Coral Reef.

 

[PrincessV]

Restaurant experiences seem to ebb and flow over time - I've been a WDW regular for the past 20ish years and the locations of some of our worst meals ever also happen to have housed some of our best meals, too!

San Angel went down as one of the worst. They turned things around and it's now in our Top Ten.

'Ohana is fickle; I had a best and worst meal there within months of each other.

Nine Dragons gets a lot of flack, and probably rightfully so, but it's one of maybe 2 places I get find tofu with vegetables - and they're exceptionally good at that dish, lol! We end up there a lot.

Where will we probably never go back? Well, never say "never", but I'll be shocked if I ever again try...

Marrakesh. I had curried vegetables and rice. How on earth do you screw THAT up?!

Tony's. For every reason already stated.

Any buffet: too pricey for how little my family eats.

Capt. Jacks, again for reasons already stated. But... it's such a great location, it's entirely possible I'll be sucked back in - and totally regret it.


I know this wasn't the question posed, but in case anyone's interested, there are a few places that have never, ever let us down. Over 20+ years. That's a pretty good record! Our go-to's are...

Kona
Tutto
Plaza
Via Napoli
Sanaa
Beaches & Cream

 

[RevKjb]

Just wondering if anyone was unhappy with a Disney restaurant and would suggest avoiding it. Our last trip to Disney was our first time there and we were very happy with most of the restaurants except for 50's Primetime Cafe. Yuck! The 50's atmosphere of linoleum, formica, and flowery wallpaper is probably really cute to some but my brain just screamed "remodel!" LOL. However, the main problem was the food which was unedible to me. We all left hungry because we couldn't stomach the food and went to get snacks.

Are there any others to avoid?

Not to offend anyone BUT -- avoid TUSKER HOUSE @ AK. Food was not that great. Had to beg characters to come to our table and it was loud without being fun! BTW our fam. loves 50's PTC....it's our 1st visit tradition...

BUT I do guess it's each to his/her own?!?!

 

[ZephyrHawk]

As others have said, these things can ebb and flow over the years. This most recent trip we had some good meals and some blah meals, but the only one we really thought was bad was BOG. Food was so-so, certainly not great and not worth the price. And service was not good at all. The waitress was dismissive and didn't pay attention to our courses. We ended up getting our entrees when barely half done with the appetizer. We very much felt as though we were being rushed out of there, even though we had a later seating time. Also, and this is not a big deal, but it was another annoyance on top of the others: It was our anniversary. It was listed on the ADR. We wore our buttons. Basically no recognition at all.