Is chef mickeys really that bad?

[smileymomof3]

We are taking our first trip to Disney this coming December! 12/8-12/16. Three kids, 9, 7 and 4. I have an ADR for a late breakfast at chef mickeys on our "rest" morning but reviews I've been reading are scaring me a bit :/ is it really that bad? I think my kids would love the characters but don't want to put us through a bad experience! Anyone?

[taylor3297]

Originally Posted by smileymomof3

We are taking our first trip to Disney this coming December! 12/8-12/16. Three kids, 9, 7 and 4. I have an ADR for a late breakfast at chef mickeys on our "rest" morning but reviews I've been reading are scaring me a bit :/ is it really that bad? I think my kids would love the characters but don't want to put us through a bad experience! Anyone?

Our family has only had dinner at Chef Mickey's. We have enjoyed it each time we have gone.

[thesmallwoods]

We just went in September for an early dinner and had a great time! We didn't feel rushed at all... in fact we were there long enough to meet some of the characters twice. And I thought the food was good.. we definitely want to go again!

[TINKSFRIEND2]

We enjoyed breakfast at Chef Mickey! Your kids should love the character interaction at thier ages. I always hear how horrible the food is at dinner but if it is so bad why is it so hard to get ressie's for Chef Mickey, it must be worth it in some aspect....that is just my opinion I would go and enjoy!!!
My family and I will be having brunch here on Christmas Day

[goofyintoronto]

go have fun. your kids will love it. im one of the folks that said breakfast isn't the greatest. but its certainly not horrible. and keep in mind that was just my opinion. not everyone has the same taste. i really think everyone should go at least once. the characters are super cute!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 using DISBoards App

[DeanDoug]

You will enjoy it- our children and us had a great time! The food is really pretty basic breakfast food- but good!
I wouldn't say bad at all, just the standard- Mickey waffles, eggs, bacon, pastries, etc.
Enjoy it!

[KSL]

We went for dinner (myself, DH, DM and 3 kids) and it was perfectly fine. We knew to expect it to be crowded (it was), lots of families with children (so, rather noisy), and that it was a buffet (not 'signature dining'!), and that's just what it was. The food was fine and plenty of choices and no one left hungry, but I can't say it was anything special, though the kids did love the dessert bar! Atmosphere was fine. Again, nothing special insofar as theming, but it was cheerful and fun. Overall I feel this is a great way to see these characters without waiting in long lines (one year we kept waiting in line for Pluto and every time we got within the front 5 or so of the line he would leave to take a break! It was so frustrating and my poor DD could not understand. Seriously, I think it happened 4 times over the week! We finally caught him, though!). I think of CM as controlled chaos and definitely something to do at least once (and more if your family likes it!).

[ppony]

My answer to the OP is yes, yes it is. We used to go several times each visit until our last one in 2009 or10 and that was so purely horrendous, it finally just made us stop our tradition. I'll define my "horrendous". Food was blah to not palatable and cold and we do the first seating times so nothing should have had a chance to get cold or grow a hard "skin" across it. Characters were incredibly rushed and spent maybe 15 seconds at our table and we only got about 3 of them. Our server was hurried like crazy and never stopped back to see if we needed drink refills, not even once. It also seemed like they didn't have enough staff cleaning and clearing tables because it got messy is a huge hurry. We all walked out hungry and that is something you should never do at a buffet. Sad too, some of our fondest memories happened there. But I'm just not paying about $200 for a meal we leave hungry. Character interaction is worth money, but not that much. Do we still do buffets? yes. We're not food snobs, we just like to at least like what we eat. It being edible and warm doesn't qualify in our books. Cape May is still high on our list and we'll be enjoying it in a week. To be fair though, most Disney food has turned us off in the past 6 years, so Chef M's is not alone. I WANT it to get better. IT wasn't only one poor experience that did this, it was the food decline most notably. Until this visit though, the interaction and CMs made up for the food lacking. So that was our final straw.

[OKWAnneMarie]

Originally Posted by ppony

My answer to the OP is yes, yes it is. We used to go several times each visit until our last one in 2009 or10 and that was so purely horrendous, it finally just made us stop our tradition. I'll define my "horrendous". Food was blah to not palatable and cold and we do the first seating times so nothing should have had a chance to get cold or grow a hard "skin" across it. Characters were incredibly rushed and spent maybe 15 seconds at our table and we only got about 3 of them. Our server was hurried like crazy and never stopped back to see if we needed drink refills, not even once. It also seemed like they didn't have enough staff cleaning and clearing tables because it got messy is a huge hurry. We all walked out hungry and that is something you should never do at a buffet. Sad too, some of our fondest memories happened there. But I'm just not paying about $200 for a meal we leave hungry. Character interaction is worth money, but not that much. Do we still do buffets? yes. We're not food snobs, we just like to at least like what we eat. It being edible and warm doesn't qualify in our books. Cape May is still high on our list and we'll be enjoying it in a week. To be fair though, most Disney food has turned us off in the past 6 years, so Chef M's is not alone. I WANT it to get better. IT wasn't only one poor experience that did this, it was the food decline most notably. Until this visit though, the interaction and CMs made up for the food lacking. So that was our final straw.

I agree. It used to be good, but the last time the food was disgusting.

[smileymomof3]

Thanks to all who replied. Some differing opinions but maybe since its our first trip, and with our kids, we should try it. I'm going to stick with the late breakfast ADR I have figuring standard breakfast food should be okay. And since we've never been, we truly have nothing to compare it to

Thanks again everyone! :-)

[Zeppelin]

Originally Posted by smileymomof3

We are taking our first trip to Disney this coming December! 12/8-12/16. Three kids, 9, 7 and 4. I have an ADR for a late breakfast at chef mickeys on our "rest" morning but reviews I've been reading are scaring me a bit :/ is it really that bad? I think my kids would love the characters but don't want to put us through a bad experience! Anyone?

the better way to say it is its' definitely not worth the money,.....that said its something that should be experienced at least once...i would only go for breakfast myself...

[Bonniec]

My opinion...are any of the restaurants worth the money? No. But you are on vacation and I think it's good to experience them at least once.

I liked Chef Mickeys. It's just a noisy buffet, nothing overly exciting as far as food quality goes. But it was better than a Golden Coral. Nothing was bad for us. The Mickey waffles were my favorite. It's just not good enough for the price (but like I said, none of them are in my humble opinion).

We had a nice time and the family liked the characters. I'm glad we did it once but wouldn't go out of my way to do it all the time. I may do it again one day...if the kids want to.

You'll have a good time.

[captaindavidhook]

Went there for lunch a few years back and loved it. The food was great and the character interaction was just as good. We had read about all the negative reviews and were shocked how great everything was. Don't let a few bad reviews ruin it for you.

[ppony]

Originally Posted by captaindavidhook

Don't let a few bad reviews ruin it for you.

I would agree w/ this, if it were only a few. It's not. Not by a long shot.

[earthiejen]

We have been for breakfast there each trip. We enjoy it. We like breakfast foods though. We have had no problems with cold food or nasty food. We also just take our time and eat as much as we want. One time we felt like she wanted us to go on and leave but we weren't done so we stayed until we were done. I love the idea of seeing the "fab 5 characters" all at once so we don't have to wait in line to see them at parks.
For breakfast in addition to mickey waffles, bacon, eggs, biscuits, there is smoked salmon, bagels, cream cheese, fruits. We always walk out stuffed.

I hope you enjoy your time there !