Buffets/family style in Disney

[DizGeek]

Has anyone ever had a good meal at these kinds of places in Disney? Weve tried HDDR, Spirit of Aloha, Ohana, Crystal Palace, Liberty Tree and a few others that Ive erased from my mind. Maybe large quantities of food cant be prepared properly at once?

 

[MickeyNicki]

We always have great meals at Beirgarten, CApe May for breakfast and dinner and Crystal Palace breakfast and dinner. Donalds breakfast was also very good as was the Princess Breakfast

The food was terrible at Chef Mickeys and we have very early dinner reservations. H&V was terrible (dinner) and 1900 Park Faire was horrible, the food was very dried out and hard..did not see anyone replenishing the food

We are trying Boma for breakfast and dinner next month, sounds wonderful!

 

[DizGeek]

Ive heard alot of good things about Boma...but then again, I heard the same with Ohana.

 

[cslittle999]

I've had good but no great meals at Crystal Palace and Boma (the meals were good enough that we eat at both on every trip). Ohana for breakfast was fine too. Beirgarten is like home cooking for me. I didn't care for Hollywood and Vine at all. I think it is challenging to create good mass produced food. I think that you might see variations day-to-day or even during the day depending on the chef's focus at that point in time.

 

[melomouse]

Has anyone ever had a good meal at these kinds of places in Disney? Weve tried HDDR, Spirit of Aloha, Ohana, Crystal Palace, Liberty Tree and a few others that Ive erased from my mind. Maybe large quantities of food cant be prepared properly at once?

You raise a good point, DizGeek. It's also a big big moneysaver for Disney as more and more folks, particularly those with very young kids, flock to the buffets and family-style meals.

Now that my kids are (can sit still and order several courses - lol) and more adventurous food-wise, we tend to cut back on the number of the meals we do that are buffets.

That said, have we had a "good" meal at these kinds of places?
Crystal Palace - yes.
LTT - adequate...sad when the best offering is the cobbler.
Biergarten - okay +
Hollywood & Vine - for some reason my family loves it, tho we haven't been back last two trips
Chef Mickey - sliding into buffet-dismal land over the last few years, but the character interaction is still some of the best I've seen. I can see the corners being cut at every stop at the buffet bar!
Trail's End - overlooked and underrated -
We have yet to do HDDR, Spirit of Aloha or Ohana. Others keep encouraging me to try, but there's probably some instinct at work in these in 8 trips!

Thanks for bringing this up, DizGeek. It's simple reasoning that tho they do a fairly decent job at mass-producing large amounts for the buffets and family styles, I'd probably rather have a plated meal brought to the table for me. Depends on the needs, expectations and experiences of different folks re:buffets, dinner shows and family style meals.

And, yah.... GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PATS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[zddPaul]

Maybe large quantities of food cant be prepared properly at once?

I've never had a buffet that can compare to a decent table service restaurant. This includes the "gourmet" buffets in Las Vegas. I've enjoyed the variety and sometimes I've found items that really hit the spot but I can't say I've ever had a buffet item that I would find acceptable at a better restaurant. It's all about expectations. I expect very little in terms of quality from buffets. I'm never disappointed and sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised.

 

[iluveeyore]

My family cannot go one trip without eating at the Whispering Canyon Cafe and having the All-You-Care-to-Eat Skillet - I know not everyone likes it, but we've never had a bad meal at the WL.
DH and I also tried Boma last year and loved it - have ressie for upcoming Oct. trip, and we're going to try 1900 Park Fare for the first time as well.