So-so Experience at Be Our Guest

[SA mom]

We were very excited about our dinner at Be Our Guest. The place is gorgeous. But when our entrees were served, our order was wrong. One plate was corrected right away, but my poor husband did not get his plate until the other three of us were almost finished.

Disney did not charge us for his plate and did not charge us for desserts. However, at that point, the experience was soured.

On another note, I do wish Be Our Guest would offer more special desserts than cupcakes and cream puffs. There was nothing wrong with the desserts, they were fine, but nothing special. Such a beautiful place, just wished the finish of the dinner was more.

 

[kaybird]

Sorry you did not have a great time. Not sure how they could have made it better after comping both his meal and the desserts. Hope that the rest of your trip was better.

 

[RacetoSpaceMountain]

We were very excited about our dinner at Be Our Guest. The place is gorgeous. But when our entrees were served, our order was wrong. One plate was corrected right away, but my poor husband did not get his plate until the other three of us were almost finished.

Disney did not charge us for his plate and did not charge us for desserts. However, at that point, the experience was soured.

On another note, I do wish Be Our Guest would offer more special desserts than cupcakes and cream puffs. There was nothing wrong with the desserts, they were fine, but nothing special. Such a beautiful place, just wished the finish of the dinner was more.

I think the size of the restaurant is the reason they only offer things like cupcakes and cream puffs. These can be made ahead of time and still look elegant with little work. That way when you serve 500+ people a night (no idea how much, it could be more or less) you can focus more on prepping that many entrees instead.

 

[6elginfans]

Free Food! That would have made my day!

 

[PrincessJo]

The same exact thing happened to us back in January. The server said she'd be right back with the right sandwich for DH and she never came back. The manager took the charge for his sandwich off of our bill since we never got it.

Instead he ate half of my sandwich. We both left hungry and went somewhere else for an additional snack.

We won't be going back. There are too many other places to eat that are much better.

 

[patsal]

Hands down the worse table service meal I have ever had! Left all the reservations I was able to get to others so they could have the experience of eating there, I hope their meal is better than mine was!
Funny, for as awful as dinner was, I can't say enough about how wonderful lunch is and that I cannot wait to eat there again for lunch!

 

[quakechicago]

FWIW I think they don't go crazy with tons of other dessert choices so people go there to eat their whole meal and not just make a hard to get ADR for only a cupcake.

 

[ElizabethB]

Agree totally about the cupcakes for dessert. Can't imagine who thought that was a good idea. But it is symptomatic of everything going on at WDW these days -- how to extract as much money as possible from each patron for the tiniest possible investment in time, money and effort. Everything has to be "cost effective" to quote a Disney executive whom a friend spoke with recently. And cupcakes are certainly cost effective -- they can be made offsite by a third party vendor, kept refrigerated and then slapped on plates. What could be quicker or more "cost effective"?

Our 10 day vacation next month will be spent at Universal. Why? Well, we find the entire experience at Universal to be more "cost effective" than WDW (so that works both ways). These days, Universal offers considerably more bang for our buck.

We did BOG once for dinner, sitting in the West Wing. We feel like we've done it and there is no need to go back. The silly cupcakes for dessert situation is one of the reasons. And I don't consider the fact that they are serving 500 meals to be an excuse. Either serve fewer meals and serve things that are worth the price or serve cupcakes for dessert but don't charge New York prices for the meal.

 

[wendybeth75]

My cupcake was a very good one, however I got that same one at lunch time! OP I am sorry you didn't have a great experience. Ours was very good and we are looking forward to going back this fall. Hopefully if you go again it will be better. It is always frustrating to be the only one eating when others have finished their meals.

 

[Cold71]

A lot of people seem to be saying the same thing "it was okay but wasn't anything special". The wife and I had pretty much the same experience. The food was good but I wasn't blown away. My wife had the shrimp which she said was good but could have used a little more flavor. I had the steak which was also good but they seem to go on the more rare side, my medium steak was still mooing. Didn't bother to send it back as I knew if I did the chances of me getting it back in time for the fireworks was slim to none. I was way more impressed with the decor, we got to sit by the "window" which was fun. We are going to try lunch this year, hopefully it's better.

 

[Eastern]

Is BOG lunch a FP+ option at this point? We are going in January.

 

[mouseobsession]

Is BOG lunch a FP+ option at this point? We are going in January.

It is an option but not for January. They only become available a few weeks before your arrival date. HTH

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . There was nothing wrong with the desserts, they were fine, but nothing special. Such a beautiful place, just wished the finish of the dinner was more.

{FLAME PROOF CAPE FROM DRAWER TO SHOULDERS}
1) What do people expect from BoG?
2) This is not a Signature eatery.
3) They need to turn-over tables quickly, and as cheaply as possible.
4) Folks know the menu before they go, so dessert is not a surprise.
5) Plus, as popular as it is, where is the impetus to change/add desserts?
. . . cupcakes/greystuff are cheap
. . . cupcakes/greystuff are easy to make in volume
. . . cupcakes/greystuff can be made off-site and stored at WDW
. . . cupcakes/greystuff take little or no kitchen labor
6) As far as food quality, long ago I reviewed BoG as average, and nothing special.
7) It never was meant to be an upgrade or totally unique.
{FLAME PROOF CAPE RETURNED TO STORAGE}

 

[Cold71]

{FLAME PROOF CAPE FROM DRAWER TO SHOULDERS}
1) What do people expect from BoG?
2) This is not a Signature eatery.
3) They need to turn-over tables quickly, and as cheaply as possible.
4) Folks know the menu before they go, so dessert is not a surprise.
5) Plus, as popular as it is, where is the impetus to change/add desserts?
. . . cupcakes/greystuff are cheap
. . . cupcakes/greystuff are easy to make in volume
. . . cupcakes/greystuff can be made off-site and stored at WDW
. . . cupcakes/greystuff take little or no kitchen labor
6) As far as food quality, long ago I reviewed BoG as average, and nothing special.
7) It never was meant to be an upgrade or totally unique.
{FLAME PROOF CAPE RETURNED TO STORAGE}

I think it comes down to peoples expectations between what they are seeing and what they are being fed. It's a mental thing, your sitting in this fantastic ballroom thus your expecting fantastic food. It's like meeting a really attractive person, then when you actually go and speak to them you realize they're not a very nice person. I think as this restaurant becomes less new peoples expectations on this will kinda mellow out.

 

[jmulvaney]

We have dinner reservations next month, and I'm looking forward to it. My expectations for the food are fairly low, but I want it experience the castle. We have additional ADRs where I know the food will be the centerpiece of the experience.

 

[patsal]

{FLAME PROOF CAPE FROM DRAWER TO SHOULDERS}
1) What do people expect from BoG?
2) This is not a Signature eatery.
3) They need to turn-over tables quickly, and as cheaply as possible.
4) Folks know the menu before they go, so dessert is not a surprise.
5) Plus, as popular as it is, where is the impetus to change/add desserts?
. . . cupcakes/greystuff are cheap
. . . cupcakes/greystuff are easy to make in volume
. . . cupcakes/greystuff can be made off-site and stored at WDW
. . . cupcakes/greystuff take little or no kitchen labor
6) As far as food quality, long ago I reviewed BoG as average, and nothing special.
7) It never was meant to be an upgrade or totally unique.
{FLAME PROOF CAPE RETURNED TO STORAGE}

Average to mediocre food is fine,if it is that important to someone that they eat there, inedible is another.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . I think as this restaurant becomes less new peoples expectations on this will kinda mellow out.

Agree.

 

[caselaw3]

I was fine with the food but some of the staff that I encountered were incredibly rude which really ruined the whole experience for me

 

[katt789]

I've definitely had a wide range of experiences here, and honestly, if it wasn't for a particular server, I probably wouldn't go back as much as we do!

Last time we ate there the meals came out before Jenna was finished her appi, so it sat and got cold while she ate, my meal also didn't come out right...we also waited over an hour after checking in to be sat, our server eventually came out to get us and the restaurant was nearly empty......

 

[SA mom]

{FLAME PROOF CAPE FROM DRAWER TO SHOULDERS}
1) What do people expect from BoG?
2) This is not a Signature eatery.
3) They need to turn-over tables quickly, and as cheaply as possible.
4) Folks know the menu before they go, so dessert is not a surprise.
5) Plus, as popular as it is, where is the impetus to change/add desserts?
. . . cupcakes/greystuff are cheap
. . . cupcakes/greystuff are easy to make in volume
. . . cupcakes/greystuff can be made off-site and stored at WDW
. . . cupcakes/greystuff take little or no kitchen labor
6) As far as food quality, long ago I reviewed BoG as average, and nothing special.
7) It never was meant to be an upgrade or totally unique.
{FLAME PROOF CAPE RETURNED TO STORAGE}

You make a valid point, it is not listed as a signature restaurant. Like my title said, it was a so-so experience and Disney did try to make it up to us by not charging. However, I do think the intent was to make this a unique experience, the rooms are gorgeous. The menu (they say) was carefully crafted by a notable chef...and then there are cupcakes. It's just strange, that's all.