The WORSE Meal & Service Ever! San Angel Inn

[becky_AK]

I have read so many bad reviews about San Angel Inn, I'm not sure what drew me to eating at this restaurant. Actually, it was the fact that I love Mexican food as does my husband. We were craving it while we were at WDW last week so we decided to switch one of our TS credits to go there. BIG MISTAKE!

We made an ADR the day before for 7:00pm. We were not seated until 8:45. We sat at our table for 25 minutes before anyone came to even ask us what we wanted to drink. I was getting kind of upset because we had just missed the start of Illuminations so I got up and when to the front podium to tell the hostess that we had not even seen our server yet. The restaurant manager came to our table and got our drink orders (Diet Coke, Coke & Apple Juice...not too hard right?) and said our waiter would be with us soon. 10 minutes later we got drinks. Finally our waiter came up to the table & since we knew what we wanted already we immediately ordered. He took our order & said it would be at least 30 minutes before our plates would be out because they needed to cook the steak that my DH ordered. Okay, whatever. So we sat there & sipped our sodas & I tried to stay calm and not let my impatience & bad mood take over. Our food finally came & it was GROSS! The food was cold, had no flavor and was really disappointing. I'm usually not a picky eater, but this was just not very good at all. The waiter came back & asked for anything else & we said refills on our soda & the dessert menu. 10-15 minutes later he came back w/ the soda but no menu. I thought that maybe he forgot and that he'd be right back. Nope. Seriously, another 20 minutes he came by and said "can I get you anything else?" I kind of snapped and said "yeah, I thought your were bringing the dessert menu 20 minutes ago..." He went to go grab them & after looking it over we decided it wasn't worth waiting another 20-30 minutes for, so we just told our waiter that we would take the check. We actually didn't wait for the check, we just gave him our Dining plan card so that we could get out of there ASAP. It was after 10:30 when we left.

I could've overlooked the poor food quality if there was good service, but combined, this was by far one of the worse experiences I have ever had dining at WDW. The waiters didn't really seem to be into their jobs & they didn't really care. When I spoke to the manager he didn't really seem like he wanted to be bothered as well. Very disappointing since I love Mexican food and the atmosphere at the Mexico pavillion is really pretty.

Just my experience, hope others have had a better time at this restaurant.

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

DH & I had exactly the same experience as you 2 years ago at San Angel & I keep posting it everytime someone comes up with a thread about this restaurant. Food was horrible, you couldn't really tell what it was and the service was disgusting. You never saw your waiter/waitress and to top that off they had so many tables crammed together to seat all the people that you barely could walk between them. From now on if I want this type of food we get CS outside at the Cantina - better food, quicker & a lot more pleasant atmosphere.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

You had a 7pm ADR and you didn't get a seat for another hour and 45 minutes!!!??? I would have been out of there at that point There is no way I would wait that long with an ADR

 

[DVC Mike]

We ate there this past May and were not impressed. We won't be going back.

 

[Booknut]

i'm really sorry you had such a bad time there, we loved San Angel and had a fabulous meal there. Maybe they were having an off night?

It does seem like a ridiculous amount of time to wait for a table. Did you go during free dining?

 

[ChefBilly]

We ate there Thursday night and the food was awful - not because it wasn't 'Taco Bell' but because it looked awful and tasted worse.

The service was fine, but the food was not good at all. We won't be going there again under any circumstances.

Maybe this explains why Le Cellier is so tough to get ADRs for!

 

[StrollPatrolMom]

We had an ok experience there.

The service was good and the food was ok...the food wasn't blow me away by any means...but really Narcosses was the only meal we had that DID live up to that level.

I'd go back...DH and I had a good time there!

 

[darlak]

Our last two experiences there were very similar to the OP's. The second horrible one with both food and service was in 2005. We won't be going back. It's now the bottom standard we grade every other restaurant against, both at WDW and anywhere else. If someplace isn't very good, we always say "Well, was it as bad as San Angel Inn?" If not then we might give it another try. Since 2005, nothing else has even come close to being that bad!

 

[twotoohappy]

Just my thought, but could it have to do with the DDP?
They are going to get a tip no matter how hard they work, so....
I only say this because we got the Candlelight Proc. package last
year and the service in England was horrible for us, but the
table next to us got pampered and checked on every 10min. from
the same waiter... maybe because his tip was already taken care of
from us, but the other couple weren't on a package so.....

 

[mickeymousemom]

DH & I had exactly the same experience as you 2 years ago at San Angel & I keep posting it everytime someone comes up with a thread about this restaurant. Food was horrible, you couldn't really tell what it was and the service was disgusting. You never saw your waiter/waitress and to top that off they had so many tables crammed together to seat all the people that you barely could walk between them. From now on if I want this type of food we get CS outside at the Cantina - better food, quicker & a lot more pleasant atmosphere.

Ditto here. 2 Years ago, bad service, mediocre food. This is our only no-so-good experience with Disney dining. We won't try this one again for quite some time.

 

[KennySC]

We go every vacation and always have the greatest time. both with service and food... But as i've learned no Epcot restaurant is going to be held in a high opinion when you're in a hurry and impatient.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

We go every vacation and always have the greatest time. both with service and food... But as i've learned no Epcot restaurant is going to be held in a high opinion when you're in a hurry and impatient.

Impatient?? From what the OP wrote they displayed the height of patience. One hour and 45 minutes to wait for a table, and that is with an ADR. That is a ridiculous amount of time.

 

[LeCras]

Just goes to show that everyone's experience is different - DH and I were similarly put off San Angel a couple of years ago, but decided to give it another go on our last trip (in August) since we have many fond memories of that particular restaurant (for example, we went there on our honeymoon and loved it). Well, this time the food was great, and we had to ask for some extra time between courses, as we felt the service was a little too quick!

OP, I totally understand your disappointment with the whole experience - hopefully your next trip will be better!

Charlotte

 

[Belle5]

We go every vacation and always have the greatest time. both with service and food... But as i've learned no Epcot restaurant is going to be held in a high opinion when you're in a hurry and impatient.

Seriously? You read the OP's comments and got the feeling they were impatient and in a hurry? Sheesh!

I used to be such a huge supporter of San Angel. We dined there many times over the years but this last time we had a similar experience to the OP (except not as bad as their's). People need to post their experience and smart board observers will watch for trends. That way we can make the odds of having a good experience will be as high as possible. Thanks to OP for posting THEIR experience!

 

[ss0414]

I agree the with the poster above. We used to love the atmosphere at this restaurant; however, when we were there in 12/06, we weren't impressed at all, we went back in 7/07 and won't be going back again until they change it, as they have the Italian. IMO, the food is horrible, and we had terrible service the last 2 times there. It's sad to me, because it's such a beautiful restaurant and frankly, I can't understand why Disney can't get the food right. If enough people are unhappy, then maybe someone will listen.

 

[SueEllen]

I will never go back there again. The last visit we had there was similar to the OPs experience. TERRIBLE service, management that didn't care, and TERRIBLE food.
This is by far the VERY WORST restaurant at Disney World.

OP--sorry to hear you had such a terrible experience.
Chalk it up as a lesson learned.

Sue Ellen

 

[marivaid]

This is getting me really nervous. We have a CP package there at 4.15 for the 6.45 show.I can deal with the bad food if that's what we get, but we barely have 2 hours before we have to be at the theater to get our seats, what if they make us wait an hour for a table???

If it was just me I'd switch to Nine Dragons in a heartbeat but DM really wants to go to San Angel. Urgh....

 

[Angelrose]

To the OP and others who have had a bad experience there. If you want something done about it, please write an email to:

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

If they get enough complaints, maybe they will change things. Just explain everything as you have here. Oh yes, and add your phone number to the email. They will call you back.

 

[KandiB47]

This is the only table service place we ate at last time that we thought was horrible. The food was gross and the service was bad. That was December of 2005 though. Apparently they haven't changed.

 

[Vivianne]

We ate at San Angel Inn last 5 de mayo. The food was not memorable. The chicken was dry. The salsa and chips was the only thing I liked. The atmosphere is wonderful and I like the ride, the mariachis and the margaritas....Still have other restaurants to try before I even consider returning....Andale....